Cousins Taking Advice from the Greatest Quarterback in Vikings History

Image courtesy of Vikings.com

Fran Tarkenton was easily the best quarterback in Minnesota Vikings history. His 33,098 passing yards are first in team history, with second place, Tommy Kramer, trailing him by 8,000 yards. He also leads the team in passing touchdowns, is 12th in rushing yards, and 11th in rushing touchdowns. 

Long story short, for those of us who didn’t come into this world until after Fran retired, he’s a franchise and indeed an NFL legend. So, when one of the best players ever to play gives you advice, you try to put it into action.

That’s what current Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins is trying to do. Cousins said in an interview Wednesday, “whenever I connect with him [Tarkenton], he’s encouraging me to run the ball more, and I really agree with him.” 

Wednesday also happened to be Cousins’ 32nd birthday. Conventional wisdom would tell us that means that Cousins is losing a step and should maybe tone it down, but instead he’s trying to add more mobility to his game for the upcoming season.

“We have drill work just individually we try to try to emphasize it,” said Cousins, “we try to have moments in practice where you basically, even if you complete the ball, you look and see was there a better opportunity to run and why was that.”

This of course comes following a season where Cousins did use his legs effectively, not to pick up yards with his feet, but rather with his arm. Some of Cousins’ best throws last season came on play action rollouts that put him in open space and let him take deep shots. 

However, Cousins’ work this training camp seems to be more focused on off-script running while not sacrificing his passing ability. “You can’t go look for it. If you look to go run the ball, then you’re going to miss open receivers,” Cousins said. “You have to truly train that instinct that when the play breaks down, take off and run. Finding that balance of remaining a passer and becoming a runner is a very fine line, and that’s what I’m working on in camp.”

Another comparison that seems to be popular on Cousins birthday is that he has only registered one playoff victory up until this point. However, Tarkenton did not play in a playoff game until he was 33, when he proceeded to lead Minnesota to three out of the next four super bowls.

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