Vikings, Kirk Cousins have little time to dwell on mistakes vs. Buccaneers

Had Kirk Cousins released the ball a fraction of a second sooner, or with a scintilla less concern about where he was leading K.J. Osborn, his final pass of the first half on Sunday against Tampa Bay might have produced a decisive touchdown rather than the third turnover of a frustrating day.

After hitching once while looking for T.J. Hockenson, Cousins fired into a tight window for Osborn, putting the ball behind him to avoid leading him into Buccaneers safety Ryan Neal. It created just enough room for rookie Christian Izien to snatch the ball away from Osborn, denying the Vikings a chance to take a 17-10 lead at halftime.

"Worked T.J. probably a little too long and then felt a void to K.J.," Cousins said Tuesday. "But with a safety there, better to just progress to Jordan [Addison]. Tried to stop K.J. with the ball, but I really should have led him through it and get him blown up by the safety if it meant six points. I was probably trying to protect him too much. [Or], just get to Jordan and we can get half of the yards we need. Then, play for the next play."

The Vikings' schedule this week afforded Cousins little time to linger on the critical interception from Sunday's season-opening 20-17 loss to Tampa Bay. It also means he might be on a precipice again this week, preparing for a Thursday night game against the defending NFC champions and possibly working with a new center in Philadelphia's particularly uncouth din.

It's the second straight season the Vikings will play a Week 2 night game as the opponent for the Eagles' home opener, except this time they'll make the trip on a Thursday instead of a Monday and hit the road following a Week 1 loss instead of last year's resounding victory over the Packers.

After a game in which three turnovers blunted his 344-yard passing performance, Cousins knows he'll have to extract as much as he can from the offense.

"It's all about points, and turnover margin will always be a critical stat when it comes to winning football games," he said. "We lost the turnover margin badly, and you don't have to look too much further than that. I think the yards reflect potential in the offense, the potential for being a great offense. The explosiveness is there. The scheme, I think it reflects the players, but ultimately, we have to have it turn into points."

Center Garrett Bradbury left with a back injury early in Sunday's game, meaning Austin Schlottmann could be in line to start against the Eagles. Bradbury did not participate in Tuesday's walkthrough. Cousins said he'd spend time this week talking with Schlottmann about everything from "cadence to the snap positioning to the silent count on the road to the gun snaps, code words."

"You're just making sure you're going through reminders about everything," Cousins added, "and you want to make sure the lack of time together that you might have with Garrett and not have with somebody else, that you're covering that and making up for that lost time."

The quarterback will also hope left tackle Christian Darrisaw is recovered from the ankle injury that took him out of the game twice on Sunday, as the Vikings face an Eagles pass rush group that offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said might be the league's best. Philadelphia led the NFL and set a team record with 70 sacks in 2022, and drafted Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter in the first round this year.

In spite of the challenge this week and the turnovers from Sunday, coach Kevin O'Connell's message to Cousins was not to let up.

"There's no question that we would've loved to finish that drive [in the first half] with a touchdown, but we always want him to be aggressive and play what he sees," O'Connell said. "He did a lot of really good things [Sunday] to help us stay in the football game, despite the turnovers and the penalties being so critical against us."

Thursday will be Cousins' seventh career start at Lincoln Financial Field; he's 3-3 there as a starter, but his 51.1 passer rating in the Vikings' 24-7 loss last year was the fifth-worst of his career as a starter.

For things to change Thursday night, he'll have to lead a sharper offense than the Vikings had Sunday.

"You know you can be explosive," he said. "At the same time, the ability to execute for 75-ish plays, week in and week out, that will always be the challenge. That is the precision and the attention to detail and the preparation, and it starts with me. So, that is really where my focus is: Can we go out there on Thursday night and really just execute with precision from the first snap to the last?"