One of the oddest decisions the Atlanta Falcons made over the last year was opting to bring in Tua Tagovailoa and part ways with Kirk Cousins. While the aging Cousins hadn't been incredibly impressive during his Atlanta tenure, the signal-caller holds the franchise record for passing yards in a single game and showed flashes of being the franchise quarterback the team was lacking.
The decision to jettison a player you're already paying and end up starting Cooper Rush while Cousins led the Las Vegas Raiders to a 3-0 start speaks for itself. Cousins being in place of Rush in the first two games of the season likely pushed the team to at least a 2-1 start and gave them an NFC South lead. Instead, Falcons fans were forced to watch Rush while the former Falcon has had no trouble holding off rookie Fernando Mendoza.
Heading into Week 4, Cousins has a chance to make the decision age even worse as the quarterback will take on the Kansas City Chiefs for the AFC West lead. If the veteran is able to find a way to take down Patrick Mahomes and the heavily favored Chiefs, all of a sudden Cousins will have led the most surprising underdog team of the season.
Cousins wasn't going to be a long term answer or a player who was pushing this current Atlanta roster on a deep run. However, there is no denying the Falcons made a mistake adding Tagovailoa over keeping a veteran with established chemistry, who would've given the team a far better chance in Week 4.
Former Falcons Quarterback Kirk Cousins Has a Chance on Sunday for Statement Win
Cousins has already proven Atlanta's mistake, and it is difficult to debate this. Still, it would be an undeniable statement win if the Raiders were able to pull off the upset and Cousins were in a starring role. For the quarterback, it has been a clear culture and roster fit, with the presence of Brock Bowers helping the Falcons last week as the duo had an incredible day to beat the hated New Orleans Saints.
No question, Cousins has a complicated legacy in his two Atlanta seasons due to coaching issues, injuries, and an up-and-down tenure. With that said, the Falcons choosing to turn the page without having a better answer hasn't aged well and resulted in an ugly Cooper Rush outing that was followed by an even worse Week 2 effort.
It will be interesting to watch Cousins as Falcons fans are without a game on Sunday for the second straight week and will sit at home watching their former starter attempt to continue to make an undeniable case that his demise was counted on just a bit too soon.
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