Vikings' Cousins-O'Connell connection will face Monday night test against Eagles

Entering the Vikings' Week 2 road trip to Philadelphia for a Monday night game, Kirk Cousins is coming off an efficient performance in the Vikings' decisive win over the Packers, after which his head coach praised the quarterback's assertiveness on a couple of the Vikings' biggest plays.

Cousins' oft-discussed "Monday Night Football" record didn't come up once during his news conference on Thursday, given the fact he has been the winning quarterback in his last two Monday night games. Instead, the topic about which Cousins talked the most animatedly was head coach Kevin O'Connell allowing Justin Jefferson to pour green slime on his head after Nickelodeon honored Jefferson for his 184-yard, two-TD performance on Sunday.

If everything in the previous two paragraphs sounds anomalous to Cousins' experience during his first four seasons in Minnesota, it's because it's possible none of it could have happened the same way before. The Vikings are 1-0 for the first time since 2019, looking to get to 2-0 for the first time since 2016, and Cousins' work with O'Connell helped produce one of the most efficient Week 1 performances of his career, despite the fact he didn't play a preseason snap.

Cousins averaged 8.66 yards per completion despite throwing only two balls more than 20 yards in the air, didn't have a play where he put the Vikings at risk of a turnover and completed 6.7% more of his passes than expected, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. His longest throw of the day — a 64-yard completion to Jefferson in the second quarter — came when Cousins stepped up in the pocket and flung the ball downfield for Jefferson on a deep over route.

"A couple times, you go back and watch that tape, some of the longer completions Kirk's turning loose before they truly declare as 'open,'" O'Connell said on Monday. "As a coach, I kind of know where the open voids may be, but still — I'm not the guy out there having to make some of those throws in the face of rush or have to manipulate the pocket and still keep my eyes up and down the field. So that's where I give Kirk a ton of credit. Without a lot of reps in the preseason, to be that sharp from a pocket mechanics and fundamental standpoint was a real next-level thing for us."

On Monday night in Philadelphia, the Vikings might need an even more effective offensive performance if their defense struggles with an Eagles team that ran for 216 yards in a 38-35 win over the Lions last week. Quarterback Jalen Hurts ran 17 times for 90 yards, and the Eagles will likely try to test the Vikings' secondary by moving receiver A.J. Brown around their formation, much as Minnesota does with Jefferson.

"He's just an all-around player that I think he impacts the game in so many ways," O'Connell said of Brown. "He's big and physical, but yet has really elite separation skills with a lot of different traits at the top of routes. He definitely dictates, a lot of times, [the] coverage, which then opens things up for not only their run game — which is so difficult to defend — but they've got some really great players around them."

The Vikings could have their own success on the ground, given that the Eagles allowed the Lions to run for 181 yards last week, but they'll need Cousins to be effective again in what figures to be a raucous environment for the Eagles' home opener. He's won three of his five starts at Lincoln Financial Field, completing 30 of his 37 passes for 301 yards and a touchdown in the Vikings' last trip there four years ago.

"I don't think there is anything special or unique to Philly," Cousins said. "It's the same reasons you play well any given week, especially on the road: handling noise, communicating well, being efficient, avoiding penalties, [being] good in situations [like] third down, red zone."

Cousins led the Vikings to a win in their last two Monday night games, both against the Bears in Chicago. His connection with O'Connell — who meets with the quarterback during the week, and whose voice is in Cousins' helmet during games — will provide the foundation as he looks for a third straight Monday night win.

"When he knows what to do and what we're asking of him, he can go out and really execute at a high level, which drives our whole offense," O'Connell said. "So coming off our performance last week, he's going to establish himself a standard of what to expect out of Kirk every single week."