odin
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Joined: 11/23/2008
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"On the surface Cousins does appear to be having a fantastic season. He currently sits first in TD/INT ratio, third in Passer Rating, and third in ANY/A. However, as has been the case throughout his career, basic boxscore stats paper over the deficiencies in Cousins’ game. Looking at more advanced metrics, Kirk ranks seventh in EPA per play and eighth in QBR. Not bad by any stretch but not exactly MVP territory. But if we look at how Cousins’ stats translate to team level success, the picture gets far uglier. His Vikings only rank 19th in yards per drive and 17th in points per drive. That’s despite playing with a superstar WR, superstar RB, and playing his home games indoors where scoring is more plentiful. This is why Cousins has long been derided for racking up hollow numbers. For whatever reason, his style of play lends itself to a glittery boxscore more than it does to actually winning games. There is one basic (but ignored) stat that reveals a glitch in the Kirk Cousins matrix: first down rate. Despite being near the top in Passer Rating and ANY/A, Cousins is only 19th in first downs per dropback. That’s almost hard to believe, but it’s true. How can a quarterback rack up yards, touchdowns, and avoid turnovers so efficiently without moving the chains in the process? I haven’t dug through the play-by-play enough to know for sure, but it’s likely a result of too many completions that actually lower his team’s chance of scoring (often referred to as failed completions). Cousins will settle for a checkdown rather than pushing it down the field and risking an incompletion or interception, even if the latter choice is better for the Viking’s bottom line." http://www.footballperspective.com/adam-steeles-quarterback-recap-week-11/
< Message edited by odin -- 12/6/2021 10:23:07 PM >
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