Kirk Cousins didn't mean it like that.
There was nothing malicious about Cousins' viral exclamation, but many took it as a challenge to his GM to give him the long-term contract he deserves. Cousins is playing under a one-year, $19.9M franchise tag and has taken the field each game this season knowing a lucrative future hangs in the balance. Impressing the man in charge of negotiating his contract doesn't hurt his chances.
However, Cousins says that the encounter with McCloughan has been blown out of proportion.
"No, there's nothing," Cousins said on 106.7 The Fan. "I was just excited coming off the field with emotion. I would prefer for that to happen with no cameras and no microphones. But I ran into him on the field where there were cameras and microphones. We're both competitors who want to win desperately and both feeling great in that moment.
"Scot has done a phenomenal job bringing in the right people ... that have made a big difference in the success of this team. A big reason we are where we are and part of the reason we enjoy being here is because of the team Scot assembled."
We've seen Cousins deliver emotional post-game outbursts before. Last season's "You like that?!" was followed this year by a creepy Rick and Morty reference ("Oooooooh-weeeeeee"). Sunday's moment, though, was the first of the quarterback's that felt vaguely pointed at management.
But for Cousins, this is all just noise. While we dissect the hidden meanings behind the quarterback's six-second antics, he'll let his play -- 67.2 comp pct., 309.1 YPG, 17 TD -- speak for itself.
