Start Cousins & Try To Make Playoffs

[emoses14]

Rich Tandler article supplied the following nugget in an article highlighting Gruden's comments that we can't blame Cousins for last night:

Cousins has now appeared in 10 NFL games, five starts and five relief appearances, in his three seasons in the league. He has thrown 15 interceptions and lost three fumbles. That’s an unacceptable turnover rate, to say the least.

[OldSchool]

Whether it was a disparate response to a game spinning rapidly out of control or a crisis of confidence as a couple of posters suggest what we all can agree is reckless play of this sort renders him worse than useless. Cousins needs to eliminate these episodes from his game immediately. In my mind needs to improve two important aspects of his game to become starter material or even high backup level QB:

1. Eliminate the reckless throws. Even the best QBs throws interceptions but Kirk makes reckless, stupid throws and worse one of these can lead to more. This is his biggest problem and a deal breaker that must be eliminated immediately. I think he should be able to deal with this quickly with some coaching or he should start thinking again about medical school. He has a couple of games coming up where he'll probably be presented with the same challenge of coping with a stronger team pulling away from the Redskins. If so these games are opportunities to demonstrate whether he can discipline himself and warrant further playing time. If he can't restrain himself after this horrible performance I am going to agree with his critics. If Cousins implodes again the Skins should give McCoy a chance to play.

2. If he can eliminate the recklessness the next challenge is learning how to perform strong down the stretch is when a close game, winnable game is on the line. This one he'll probably need multiple opportunities to prove he can get over the hump, but he won't be around long enough to get over the second challenge if he doesn't eliminate the reckless throws and earn the additional playing time need to learn how to close in the NFL.

[emoses14]

Counter point:

Asked #Giants DB Zack Bowman what it was like going against #Redskins Kirk Cousins tonight: "It's like Christmas.

[emoses14]

Rich Tandler article supplied the following nugget in an article highlighting Gruden's comments that we can't blame Cousins for last night:

Cousins has now appeared in 10 NFL games, five starts and five relief appearances, in his three seasons in the league. He has thrown 15 interceptions and lost three fumbles. That’s an unacceptable turnover rate, to say the least.

More from MR. Tandler:

[Cousins] now has 15 interceptions in his 10 NFL appearances. By comparison, Robert Griffin III had just five picks as a rookie and he has 13 games with no interceptions and just two games where he has thrown two picks. Cousins brings a lot to the table but ball protection is not among his assets.

But at least he has that perfect west coast quick release, right?

[mastdark81]

Rich Tandler article supplied the following nugget in an article highlighting Gruden's comments that we can't blame Cousins for last night:

Cousins has now appeared in 10 NFL games, five starts and five relief appearances, in his three seasons in the league. He has thrown 15 interceptions and lost three fumbles. That’s an unacceptable turnover rate, to say the least.

More from MR. Tandler:

[Cousins] now has 15 interceptions in his 10 NFL appearances. By comparison, Robert Griffin III had just five picks as a rookie and he has 13 games with no interceptions and just two games where he has thrown two picks. Cousins brings a lot to the table but ball protection is not among his assets.

But at least he has that perfect west coast quick release, right?

Yes that pre-determined release that he barely go away from no matter how many defenders are on a guy. We seen this last year and in his rookie year. Whats new?

He's a young Rex Grossman. Good but consistently turn the ball over. He's played in 11 games and have 14 TD's but 15 interceptions. To be fair in the games he's actually started he's still has a 10td/11int. THERE ISN'T ONE GAME KIRK HAS STARTED THAT HE HAS NOT THROWN AN INTERCEPTION!!!! NOT ONE!

Only hope for him is he is still young and can eliminate those mistakes, but for people to say he's better than RG3 is ridiculous!

[hanburgerheel]

I think both QB's have more downside than upside to make them worthwhile, long-term franchise QB's. Griffin has athleticism and confidence, but his body and inability to find comfort int he pocket make him a liability. Cousins has a glaring turnover frequency. He is easily rattled (although, I'd say Griffin is, too in a different way). Cousins seems to have less sacks than Griffin. That may have something to do with the way defenses blitz him and the O-Line can protect him better, I dunno. Regardless, both QB's have weaknesses that are huge. Griffin won't stay healthy long enough to ever find out how good he could be. Cousins is just as likely to throw an interception as he is to thread a TD-needle pass, but he can do both very well. The Redskins have a superior WR corps and running back. That is about it.

