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After $84 million quarterback Kirk Cousins threw his way only six times, resulting in just two catches for six yards in Sunday’s 16-6 loss to their division rival Chicago Bears, wide receiver Adam Thielen did some throwing of his own, that being shade, rather directly at his QB.
Thielen, who had 204 receptions on 295 targets over the past two seasons, is now on pace for 52 catches on 88 targets this season. So his frustration is very understandable – even to Kirk Cousins.
“I really want to apologize to him because there’s too many opportunities where we could have hit him on Sunday and postgame when I talk to the media I always say, ‘Hey, until I watch the film it’s hard for me to really give you a straight answer,’” Cousins said on his weekly radio show Under Center on KFAN.
“Well, now it’s Tuesday night. I’ve watched the film and the reality is there were opportunities for him. The one that’s most obvious is the third-and-10 at the beginning of the game. We’re near midfield. That’s arguably seven points. If you put the ball where it needs to be he’s shown. Number 19’s shown that he will make that play and he’ll probably finish the play in the end zone and pull away from the defender.
“Adam’s not just a really good player or one of the best players on the Vikings, he’s one of the best players in the NFL, one of the best players in the world, period, regardless of position. And so we want to, we need to, I need to get him more opportunities. Get him the football.”
Thielen also appeared on the show and tried to walk back his fiery postgame comments, claiming he wasn’t singling Cousins out, “You can’t be one dimensional in this league. It’s very difficult to win. If you listen to defensive coordinators talk, they want to make the offense one-dimensional and that’s how they want to win.”
Thielen also added, “If you haven’t played this game and you haven’t played it at a high level, you have no idea what goes into it. The preparation, the hard work, we bust our tail in OTAs, minicamp, training camp, and then you get to these 16 opportunities, and you have four quarters. So I think there’s just so much emotion because of how hard you work. I think that there is just so much emotion in this game that I think you need to learn how to handle that emotion and turn it into a positive.”
Is he talking to himself? Because bro sure seemed pretty pissed off about Cousins not throwing the ball after the game on Sunday.
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