Kirk Cousins acknowledges he must play better if Atlanta Falcons are to make a playoff push

LAS VEGAS (AP) — If the Atlanta Falcons are going to make a playoff push, coach Raheem Morris and quarterback Kirk Cousins both know the 13-year veteran needs to improve his performance over the last three games of the season.

“He’s got to play better,” Morris said after the Falcons escaped Monday night with a 15-9 road win over the lowly Las Vegas Raiders. “Obviously, you've got to go back and look at everything. But he wants to play better, he’s got to play better, we've got to find a way to get him to play better.”

Cousins was a lackluster 11-of-17 passing for 112 yards with one touchdown and an interception. He entered with no touchdown passes and eight interceptions over his previous four starts.

In 159 career starts, it was Cousins' third-fewest number of completions and fourth-lowest total in passing yards.

“I think I need to play better. I don’t think that’s a mystery,” said Cousins, who leads the NFL with a career-high 16 interceptions. “I think the last few weeks, I would say I need to play better. Raheem says it, but it’s stating the obvious.

"Every week you kind of go through your process and you plan to go out there and play the very best you can, and so this week will be no different.”

When asked where his biggest area of improvement lies, Cousins was forthright in saying he has to do a better job of protecting the football.

“I think it’s always just decision-making so that you’re not putting the ball in harm’s way and not trying to be too aggressive,” said Cousins, who signed a four-year, $180 million contract before the season. “I think really the key, you know, protecting the football.”

Before his four-week drought, Cousins never endured consecutive weeks without a touchdown pass.

Now, with Atlanta sitting one game back of the first-place Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC South, the pressure is mounting — with rookie Michael Penix Jr. waiting in the wings to potentially spark the offense.

“We've got everybody on our roster for a reason, right?” Morris said, with team owner Arthur Blank sitting in the room. “We've got so much to get better at, and those things will always be discussed. That’s just the nature of the beast in football.

“It's just so heavily talked about at the quarterback position, because there’s only one guy out there. So like for us, man, our mentality is to find a way to win the next game. That’s just the mentality that I’m going to have.”

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Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins (18) looks to throw as Las Vegas Raiders defensive tackle Zach Carter (93) pursues during the second half of an NFL football game, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins (18) throws against the Las Vegas Raiders during the second half of an NFL football game, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins (18) is pressured by Las Vegas Raiders defensive end K'Lavon Chaisson (44) during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins (18) throws under pressure from Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Divine Deablo (5) during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins (18) throws against the Las Vegas Raiders during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)

MOSCOW (AP) — The head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defence Forces, Lt. General Igor Kirillov, was killed early Tuesday by an explosive device planted close to a residential apartment block in Moscow, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.

Kirillov’s assistant also died in the blast.

Kirillov was sentenced in absentia by a Ukrainian court Monday for the use of banned chemical weapons during Russia’s military operation in Ukraine that started in Feb. 2022.

During the almost 3-year operation, Russia has made small-but-steady territorial gains to the nearly one-fifth of Ukraine it already controls.

FILE - Maj. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of the Russian military's radiation, chemical and biological protection unit, attends a briefing in Kubinka Patriot park, outside Moscow, Russia, on June 22, 2018. (AP Photo, File)