[emoses14]

I think both QB's have more downside than upside to make them worthwhile, long-term franchise QB's. Griffin has athleticism and confidence, but his body and inability to find comfort int he pocket make him a liability. Cousins has a glaring turnover frequency. He is easily rattled (although, I'd say Griffin is, too in a different way). Cousins seems to have less sacks than Griffin. That may have something to do with the way defenses blitz him and the O-Line can protect him better, I dunno. Regardless, both QB's have weaknesses that are huge. Griffin won't stay healthy long enough to ever find out how good he could be. Cousins is just as likely to throw an interception as he is to thread a TD-needle pass, but he can do both very well. The Redskins have a superior WR corps and running back. That is about it.

I agree with this assessment with Cousins (more downside than upside to being a franchise QB). I think the only legitimate knock on Griffin is the fact that he's been hurt/knocked out of games and came back too early and played last year (though I can see this as a positive testament to his toughness pretty easily, too). I agree that Griffin's biggest hurdle BY FAR is staying on the goddamn field long enough to develop. That's where the real problem has been (no preseason last year, out now with a brand new offense to deal with) to me.

I have always and continue to find John Keim very astute in his observations. Here are a few observations that I happen to think are spot on from this piece on ESPN: http://espn.go.com/blog/washington-reds ... ins-giants

-I remember conversations with other beat writers in the summer about the whole Cousins-Griffin discussion taking place miles away. Were we missing something? Not sure anyone there every day felt Cousins was somehow playing lights out. You saw good; you saw bad. My point on this topic at the time: It was more about how Griffin didn’t look – like a guy ready to become a consistent pocket passer. That’s why I kept saying they needed time and would endure growing pains. Cousins, when on, looks comfortable and sharp and makes throws Griffin might not because he’s willing to take a shot. But it wasn’t that Cousins looked great in camp, it was that Griffin didn’t, either. For this franchise to go somewhere, Griffin must be that sort of player.
-In 30 games, Griffin has turned the ball over 26 times. In 11 games, Cousins has turned the ball over 18 times. Some of that stems from situations, entering late and needing to force throws. However, Cousins tends to force throws throughout the game, so that’s not the only reason they happen. The game got out of hand because of his turnovers; well, in part because of them.
-I don’t quite get the satisfaction some fans get in seeing Cousins fail. It does not make Griffin better and when he returns, he must still prove he can be an effective drop-back passer in this system. Regardless of what Cousins does, Griffin has questions he must answer as well. Doesn't mean he won't answer them, but they exist and will continue until he reaches a certain level. He's not the first young quarterback facing such questions.
-I did think Cousins played a mature game against Jacksonville (yes, I thought Griffin would have a huge game that day as well). Cousins was poised throughout that game, just as he was in the first half against the Eagles.
-Cousins is the sort to overprepare, so I sometimes wonder when games aren’t going a certain way and he or the team is losing control, how that plays with his emotions and leads him to certain decisions/throws. I don’t know. And for a guy who likes being overprepared, how did the short week toy with him? He certainly rarely looked comfortable Thursday.

[gushogs]

Haven't read all the posts here and I assume this has been said before, but last nights Kirk is the same guy that started the last 3 games of last season...
It was so bad I missed Mark Brunell.... 8 straight Ls against NFC East foes...

HaiL,

[Skins Fan in Indy]

This is no doubt that this is Cousins job to lose. In my opinion as of this moment in time RGIII is still the QB of the Washington Redskins. If Cousins plays well and gets better each game and if they are in every game then Cousins will be the QB for the rest of the season. Now here is the tricky part and please show mercy on me. If Cousins does win the job then he should be the franchise QB of the Washington Redskins. I knew this RGIII/Cousins thing would eventually be a distraction even thou this happened by injury and low and behold here we are. 1 stays and 1 goes....Period!

[SkinsJock]

It's not at cut and dried - they could both be here ...

Griffin, only if he clearly demonstrates that he's going to be the type of QB that the franchise needs and Cousins may be here as a back up unless he clearly gets a lot better and shows that he can be a starting QB

Griffin only needs time but Cousins needs to improve a lot

[OldSchool]

Very disheartening game last night, very surprising and disheartening after a nice Jacksonville win and a very encouraging performance in Philly. Kirk Cousins implosion in the second half destroyed any chance the Skins had of a comeback although other weaknesses were apparent also, the Skins got exposed last night. The Redskins are a lot more like a 3-13 team than I would imagine after playing well the last couple of weeks.

Its tough to envision wins against the Seahawks or Cardinals, at best I think we see better fundamentals across the board and disciplined play from Cousins. We've seen Kirk play a lot better, his implosion was the worse he's ever played.

[Deadskins]

Whether it was a disparate response to a game spinning rapidly out of control or a crisis of confidence as a couple of posters suggest what we all can agree is reckless play of this sort renders him worse than useless.

Look up the word "disparate" before you continue to use it where you obviously mean "desperate."

[Deadskins]

Griffin won't stay healthy long enough to ever find out how good he could be.

