Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins had a day at the office he’d like to quickly forget that has left fans in A-Town and across the league calling for his job.
Cousins did pass for 245 yards and completed 24-of-39 passing in the four point loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, but his carelessness with the ball is what doomed Atlanta.
That’s because the 36-year-old signal caller tossed an inexcusable four interceptions on the day – including a pick-six in the defeat.
Arguably his worst play came with his third interception – where he lobbed an emergency pass into an end zone blanketed with defensive backs. Cousins’ pass fell into triple coverage and Marcus Maye was able to grab it.
But even after that mistake, the Falcons were able to get the ball back – which gave Cousins one final shot at redemption.
Instead, he forced a pass on 4th and 12 and safety Derwin James jumped the route to pick Cousins off for the fourth time of the night.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins had a rough day at the office in a loss to the Chargers
Cousins tossed four picks on the day – including the one above, his third on the afternoon
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The performance left many fans of the now 6-6 Falcons clamoring for the team to make the switch to rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. – who Atlanta drafted last year out of the University of Washington.
‘It’s time. FREE PENIX,’ wrote one user on X, formerly Twitter.
Former NFL quarterback Kurt Benkert tweeted, ‘Man make it stop. Give us Penix Jr. if Bo Nix can do it in Denver, Penix can do it with all these weapons in Atlanta.’
Atlanta sports play-by-play voice Mike Conti posted, ‘You have to look at Penix now. I have no clue what Cousins is doing.’
Kevin Knight, a reporter at SB Nation’s ‘The Falcoholic’ blog, posted, ‘Kirk Cousins just played himself out of the game. Penix deserves a shot and if he plays well, let him run the show.’
Sports Illustrated’s Matt Verderame posted, ‘It’s time to play Michael Penix Jr. This is impossibly bad.’
The Falcons have invested a lot of money into Cousins over the offseason – inking him to a four-year, $180million contract in free agency with $100m guaranteed.
Then, Atlanta reached to select Penix with the eighth overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft.
It’s led some fans to clamor for Cousins to be replaced by rookie signal caller Michael Penix Jr.
So far, Cousins hasn’t exactly lived up to his billing.
He’s provided great individual moments – like a Monday Night Football overtime win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 5. But his overall statistics leave more to be desired.
While his 2,807 passing yards is good for seventh in the league and he has a solid TD/INT ratio of 17-9, his QBR of 56.8 is 20th in the league and his passer rating of 96.6 is about average.
Despite this, at 6-6, the Falcons currently lead the NFC South. Cousins will face his former team, the Minnesota Vikings, on the road next Sunday.
