Kirk Cousins played yesterday like a man with something to offer an NFL team.
Kirk Cousins played yesterday like a man in sore need or more game time .
What we have here is a "situation." Pro Football Focus summarized it best in their Reaction Blog: 15:
"So what do we know now that we didn’t know previously? So Kirk Cousins has a good arm but was a little rusty? Personally I feel that was already in the books. Put me down as one of the people who believe the coaching staff got this completely the wrong way round. option but if Griffin is now healthy why not play him? It just feels like there’s more here than meets that eye.
"For reasons I can’t quite comprehend Redskins fans seem intent on beating up on one of the few parts of their team that has actually played quite well this year – the offensive line. It’s probably a relative thing as neither our grading nor the numbers support that view. The line is currently sixth in pass blocking efficiency, third by our grading and in terms of average time to pressure on five and seven step drops is equal sixth."
On a Sunday when every NFC Least team lost, the Redskins might have been a meaningless bright spot with a win. Both of the younger Beast QBs, Cousins and Nick Foles, had better days than their veteran peers.
|
PLAYER |
COMP % |
YDS |
AVE |
TDs |
INTs |
RATE |
|
Nick Foles |
62.5 |
428 |
8.9 |
3 |
1 |
103.5 |
|
Kirk Cousins |
64.4 |
381 |
8.5 |
3 |
2 |
94.8 |
|
Tony Romo |
60.4 |
358 |
7.5 |
2 |
2 |
80.0 |
|
Eli Manning |
58.0 |
156 |
5.0 |
0 |
5 |
31.9 |
A sportscaster on local CBS news called Cousins play "fluid" in the pocket. That works for me. The entire offense played better with the player who is the better fit for it right now.
Hog Heaven is by nature and training an analytic inclined to see a problem from every side. People see dispassion as no passion and that isn't true. We just find that when it comes to sports, conventional thinking is superficial and often wrong.
Fans who think Cousins will fix all the problems with the 2013 Redskins are wrong.
Fans who think that benching Robert Griffin III is without any merit are wrong.
Fans who see RGIII as a bust are dead wrong.
Fans who hope the Redskins lose with Cousins to show up the Shanahans are scumbag wrong.
Fans who think RG played no role in all this are star struck wrong.
Fans who hope Cousins does well so the team can move him should open their minds to other possibilities.
If Capt. Kirk does well, there will be as strong a case to keep him as to offer him in trade.
Robert Griffin will be a better NFL quarterback if he is pushed in a real competition from another NFL quarterback. That's not a small consideration.
We've argued that the Redskins cannot get max value from Cousins Draft position because he is better than a back-up but the position does not allow the 'Skins to rotate him in games by conventional thinking.
Conventional thinking led the Shanahans to under-develop Cousins as a player. In hindsight, game time for Cousins at season's start would have benefited everyone. The Redskins played Griffin preseason and in season pretty much the way Shanahan did. It's only fair to say that.
How did it come to this?
It's clear that the seeds for today's turmoil were planted that January day against Seattle. Yeah, you already knew that, but most fans seem to think all this stuff blew up a few weeks ago.
Hog Heaven is convinced that the "Deep Throat" behind these RG3gate stories is either Kyle Shanahan or Adam Archuleta. It's Washington. Watergate references are appropriate.
Nuggets from the Twitterverse
Redskins fans forget that other fans have their issues too. #howboutthemcowboys pic.twitter.com/kWLuNK146b
— Anthony Brown (@SkinsHogHeaven) December 16, 2013
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Looks like most Redskins fans believe if you're pro-RG3, you gotta be anti-Kirk (and vice versa). You realize they both play for WSH, right?
— Sporting Paragon (@SportingParagon) December 16, 2013
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In Washington's ugly loss to Atlanta, one thing is certain about Kirk Cousins: His potential is unclear http://t.co/woU9HHTXeK
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 16, 2013
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QB @KirkCousins8: "Numbers, at the end of the day, don’t really mean a whole lot to me. It’s about winning." http://t.co/emRFTUVW59
— Washington Redskins (@Redskins) December 16, 2013
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Need to Know: Redskins' Garçon nears receiving record http://t.co/0ArUq6Mqev
— Rich Tandler (@Rich_TandlerCSN) December 16, 2013
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DC sports media, PLEASE stop using anonymous sources. Just adding to Redskins turmoil. Name names, don't get played. #hiddenagenda
— Anthony Brown (@SkinsHogHeaven) December 16, 2013
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Funny to see Twitter explode with "Go for 2." And then crucify the decision afterwards. Really doesn't matter.
— Jack Anderson (@jackandersonIII) December 15, 2013
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Sincere or not, it's very astute of RGIII to be visibly supportive of Cousins today. #HTTR
— Anthony Brown (@SkinsHogHeaven) December 15, 2013
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