The Pittsburgh Steelers face QB Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons in the opening game of the season. At least, every expectation is that they will face him recovering from a torn Achilles last season. He managed to avoid the PUP List to begin training camp and is practicing now. Not only does he appear on track to play, he is as energized to play as he has been in some time.
“It’s coming along. This is my first surgery in my life”, Cousins told Steve Smith on the NFL Network yesterday. If anything, it lit a fire a little bit. … I felt like going through this injury process made me, ‘No no no, I’m coming back, I’m playing’. I feel like it makes you want to play longer and push through and have great years after it”.
A 2012 fourth-round pick, Kirk Cousins matured over a period of a number of years, taking years to start. He earned his first full-time starting job in 2015 with the Washington Commanders, the team that drafted him. In 2018, he left for the Minnesota Vikings, but they moved in a different direction this offseason.
That prompted Cousins’ move to the Falcons, where he now runs into the Steelers for his first game back from a torn Achilles. He suffered the injury in Week 8 last season, just two days before Halloween, finishing 4-4. By then, he went 216-for-311 passing for 2,331 yards and 18 touchdowns to 5 interceptions. And he had all of 25 rushing yards on 14 attempts, to not exactly a burner even with an Achilles.
“I think what I’ve learned is, guys like [Steve Smith] and others, they come back and they make this like it was no big deal”, Cousins said about his experiences watching other NFL players return from injuries like his and drawing inspiration from their journey.
“Going through it, I’m kind of scratching my head, because I’m feeling like, I can play quarterback and I’ll be fine, but if I was a receiver or a DB, this is not easy to get back to who you were before”, Cousins said. “As a pocket passer, I don’t lose any sleep”.
Between 2015 and 2022, Kirk Cousins averaged 376-for-557 throwing per season for 4,264 yards with 29 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. He made the Pro Bowl four times during that span, helping to turn around two franchises in the process. At least up to the postseason, where he is 1-3 and his one win took a minor miracle.
The Steelers have only played Cousins twice before, first in 2016. They won that game 38-16, Cousins going 30-for-43 for 329 yards but with 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. In 2021, he had the advantage 36-28, throwing 14-for-31 or 216 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
The good news is the Steelers pick Cousins off when they do play him, which is rarely. One hopes that, on a new team and a new Achilles, he will be rusty out of the gates in 2024. Perhaps something to cool down that fire he has built up trying to write a strong finish to his career.
