YOU LIKE THAT? Kirk Cousins Rips Philly’s Heart Out With Historically Improbable Game-Winning Drive In Prime Time

Matt Fitzgerald·
CULTURESPORTS
·
Kirk Cousins
ESPN

That was a thing of beauty from Kirk Cousins. Allegations perhaps well-founded that he couldn’t push off that right plant leg because of some lingering skittishness from that torn Achilles. The gimmicky Philadelphia Eagles offense tush pushing, Saquon Barkley gashing, and Jalen “One Read and Run” Hurts demoralizing the Atlanta Falcons for much of the evening in Philadelphia.

But then, Saquon dropped a third-down pass from Hurts on the ol’ pseudo-fake it to him, throw it to him play. The Eagles split the uprights on a field goal to stretch their lead to six points. And then Captain Kirk took control.

When I say this was a historically improbable rally by Atlanta, I mean that in a very literal statistical sense.

Hell, everyone left the 0-1 Falcons for dead before Monday Night Football even kicked off against the 1-0 Eagles.

Wanna see what locked in looks like?

Kirk dotting up the Eagles and their generally belligerent obnoxious fans who don’t deserve a single championship in their natural lives got some sweet comeuppance tonight.

OK so I’ve been a little harsh on Philadelphia. With Saquon and Hurts running the rock, and AJ Brown hopefully healthy by sometime next month, they should ultimately be in the playoff hunt. The Falcons were dangerously close to teetering toward disaster. New head coach in Raheem Morris. First-time play-caller on offense in Zac Robinson. Cousins looking shaky on that right leg. I mean, if Saquon squeezes this pass, Atlanta is 0-2. Full stop.

Facts I did not know till now, by the way:

Coming back to the Kirk of it all: People were legitimately clamoring for Michael Penix Jr. to be thrust into action during this game. On the same day former No. 1 overall pick and Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young got benched by the Panthers.

If that were to happen and Penix fared well, who knows? Cousins may have honestly saved his career for the foreseeable future. Things would’ve gotten ugly if the Falcons lost, in particular because two of their NFC South rivals, the Saints and Bucs, are roaring out of the gates at 2-0. Being two games back of the top divisional contenders would’ve been bad enough. Going 0-2 is almost a death sentence if you want to make the postseason.

How many different ways can I state how clutch Kirk Cousins just was? Meanwhile, when Jalen Hurts was forced into an obvious passing situation, well…

Talk your sh*t, Kirk!! The world is trying to replace you before you can knock any rust off from a torn Achilles at 36 years old!

Nah who are we kidding? Of course Kirk was humble in victory and talked about how he had to be sharper to not put his team in that comeback situation. What a guy.

PS: Let the record show Nick Sirianni burned a timeout while Kirk was taking a knee. I see you being an All-American tool, Nick!

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