Raheem Morris knows Kirk Cousins well enough to talk about him without hesitation, and he didn’t hold back when asked about the quarterback ahead of the 49ers’ matchup with the Raiders.
Cousins has been one of the biggest reasons Las Vegas has climbed out of the bottom-feeder category this season. Through Week 9, he’s thrown for 2,124 yards, which ranks third in the league, along with 19 touchdowns, second-most, and just five interceptions. For a quarterback at his age, that kind of production hasn’t exactly been easy to predict.
Morris, though, wasn’t surprised.
“Kirk's one of the all-time progression quarterbacks that the league has seen,” Morris said. “You go out and you get a guy like Kirk and you get a guy that can operate your offense at a very high level, control things that you want to get controlled.
He's a computer during the week. He's taking it all in, going through the process, going through his process.”
Morris went on to describe the way Cousins handles the game once Sunday arrives.
“Then once he gets to the game, he's just able to allow himself to go out there and play. He can go through his process and do all the things that's operating.
He's operating the right way, particularly at the end of the game and the Jets, big-time game last week for those guys. They started hot and for those guys to pick it up like they did, it's no shock.
He's playing with a genuine enthusiasm that I'm used to seeing from him."
That familiarity matters. Morris spent two seasons with Cousins on the Atlanta Falcons and has seen plenty of him up close, including numerous starts he handled in Atlanta. If anybody on the 49ers’ side can speak plainly about Cousins, it’s Morris.
Still, knowing a quarterback and stopping him are two different things. The 49ers had that same kind of confidence entering Week 7 against the Falcons and Michael Penix Jr., and it didn’t automatically translate into an advantage. Several things held the defense back in that game, including the pass rush.
That won’t be the case Sunday against the Raiders. Morris may have plenty of respect for Cousins, but once the game kicks off, he’ll be trying to make life as difficult as possible for him.
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