The Cousins Rib Injury Is More Severe Than We Thought, Mond Might Get a Shot
As far as I can tell, Ben Goessling is one of the best Vikings writers out there. He provided an update on the Kirk Cousins rib injury (which we covered yesterday) that suggests the QB1 is dealing with more than originally anticipated:
A cracked rib is no joke. Kudos to Mr. Cousins for battling it out through the Bears game and being fully available during practice. Every indication is that he’ll be out there on Sunday.
At this stage, the issue for Cousins is twofold: pain tolerance and making the rib injury worse. Obviously, Klint Kubiak will need to put all of his best plays into his cauldron so he can brew up a masterful game plan. If he doesn’t, it’ll be a long day. I’m expecting a whole lot of creative screens, some end arounds, and perhaps even a Justin Jefferson throw. Oh, and don’t forget the max protection two-man routes down the field off of play action. The team needs to hit one or two of these.
One also wonders about the role of Minnesota’s backup QBs in this game. Sean Mannion is still the QB2, so he’ll be the one who goes out there if Cousins needs to miss time. It’ll also be very interesting to see if the team finally dresses Kellen Mond. So far, the rookie has had no impact on game day. Perhaps the possibility of only having Sean Mannion available for a good portion of the game will prompt Coach Zimmer to finally have his rookie QB in football gear.
The safe money, though, is that Cousins’ rib injury won’t sideline him. Fans and writers can disagree about his (in)abilities, but there’s no questioning his toughness.
His presence is even more important than normal because of the Dalvin Cook absence. The star RB won’t be available because he has Covid-19, meaning the Vikings will be leaning on their depth. It’s also notable that Mason Cole will likely miss the game, meaning Oli Udoh will get to wrestle with Aaron Donald. Partner those things with Adam Thielen just returning from his ankle sprain and it’s easy to see how it might be a long night for the offense.
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