Kirk Cousin’s only touchdown pass Sunday afternoon came at just the right time for the Minnesota Vikings as he found Kyle Rudolph in the back corner of the end zone for a game-winning touchdown against the New Orleans Saints in the first round of the playoffs.
Understandably, the Vikings quarterback was pretty hyped up after the huge win.
Cousins delivered an impassioned victory speech to his fellow Vikings teammates in the postgame locker room and called back to his famous catchphrase from his time with the Washington Redskins, capping his words those three little words: “You like that?!” It was all it took to send the room into an uproar, as you can see in the video capturing the moment below.
As Cousins also acknowledged in his speech, the Vikings (11-6) earned a “team” win when they knocked off the third-seeded Saints (13-4) in the wild-card round of the playoffs. Running back Dalvin Cook shouldered the scoring load, rushing for 94 yards and two touchdowns, while the defense forced the Saints to turn the ball over twice in a single game for the first time all season.
The Saints only got to Cousins two times, which allowed him to go 19-of-31 passing for 242 yards along with his 4-yard touchdown pass to keep the season alive in overtime.
The Vikings now advance to face the top-seeded San Francisco 49ers (13-3) at 3:35 p.m. CT in next Saturday’s NFC divisional game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
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Cousins’ Catchphrase Caught Fire in 2016
Here’s the story, in case you’re unfamiliar: Cousins helped the Redskins erase a 24-0 deficit against Tampa Bay and led them on the largest comeback in franchise history for a 31-30 victory. As he was walking toward the locker room, he turned to a group of reporters waiting for postgame interviews and energetically shouted, “You like that?! You like that?!”
It was a funny moment that could have very easily remained between him and those present in the room that day, but all it took was one camera to be rolling for the scene to be turned into a popular Vine clip and be released to the internet masses for meme manufacturing.
If Cousins was being honest, there are probably a few times he has wished it never became such a viral sensation in the first place. Some of his opponents have ripped off his catchphrase over the years, including former teammate Preston Smith after the Vikings’ recent loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Cousins Delivers in His Biggest Moment Yet
There have been exciting moments in Cousins’ career, but nothing else in his eight NFL seasons compares with him throwing a game-winning touchdown pass to win his first playoff game ever.
Cousins played in garbage time for the Washington Redskins during his rookie season in 2012, completing three of 10 passes for a meaningless 31 yards. He returned to the playoff stage with the Redskins again during the 2015 playoffs and also threw just one touchdown with no interceptions, but it wasn’t nearly enough to avoid a 35-18 loss to the Packers.
Best throw of Kirk Cousins’ life. Didn’t think he had it in him. Never has had, especially in all those rivalry games vs Dallas.
Things began to change for Cousins when he moved on from the Redskins and signed a three-year, $84 million contract with the Vikings that came fully guaranteed, which is unheard of in the NFL. He didn’t quite get the Vikings to the playoffs in his debut season, but he did complete a career-best 70.1 percent of his passes for 4,298 yards and 30 touchdowns with 10 interceptions.
Cousins has played well for stretches through the 2019 season, not always needing to be the source of power for the offense with Dalvin Cook serving as a dynamic rushing weapon, but there have also been some mistakes that weigh heavier against him than some of the league’s more successful quarterbacks. Then again, after Sunday, who knows. Maybe Cousins’ errors will fade away if the Vikings find themselves still playing in a few weeks.
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Kirk Cousins Pulls out Classic ‘You Like That?!’ After Vikings’ Win [WATCH]