While Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey made headlines this week for his candid — and occasionally unflattering — evaluations of quarterbacks around the NFL, he reserved some more complimentary words for Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins.
"I think he's good. I think he's a winner," Ramsey said in an interview with GQ magazine. "Coming off the play-action, he's the best quarterback in the league."
The numbers would back up Ramsey's evaluation. According to Pro Football Focus, Cousins had the league's second-highest passer rating off play-action last season at 118.7. That success, Cousins said Thursday, is a result of diligent film study — but it can be undone if there's not the same attention to detail from the rest of the offense.
"I think you want to watch tape of yourself from the camera angle being at linebacker level," he said. "You want to see, 'What does it look like from a linebacker's point of view [with] my action? And then what does my run game look like from that point of view? How dissimilar or similar are they?' And then, if the right guard on a run play is firing off the ball, and on a play-action pass is setting, I can fake as hard as I want; the linebacker's going to feel that difference in the O-lineman's demeanor.
"So, making sure your linemen are firing off with low pad level, even if they're not going down the field to make the block, to give that illusion initially really helps. And then, you've got to have a good mesh with the running back. Although he's looking in protection and has to have his eyes on the pass game, to be able to really sell that mesh, like he's trying to run the football, makes a big difference. And then you want to show the ball, snap that ball back and get your eyes up."
Zimmer on joint practices
After wrapping up two days of joint sessions with the Jaguars, Zimmer said he'd consider holding practices with another team again.
"I think it depends on the team and things like that," he said. "Both teams were very respectful of one another. There was really no fighting or nothing like that. No trash talking. It went really smooth."
The Vikings also spent two days in Cincinnati in 2016 before the preseason opener.