Please stop with this nonsense. This is the first injury that has caused Griffin to miss more than one game. We've already seen how good he can be in 2012.

[markshark84]

Griffin won't stay healthy long enough to ever find out how good he could be.

Please stop with this nonsense. This is the first injury that has caused Griffin to miss more than one game. We've already seen how good he can be in 2012.

I won't say it, but your post.....

He was great in 2012 because he wasn't playing injured or impaired as a result of recovering from an injury. As you said, I think we all know how great RGIII can be --- we saw it. The real question is does the franchise want to bet the house on a guy that has had 2 ACL tears and an ankle dislocation over the past 5 years? Those are serious injuries at a position where the team NEEDS consistency in order to be successful.

Cousins is most likely going to start for the next 5-7 games (have we even been given a timeframe on RGIII's recovery). I think we'll all know where Cousins stands at that point. If he continues to be inconsistent, RGIII will start again and hopefully have 5 games to prove he deserves to be the starter.

[Deadskins]

Griffin won't stay healthy long enough to ever find out how good he could be.

Please stop with this nonsense. This is the first injury that has caused Griffin to miss more than one game. We've already seen how good he can be in 2012.

I won't say it, but your post.....

He was great in 2012 because he wasn't playing injured or impaired as a result of recovering from an injury. As you said, I think we all know how great RGIII can be --- we saw it. The real question is does the franchise want to bet the house on a guy that has had 2 ACL tears and an ankle dislocation over the past 5 years? Those are serious injuries at a position where the team NEEDS consistency in order to be successful.

Cousins is most likely going to start for the next 5-7 games (have we even been given a timeframe on RGIII's recovery). I think we'll all know where Cousins stands at that point. If he continues to be inconsistent, RGIII will start again and hopefully have 5 games to prove he deserves to be the starter.

Yes, but I'm so tired about hearing how he can't stay healthy or is injury prone, when that's the farthest thing from the truth. The injury he sustained in 2012 caused him to miss a total of 1 start. Whether he was playing injured or impaired in 2013, the fact remains he started every game before being sat down, and didn't sustain any new injuries. I'm not sure what your definition of "consistency" is, but I don't see how he could have possibly been more consistent given the circumstances.

[StorminMormon86]

Am I the only one who's scared that neither QB is going to turn into "the guy"?

[EA7649]

Am I the only one who's scared that neither QB is going to turn into "the guy"?

It crossed my mind. I think Robert should be given another chance with him having the skills, and if worse comes to worse in a few years draft another qb. I just have little confidence in Cousins. He sucked last season and EVEN when he had time to throw he wasn't accurate. EXACTLY what happened in the 4th quarter for the Eagles game. So I don't think the excuse of the oline is legit.

[masterkwon]

BobG can't/won't be able to stay healthy.

The Cousins/McCoy controversy is now on.

[grampi]

Griffin won't stay healthy long enough to ever find out how good he could be.

Please stop with this nonsense. This is the first injury that has caused Griffin to miss more than one game. We've already seen how good he can be in 2012.

That's a ridiculous statement...he may have played all last season, but he still missed it because he basically played the entire season in an unhealthy state...

[grampi]

BobG can't/won't be able to stay healthy.

The Cousins/McCoy controversy is now on.

That could very well be....the Skins go through QBs like the Kardashians go through husbands...

[SkinsJock]

the only good thing to come out of that game is that it really made a lot of posters here very upset

there's work to be done for sure but I don't think it's as bad as some are making out

[StorminMormon86]

the only good thing to come out of that game is that it really made a lot of posters here very upset

Uh...why wouldn't people be upset after that game?!

[riggofan]

the only good thing to come out of that game is that it really made a lot of posters here very upset

there's work to be done for sure but I don't think it's as bad as some are making out

I guess you never know! I will say I thought it was bizarre for the team to play as relatively well as they did against the Eagles and then look like a completely different team just a few days later. That stuff happens in the NFL though.

Look at the Falcons v Vikings game this weekend. In week 3, the Falcons humiliated the Bucs 56 - 14. A week later they get thrashed 41-28 by the Vikings. Crazy.

Guess we'll see.

[SkinsJock]

the only good thing to come out of that game is that it really made a lot of posters here very upset

Uh...why wouldn't people be upset after that game?!

take it how you want - I see it as a bad loss but I don't see that we're that far off - we had a bad game is all

we're dealing with a severe lack of depth and we did not come out of the eagles game very well - it happens

I'm not looking at this team as being that bad - in 2 weeks, we might be 1-5 but we're still not as bad as our record indicates

I'm glad that some here think we are - they're mistaken

[riggofan]

Its not hard to be mistaken about this team. They're consistently inconsistent.