Trip to Washington won't be a revenge game for Kirk Cousins, Kevin O'Connell

Kirk Cousins and Kevin O'Connell definitely did not channel their inner Patrick Peterson and Jordan Hicks when asked to share some feelings about facing their former team at Washington on Sunday.

Three days after Peterson and Hicks broke from traditional NFL decorum by taunting and trash-talking their former team during and after a win over the Cardinals, Cousins and O'Connell threw a couple of wet blankets on any hint that this week's game means anything more to them than an opportunity for their current franchise to be 7-1 for the first time since Brett Favre was leading the 2009 team to a 10-1 start.

"I spent six years there and I have a lot of great memories," said Cousins, a fourth-round pick of Washington's in 2012. "Just think very highly of a lot of people that I worked with there. Coaches, players, teammates."

He played on not one, but two franchise tags before Washington let him walk out the door as a young man with solid stats for Minnesota and the league's first fully-guaranteed multi-year contract. Why didn't it work out?

Cousins shrugged and accepted his share of the blame.

"I would say anytime you go .500, it's a league that you want to win; you got to win," said Cousins, who went 26-31-1, including 0-1 in the playoffs, in Washington. "It's what have you done lately, and you're only as good as your last play. When you're .500, it's hard to have that staying power anyplace."

O'Connell spent three seasons in Washington, two as quarterbacks coach in 2017-18 and one as offensive coordinator in 2019. He was Cousins' position coach in 2017.

"I don't think that Kirk or myself have thought much about that," O'Connell said. "Anytime you go on the road as a 6-1 team in this league, I don't think you can expect an extremely warm welcome. They've won three in a row so they're kind of at a critical point in their season."

Cousins said his favorite memory in Washington was what happened back at the team facility after winning the NFC East at Philadelphia the day after Christmas in 2015.

"We pulled into the facility at 2 a.m., 3 a.m. and the bus couldn't move because it was just packed with fans," Cousins said. "I'll never forget that. The bus finally gets through the gate, drops us off and now we got to go back out in our cars.

"My wife came to pick me up. She and I will never forget trying to leave that practice facility and being unable to do it because people were all over our car knocking on the window. It was just tremendous. That's really what it's all about, being able to put your fans in that position to be excited about your team. Because of our start, we're in a similar position this year."

O'Connell said he grew as a coach in Washington because of Cousins and "how he challenged me as a coach." It was O'Connell's third season in coaching.

Cousins and O'Connell opened their weekly news conferences by offering their condolences to former coach Mike Zimmer and his family two days after Zimmer's son and the team's former co-defensive coordinator, Adam, died at 38.

"Adam was a tremendous person, tremendous football coach," Cousins said. "Everyone here loved working with him, spoke so highly of him. It's tragic. Just praying for the family."

Defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson (calf), safety Cam Bynum (personal matter) and receiver Jalen Nailor (illness) did not practice Wednesday. Limited were cornerback Cameron Dantzler (neck) and Za'Darius Smith (knee). Fully participating but on the injury report was receiver Adam Thielen (knee).

Tomlinson is the biggest injury concern this week after tight end Irv Smith Jr. (ankle) was placed on injured reserve. O'Connell called Tomlinson "week to week." He said Tomlinson could be a game-time decision this week, but the team will err on the side of caution.