Say all you want about John DeFilippo's play calling these past few games-- yes, he's mentally on to his next job and isn't putting the effort in-- but Cousins had a shocking performance last night. He looked like me playing "NFL 2Kx" or "Madden", when I'm panicking: missing wide open players while staring down other, double-covered guys.

Here is one example. Incidentally, that was almost up there with the Mark Sanchez "butt fumble" in terms of dumbest actions I've seen an NFL quarterback execute. Another was the 4th and goal at the 1 yard line, where Cousins didn't see either Cook or Thielen for the easy touchdown, and instead forced the ball to Rudolph in traffic. Another was Diggs on a crossing route: Cousins instead waited too long, then had to force the ball-- once again, to Rudolph-- in the middle of the field, failing to pick up the first down. And those are just a few examples: if Cousins makes even two of the several plays in question, Vikings quite possibly win the game.

He also exhibited unfathomably poor pocket presence, for someone with his experience and physical talent levels. Pocket awareness is a weakness of his anyway, but it was magnified last night; I marveled at the play where he took a sack right up the middle, when he could have just side-stepped eighteen inches either left or right and gotten the pass off. The pressure was right in front of him-- how did he not notice it?

Going into the game, Cousins was 0-6 on "Monday Night Football". Now he's 0-7. I have to wonder if he just can't very well handle the pressure of a nationally televised audience. I think the coaches-- next season, this one is a wash-- need to scheme game plans to make things "easy" for Cousins, for big games: do their best to help him keep the game "in front" of him, so he can relax and feel in control.