Falcons trying to dispel Week 1 Kirk Cousins narrative in latest practice

After the way Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins looked in his first start with the team last Sunday, you had better believe the questions started coming rapidfire.

Of course, Cousins was playing his first game since suffering an Achilles tear last year with the Minnesota Vikings. So, with how inconsistent Cousins' performance looked in Week 1, people had plenty of questions about the veteran's health.

Every injury is different. Aaron Rodgers might be older, but he did suffer his injury several weeks before Cousins endured his. Rodgers didn't necessarily look unhealthy in his first game back with the New York Jets, but Cousins showed signs that he was far from 100 percent.

For starters, it's been pointed out time and time again that Cousins was kept in pistol or shotgun formation on 96 percent of his snaps versus the Pittsburgh Steelers this past Sunday.

Former pro quarterback and current analyst, Chase Daniel, noticed as much and figured there was no way Cousins could possibly be healthy.

After hearing, reading and seeing all of the questions and narratives being written about Cousins and his health, the Falcons appear to be trying to push back.

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Is Cousins healthy?

Well, if the Falcons have anything to say about it, currently, they'd like it to seem as though their veteran starter is, indeed, perfectly fine.

The Falcons might be trying to force the issue with Kirk Cousins

Videos of Thursday's practice began to surface over the afternoon, and sure enough, there was Cousins taking snaps from under center.

On one hand, this could give fans a better perspective and calm their nerves a bit. If Cousins is healthy enough to take snaps under center, maybe the game plan was simply an odd one thrown out there by Zac Robinson on Sunday.

The Falcons very well could have watched film, made adjustments and are now doing things a bit differently with Cousins.

Or, they could be out to prove that Cousins is "healthy," while they await an eventual quarterback change.

That change isn't likely to happen this year, but if Cousins continues to struggle, how much longer does Atlanta wait before inserting rookie Michael Penix Jr.? In the end, Atlanta has already proven they do not care about the money. If they did, the team wouldn't have drafted Penix in the first place.

But, they did.

Maybe, in the back of their minds, the Falcons knew there was a chance Cousins wasn't going to be fully healthy. A guy his age might not come back cleanly from an Achilles tear. Still, the Falcons paid him a pretty penny. So, all of this is still one gigantic algebraic mess of a problem.

The point of the matter is, if Cousins is indeed not 100 percent healthy, the Falcons are doing he and the team a disservice by throwing him out there and forcing the issue. This has to be about the betterment of the Atlanta Falcons, period.

If Cousins isn't healthy, don't play him. If he doesn't give this team the best opportunity to win by running the offense as a whole, don't play him.

We'll have to see how this shakes out in Week 2.