Kirk Cousins had a chance to be the hero with less than three minutes left in a wild-card test against New Orleans on Sunday, with his Minnesota Vikings up three points and facing a third-and-19 at their own 38-yard line.
The Saints rushed only three, and for some swashbuckling quarterbacks — think Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson and Aaron Rodgers — that would have been like refusing to double-team Kobe Bryant in the waning seconds of a game and daring him to beat you.
Cousins doesn’t have that reputation.