Kirk Cousins certainly didn't look 100 percent in his Atlanta Falcons' debut, an 18-10 home loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. However, head coach Raheem Morris insisted on Monday that his veteran QB wasn't hindered by his previous Achilles injury.
"I feel like Kirk is healthy," Morris said, via the team's official website. "He's been healthy since he's been here, since he's been back."
Cousins suffered an Achilles injury in Week 8, 2023, while with the Minnesota Vikings. The injury didn't stop the Falcons from inking Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract with $100 million in guarantees.
The 36-year-old didn't participate in preseason action but was reportedly not limited during training camp practices.
From a spectator's point of view on Sunday, Cousins looked mostly immobile, was unable to escape the pocket and at times couldn't fully push off his plant leg. He went 16-of-26 passing for 155 yards (second-fewest in a season opener in his career) with one touchdown and two interceptions for a 59.0 passer rating.
Morris said some of Cousins' issues could be due to "some rust" from being out for so long.
The Falcons' game plan seemed to belie Morris' insistence that Cousins was healthy. Atlanta put the QB under center once (a Bijan Robinson 10-yard run). Cousins averaged just 3.1 scramble yards per dropback, moving a full yard fewer than any other game he has played over the last nine seasons, per Next Gen Stats. He took 26 of 50 plays from the pistol. Most astonishingly, the Falcons didn't run a single play-action pass, a staple of the Sean McVay system, where new Atlanta OC Zac Robinson came from.
"Everything is going to be situational to the game plan for who you're playing against," Morris said when asked whether Cousins' health affected play-calling. "When you go out and you put those guys in what we do and how we want to play and try to put those guys in good positions to get those guys blocked, the aliens the Pittsburgh Steelers have, you gotta try to figure those things out."
The Steelers defense, including "alien" T.J. Watt, certainly deserves credit for discombobulating Cousins and the Falcons offense. But there were more issues than just facing a good defense.
"We played, I thought, winning football in two phases of the game, and we didn't play winning football in our offensive phase of the game," Morris said.
The hope in Atlanta is that Cousins will look more mobile moving forward after knocking off the rust. However, with first-round pick Michael Penix Jr. waiting in the wings, if Cousins and the offense continue to struggle, the questions will inevitably turn to whether Morris will give the rookie run and bench his highly paid QB.
