NFC Notes: Lions, Packers, Vikings, Kirk Cousins

Lions

• Lions WR Kalif Raymond was fined $15,138 for unnecessary roughness.

Packers

Packers QB Jordan Love told WR Christian Watson to remain confident and said he has complete trust in him.

“My message to Christian is just keep your confidence, don’t let any of that stuff ever [make] your confidence waver or anything like that,” Love said, via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “I got complete trust in Christian. I know he knows this, but I trust all my receivers. The ball’s going to come out regardless. Just keep that confidence. When you’re losing, a lot of people would point fingers and things like that. It happens. It comes with the territory. He’s a professional. He knows that. That’s everybody in the locker room. I told him to keep that confidence up, keep making plays, and move on to the next one.”

Love took the blame and said he could’ve made much better throws to Watson.

“A lot of it isn’t his fault,” Love said. “I could be better for him and things like that. Just keep that confidence high. I trust these guys that will go up from here.”

Watson has faith that the offense will begin to click and is focused on taking advantage of his opportunities.

“At some point, it’s going to click,” Watson said. “It’s tough mentally just knowing it hasn’t happened yet, but at the end of the day, I can’t control or change anything that’s happened in the past. I’m just focused on this next one.”

• Packers OL Zach Tom was fined $5,534 for unnecessary roughness.
• Packers HC Matt LaFleur on Love after the Week 11 win: “Really proud of Jordan, just the poise that he showed, the leadership that he showed. He made some big-time plays.” (Ryan Wood)
• Love after the win over the Chargers: “That was one of our better games in my career as a starter so far, but it’s everybody. To get a dub and pull out a close win like this, it feels great.” (Wood)
• LaFleur says he doesn’t think RB Aaron Jones’ knee injury is long-term: “It looked bad. Seeing it live, it didn’t look good. But he’s in good spirits in there, so hopefully it’s just a short-term deal.” (Wood)

Vikings

Vikings QB Kirk Cousins made his first public comments following his season-ending injury and revealed that while he plans to return to the field, his future in Minnesota is currently uncertain.

“You have a lot of thoughts go through your head, and one of them was: ‘Is this the last time I play football?'” Cousins said, via Kevin Seifert of ESPN. “Now a couple weeks removed I can say, ‘No, it’s not going to be.’ I’m excited to write the next chapter and see what God wants to do with it.”

“Certainly your mind goes there and you know that’s coming,” Cousins said of his expiring contract. “But similar to what we said in April or August, March will happen in March. February will happen in February. Those conversations will happen, but it’s just not time yet. We’ve got so much to focus on with this season. Guys are playing so well. And that’s where our attention really needs to be.”

Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell will certainly advocate for Cousins to make his return as the starting quarterback when he is healthy.

“He knows our offense,” O’Connell said. “He knows it as well as any of us pretty much. Whether he is watching some third downs or first and second downs, trying to find a good look for an explosive or a keeper play-pass. It is kind of similar to our normal dialogue of Monday and Tuesday and as he gets into his tape study, I just asked him, ‘I just want you to be involved. I just want you to be around our team. Be around.’ He is going to start traveling when he gets cleared to do that. I think it [is] a huge bonus for everybody to have him around.”