While Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans are still laughing over the Kirk Cousins conundrum that the Atlanta Falcons are dealing with, former NFL offensive lineman and current ESPN analyst Jeff Saturday wasted no time blasting Cousins. The Falcons benched Cousins following a putrid one-touchdown vs. nine-interception performance over Atlanta's last five games where the team went 1-4 and lost their stranglehold on the NFC South lead.
“I can honestly say, I don’t know, and this is no joke," Saturday said on Get Up. "I’ve played 14 years. I’ve watched football my entire life. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player fall off a cliff… the first nine games to what he’s done in these past five? Honestly, I’ve never seen it tank this bad. And he looks dejected. He looks confused, which you would not think about a guy who’s played… he looks like he has no confidence in anything. I mean, it’s like the last shot out of a Roman candle."
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Saturday certainly isn't wrong in his assessment. Cousins started his Falcons tenure looking decent and Atlanta even swept the Buccaneers. Those two wins will prove pivotal if the teams end up with the same record when the regular season wraps up because the Falcons would get the tiebreaker in the standings.
As mentioned above though, Cousins hit a wall after the Falcons got to 6-3 on the year and looked to be on track to win their first division title since 2016. Unfortunately for them, things spiraled after that with the Falcons losing four straight games and Cousins throwing zero touchdowns and eight interceptions during that losing streak.
Jeff Saturday eviscerates Kirk Cousins for rough second half of season
This, of course, is all music to Buccaneers fans' ears. After having to listen to the Falcons being hyped up all offseason long, it's been a lot of fun watching them crash and burn. Bucs fans were honestly hoping that the Falcons would continue to ride the Cousins Express for the rest of the season because that would have given Tampa an easier route to their fourth straight NFC South title.
While Michael Penix Jr. could struggle in his first few games as a rookie, he at least offers Atlanta some hope. If the Falcons pick up momentum, they could still pose a threat to the Buccaneers in the last month of the 2024 regular season. Let's hope that isn't the case when all is said and done.