Patrick Mahomes and Kirk Cousins became the starting quarterbacks of their respective teams in 2018. For the first time ever, they will meet on the field.
Yes, Sunday’s game between the Chiefs and the Vikings — featuring two of the three stars of the first (and perhaps only) season of Netflix’s Quarterback series — becomes the inaugural meeting between Mahomes and Cousins.
The two teams last squared off in 2019 at Arrowhead Stadium. Mahomes missed the game with a knee injury. The Chiefs nevertheless beat Cousins and the Vikings, with (activates Google) Matt Moore playing quarterback.
And here’s where I mention what will be, for many, an unpopular take. (Has that ever stopped me?) With Cousins having an ultimate measuring-stick game only five days away, he spent Tuesday afternoon at a baseball game.
Yes, Tuesday is the day off for NFL players. Yes, Cousins made it clear during the Quarterback series that he defiantly refuses to work on Tuesdays, when the Vikings are operating on a Sunday-to-Sunday schedule.
That’s fine. That’s his prerogative. But let’s not be surprised by the fact that Mahomes is currently the best quarterback in football, and Cousins is not. From a tangible perspective, Mahomes has the ability to improvise when the play called goes sideways, consistently making chicken salad out of chicken caca.
From an intangible perspective, Mahomes takes full advantage of the time he has between games to get ready for the next opponent. The great ones do.
That’s ultimately the question that everyone and anyone, in every and any professional endeavor featuring any degree of competition (and they ALL do), must ask themselves.
Do you want to be great?
Do you? If so, what are you willing to do to be great? What are you willing to sacrifice to be great? Are you willing to work every single day to be great? Because others who aspire to be great are doing exactly that.
More specifically, are you willing to pass on going to a baseball game five days before facing Patrick Mahomes in a game that will result in your team being either 1-4 or 2-3?
Cousins has every right to take the day off. Do you think Mahomes did? Do you think any of the great ones do?
That said, there’s a price to pay for obsessively and continuously grinding. It’s part of the sacrifice. Tom Brady’s maniacal work ethic might have contributed to some of the issues that have complicated his personal life over the past year or so. But he has seven Super Bowl rings, thanks to his God-given talent — and thanks to Brady’s full and complete commitment to squeezing every last ounce out of it and then some.
Again, Cousins has the right to take any and every Tuesday off that he wants. But as we search for reasons why there’s a ceiling over how much he can accomplish professionally, let’s not ignore a fairly important factor that is staring us right in the face.
