Following their 17-9 defensive slugfest victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, the Seattle Seahawks now have a much stiffer contest against the 8-3 Minnesota Vikings and their quarterback, Kirk Cousins.
Cousins will lead his Vikings against the Seahawks in a rematch of last year’s Week 14 Monday night game played in Seattle. Unfortunately for Minnesota, the Seahawks dominated in a 21-7 victory, further feeding the narrative of Cousins’ inability to win in primetime.
As a starter, Cousins’ record in the national spotlight is a paltry 7-13, with an 0-7 record on Monday nights. Cousins is somewhat of an enigma to evaluate. He always produces solid numbers, wins plenty of games to stay well within the playoff hunt, but is seemingly always incapable of winning the ones that matter the most.
However, the Seahawks certainly won’t be paying attention to Cousins’ lousy primetime record as he is in the midst of perhaps his best season yet. Cousins has thrown for 2,756 yards, 21 touchdowns against only 3 interceptions and a sky-high passer rating of 114.8, which is higher than Seattle’s own Russell Wilson and his rating of 112.1.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll certainly holds Cousins in high regard, even admitting he and Wilson were quite similar when both quarterbacks were interviewed by Seattle during the combine for the 2012 NFL draft.
“It was interesting back at the combine when Russ and Kirk were coming out,” Carroll said Wednesday. “I recall it as we went back to back with those guys in our meetings up in the hotel. You couldn’t expect to be more impressed by two back to back guys coming out and talking about the game, their future, their awareness, their resolve, their commitment and competitiveness.”
Cousins will now be leading an incredibly talented roster against the one team ahead of them in the wild-card standings. The Vikings will certainly be hungry to prove they can win on the road against an elite NFC team. The Seahawks are playing their best defense of the year and will need to keep their high level of play up if they want to defend CenturyLink Field from the invading Vikings.
