Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons pulled off a thrilling 36-30 overtime win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night, capped off by the veteran signal-caller hitting wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge for a walk-off, 45-yard touchdown.
Cousins joined Colin Cowherd on Friday’s edition of “The Herd” to give insight on Atlanta’s big win and share how he and his teammates celebrated the victory that lifted them to 3-2 on the season and into the top spot in the NFC South.
“I got home at about 2:30 in the morning last night,” Cousins said with a laugh. “It was a long night but a fun night. Now, we’ve got a long weekend to rest up, and I’ll be hoisted up on my couch watching everybody else play football.”
Cousins finished the game with 509 passing yards, four passing touchdowns, one interception and a 114.8 passer rating, while completing 72.4% of his passes. Atlanta took over at its own 20-yard line with 1:14 remaining in the fourth quarter and no timeouts. After spiking the ball with one second remaining, the Falcons got into position for kicker Younghoe Koo to attempt the game-tying, 52-yard field goal as time expired. Koo sent things into overtime — and Atlanta prevailed.
Cousins broke down his mindset on that last-ditch, fourth-quarter drive.
“You trust your training, and you go back to your process,” he shared. “Koo being the kicker, you know that you have some grace as to how far you need to go to get that field goal. We’re pretty well-coached on those situations of when the ball’s got to be out of bounds or to the end zone and when we have to clock it, so that was executed well.
“The referees have gotten a lot better at allowing people to clock the ball quickly. I think two-or-three years ago, that ref might have taken too long, and we wouldn’t have had a chance. Kudos to them for kind of getting that dialed in where he just touches the ball and enables us to operate quickly.”
Kirk Cousins walks through the Falcons’ game-tying 2-minute drill
Cousins has totaled 1,373 passing yards, eight passing touchdowns, five interceptions and a 93.7 passer rating this season, while completing 67.2% of his passes. Cousins signed a four-year, $180 million deal ($100 million guaranteed) with Atlanta in March after his 2023 campaign with Minnesota was cut short after eight games due to a torn Achilles.
Cousins, 36, explained how he continues to feel more comfortable post-injury as the season progresses.
“It had less to do with the Achilles … [and] more to do with the fact that I just hadn’t played since Week 8 of last year,” Cousins said. “I’d worn a red jersey in practice all these months, and I didn’t play a preseason game. … There were just a lot of simulated things that weren’t the real deal. To be back in the fire for the first time, I had some rust to get off. I think each week the last several have been an improvement, and I think last night we took a big step forward.
“Now the challenge is — can we continue to maintain that standard as we move forward? I did feel a different level of anticipation and playing fast last night — that is back to kind of my old self. I felt we were on our way there, but we hadn’t really closed the gap it felt until last night.”
Cousins, a 13-year NFL veteran, also expressed that he enjoys playing with Atlanta’s young offensive playmakers, which includes running back Bijan Robinson (22 years old), wide receiver Drake London (23) and tight end Kyle Pitts (23).
Atlanta opened the regular season with an 18-10 loss at home to Pittsburgh, which didn’t score a touchdown. The Falcons then beat Philadelphia on the road, taking a 22-21 lead with 34 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Following a 22-17 loss at home to Kansas City, which saw the Falcons turn the ball over on downs at the Chiefs’ 16-yard line with 51 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Atlanta beat rival New Orleans with Koo making a go-ahead, 58-yard field goal with two seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
Cousins & Co. has a road tilt against divisional rival Carolina in Week 6 (4:25 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).
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