FLOWERY BRANCH — The Georgia Bulldogs are so good that they would make the College Football Playoff even if quarterback Carson Beck gets hurt. The Braves won the World Series without Ronald Acuna Jr. The Hawks won more of their games without Trae Young last season than they did with him.
The Falcons will not be fine if Kirk Cousins can’t stay in the lineup. The season rides on his right foot holding up. The rest of Cousins’ soon-to-be 36-year-old body must stay healthy, too, but the right Achilles was surgically repaired nine months ago. It became the most scrutinized tendon in Atlanta sports once Cousins signed with the Falcons in March.
So, it was great for the Falcons when Cousins declared on Day 1 of training camp practices that he’s ready to go full speed once the team picks up the tempo in the coming days.
“Obviously, in my situation, it’s great to be moving around in football cleats again and feeling stronger,” Cousins said Thursday. “Being able to compare it to six weeks ago, I feel much more athletic and much less pain. It’s just exciting to be back in it.
“I’m expecting to be able to practice full-go (unless), heaven forbid, there would be a setback.”
The possibility of a setback is a big caveat. Cousins is attempting to come back from an injury that only a few high-level athletes suffered so late in their careers. He already beat one of his benchmarks. Cousins said he’d hoped to be medically cleared to play by Aug. 1.
Now, Cousins said he must be careful not to push too hard.
“It was always a goal to speed up the process, but I also learned — this is my first time coming back from a surgery — you only want to speed up as much as your body lets you,” he said. “At the end of the day, speeding it up is not as important as letting your body heal. If anything, at times, I’ve tried to force it too much, and you’ve just got to let it happen.
“Learned a lot going through the process and now, really, the last part of the rehab is playing football.”
That’s how Cousins sees it. Falcons coach Raheem Morris favors a “more conservative” approach, Cousins said. Morris said there will be “modifications” in practice for Cousins as he works his way back from the injury. Cousins said Morris told him it’s fine to take days or practice periods off because “there’s no harm in that with how far away the Steelers game is.”
You can’t blame Morris for being extra cautious with Cousins before the Sept. 8 season opener versus Pittsburgh. The Falcons essentially are the same team as last season, when they finished third in the weak NFC South. Cousins is supposed to be the difference-maker. The Falcons are finished if he’s forced to miss significant time and either rookie Michael Penix Jr. or journeyman Taylor Heinicke must play.
Maybe Cousins can convince Morris to let him loose if he shares his “top-10 power ranking of (famous) people who have torn their Achilles.” Cousins said he compiled that list soon after he suffered his injury in October.
“I took a lot of hope knowing that a lot of people came back and lived really successful lives after a torn Achilles,” Cousins said. “Al Gore became vice president. There’s a lot of positives there. There’s hope for me in that case.”
For the record, Gore already was the U.S. vice president when he tore his Achilles. Also, he didn’t have to do his job while large, athletic men tried to stop him. The more relevant names Cousins mentioned are former NBA star Kobe Bryant and golfer Tiger Woods.
Bryant suffered his Achilles tear when he was 34 years old. He would go on to make three more All-Star, teams but really, those selections were more symbolic than earned. Woods was nearly 32 when he tore his Achilles, one of many injuries that derailed his career. He’s won 17 tournaments since then but only one major championship, the 2019 Masters.
The best model for Cousins is former NFL quarterback Vinny Testaverde. He was 35 when he tore an Achilles during the first game of the 1999 season with the Jets. Testaverde was back for the next season’s opener and started all 16 games that year and the next as the Jets went 19-13 (they lost a 2001 wild-card game at the Raiders with Testaverde passing for 268 yards on 40 attempts with three touchdowns and no interceptions).
We’ll see if Captain Kirk can become Captain Comeback. Cousins appeared to be moving normally during Thursday’s half-speed practice.
Said Cousins: “You are wondering if you are going to have to do it with your heel on the ground or not being able to get on the toe, so now that you can, you say, ‘This is gravy. I am back to my athletic self from before.’”
Cousins plans to keep doing it as the practices increase in speed and intensity. Morris said he and his staff want to limit Cousins during individual drills so “we don’t wear him out” for team repetitions. The contrasting approaches of player and coach will come to a head when the Falcons start playing exhibition games next month.
Morris was noncommittal about whether Cousins will play. Cousins said he told Morris that he wants to play some snaps in the exhibition games “but I think that ask fell on deaf ears.” Cousins said he believes that playing full speed, contact football is the best way to “keep closing the door” on his injury but that he understands his coach’s logic.
The Falcons are headed to Miami for joint practices in the days before their scheduled exhibition game Aug. 9. They’ll play two more exhibition games before the season opener. It’s a win for Cousins and the Falcons that he’s healthy enough to even consider playing in unofficial games.
“It’s a cautious relief, right?” Cousins said. “I think there’s a little bit of, ‘Let’s check back in February.”
If Cousins stays healthy, then he and the Falcons could be reflecting on a playoff run at that time. If he misses much time, then the Falcons will be lamenting a seventh consecutive year with no playoff appearances.
Everything is riding on Cousins’ right Achilles.
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