
One of the better athlete clichés is some variation of "I don't care if I [blank] as long as we win."
Those most directly responsible for the Vikings passing game have been given ample opportunity to fill in that blank in the last few days, after Minnesota threw just 10 times in a 28-12 victory over the Falcons in Sunday's opener.
Comments from Kirk Cousins and co. on the subject seem sincere – a credit to the unselfish culture of Mike Zimmer's team and perhaps just as much to an understanding that Sunday's game was both the smallest of sample sizes and the largest of outliers.
An NFL.com story noted that, per the Elias Sports Bureau, the Vikings' win Sunday was just the third time in the last decade that an NFL team attempted 10 or fewer passes. And it was the first time since 1977 that the Vikings did so in a victory.
Still, not every team would have handled such a lopsided offensive output with grace.
"Probably not the Cowboys," Zimmer said Wednesday with a laugh of the teams he worked for from 1994-2006 as defensive backs coach and then defensive coordinator. "But guys just want to win, really. I think we have a lot of unselfish guys. And again, the game dictated that we play that way. Each game is not going to play out like that."
When asked again by reporters Wednesday about his light workload, Cousins reiterated the do-what-it-takes mantra and added that he has no desire to drop back 50-plus times against Green Bay on Sunday, as he did last year in rallying the Vikings to a Week 2 tie at Lambeau Field.
It's almost certain, though, that he will have to throw far more than he did Sunday. Cousins' previous career-low in an NFL start was 15 attempts and he has attempted at least 20 passes in 71 of his 74 career starts.