Atlanta Falcons Quarterback Kirk Cousins and former NFL teammate Mack Brown agree on two things: Both predict the Kansas City Chiefs will win Sunday’s Super Bowl, and both say their Christian faith connects them beyond the game.
The two met when playing for the Washington Commanders.
“I just came to training camp, and I remember Kirk just took the starting job and being the undrafted free agent. I remember being in the locker room and hitting it off with Kirk from the moment he called out my name,” Brown explained in an interview.
When he met Cousins, Brown was at the lowest point of his life, dealing with personal injury and uncertainty in his career.
“My confidence was at my lowest peak of my life,” he said.
Before he could finish, Cousins chimed in: “I’ve got to give my part of this story too, because I had been in Washington, it was my fourth year, when Mack joined our team. Football’s a stressful deal for me. It’s very competitive. I remember meeting Mack at practice and being around him, whether it was the cafeteria or the locker room, or the practice field, and there was a joy that exuded from Mack, you could tell his life was built on more than football. We were together for three years in Washington. I just felt, that never stopped.
“The impact he had on me is how we as Christians should have on one another.”
“The impact he had on me is how we as Christians should have on one another.”
Despite going down different professional paths — Brown left the NFL and Cousins started playing quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons — the two have remained friends.
And this past season, Cousins was the one facing doubts. He came to the Falcons with high hopes but was plagued by illness and demoted to second quarterback.
“Anytime you change teams, there’s a lot of tough challenges,” he explained. “It’s tough. You have to learn your way around a new culture, a new playbook, new players around you. While there were growing pains, I also think the season started off with a positive start. We were 6 and 3 and we were doing a lot of positive things, but with the combination of some injuries where my body wasn’t feeling quite right you start making poor decisions with a football and then I think you start to press a little bit when things aren’t going your way and it starts to snowball around you, and next thing you know, you look back and you’re not in the playoffs and you’re the backup and you’re going, ‘Wow, this got away from me.’ It’s certainly tough to be there and watch that happen.”
With that behind him, Cousins is looking past the defeat of the last season and toward the future.
“I got to move forward now and believe and stay the course and believe that tough times don’t last, and tough people do, and good things are in store and trust that the Lord has a plan in it,” he said.
Brown knows the pain of football losses and offers advice to his friend. After leaving the league, he couldn’t bear to watch football for two years
“You have to realize what you bring to the table,” he advised. “I knew God gave me a lot of talent, but I had to reach back out to God when I hit rock bottom in my football career.”
Cousins concurred.
“I think the fact that I’ve had the pro football career I’ve had is because God has orchestrated it. It’s not something I’ve just done on my own. We are blessed to have lived a dream being professional athletes. I wonder sometimes if God allowed us in his plan to be professional athletes because he knew it would keep us dependent on him.”