Minnesota Vikings: 3 Players that must shine vs. Packers in Week 2
2. Kirk Cousins
Another player that will have to shine for the Vikings during their Week 2 game against the Packers, especially against his counterpart on the other side of the field, is Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins.
After facing off against a Pro Bowl quarterback in Matt Ryan against the Atlanta Falcons in the opening week of the regular season last Sunday, Cousins and the Vikings will face off against another star quarterback during their contest in Green Bay in the second week of the year.
When it comes to going up against Green Bay and its Pro Bowl quarterback Aaron Rodgers, you’re likely not going to shut down a Rodgers-led offense for the entirety of the game. That means that Minnesota will have to have Cousins and the rest of the offense step up and try and counter whatever Rodgers and the Packers are able to do on the other side of the field.
Cousins, who is in his second season with the Vikings and is taking part in his eighth year in the NFL in 2019, has shown the ability to take over games and air things out similar to what Rodgers is capable of throughout the course of his career.
Coming off of a year in 2018 where he recorded the second-highest passing yard total of his career with 4,298 yards and finished with a career-high 30 touchdowns, Cousins began the 2019 season not really being forced to take the game over with the passing game.
In the Week 1 win over Atlanta, Cousins threw just 10 times, completing eight of those 10 pass attempts. He finished throwing for 98 total yards and one touchdown, not turning the ball over at all for the Vikings.
Part of that was due to Minnesota controlling the game on the ground, led by running back Dalvin Cook. Cousins certainly has the ability to take the game into his own hands, but having a solid running game to balance things out helps in making him even more dangerous.
On Sunday in Green Bay, Cousins will likely have to throw the ball more than 10 times in order to try and match what Rodgers and the Packers potentially do on the other side of the ball. But as we’ve seen in the past, Cousins is up for the challenge and is capable of stepping up when called upon.