Last week I wrote an article saying that we need to tap the brakes on the Kirk Cousins bandwagon and actually let him play against a real team before we jump to such conclusions. Well ladies and gentlemen the time to jump is now. Kirk Cousins' performance today was amazing in multiple respects.
So from a basic statistical look he had fantastic numbers: 30/48 (62.5%) 427 Yards 3 TDs and 1 Interception, numbers we haven't seen in D.C. in a long time. Cousins currently has a 105.8 QB rating which is good for 5th best in the NFL.
A slightly more in depth observation shows that MANY of Cousins' incompletions were right on the money in pressure situations but were forced out by defensive backs or dropped. Cousins rarely missed on his 48 pass attempts. His deep balls were always right there, he didn't overthrow on any long pass attempts. He also wasn't sacked and showed good awareness in both moving around the pocket and getting rid of the football on time, again almost always on the money.
Additionally, Jay Gruden put the team on Cousins' back as the running game was not there as it was against Jacksonville. Alfred Morris averaged 3.3 yards on 22 carries and Cousins was forced to move the ball through the air. He did so admirably, throwing for a whopping 427 yards. It's a lot harder to move the ball when you're one dimensional as the defense has a leg up on what you're going to do. It's hard to run when you can't pass and vice-versa but Cousins showed he can come through when we need him.
The one flaw everyone noticed at the end of the game was that Cousins isn't "clutch". Now this is a hard trait to define statistically or what have you, and is more anecdotal than anything but it's legitimate. It's sort of the like the concept of momentum in a game, hard to define but you know when it's there. With the team down a score Cousins came onto the field with 7 minutes to go in the 4th looking to even out the score. Instead of driving down he threw an interception, it looked like a mis-communication but nonetheless he turned it over. After getting the ball back Cousins lead a scoring drive to bring them to within 3. The defense held strong and got them the ball back on the Eagles' 44 yard line, maybe 9 yards away from field goal range. Cousins threw three straight incompletions to turn the ball over on downs and go on to lose the game by 3 points.
Here's what this means, if Cousins continues to play like this then Jay Gruden can't let RG3 play. The good from Cousins outweighed the bad. It's not a case of who has more upside or who did the team give up 2 first rounders to draft, it's a simple case of don't fix it if it ain't broken. Why would you bench a top 5 NFL quarterback? You simply can't justify it, especially when RG3 hasn't played a full season of NFL football straight through without getting hurt. If Cousins puts up 4 consecutive stinkers after this then we can talk, but at the very least he's earned the opportunity to show what he's capable of this season.
Other notes from the game:
So from a basic statistical look he had fantastic numbers: 30/48 (62.5%) 427 Yards 3 TDs and 1 Interception, numbers we haven't seen in D.C. in a long time. Cousins currently has a 105.8 QB rating which is good for 5th best in the NFL.
A slightly more in depth observation shows that MANY of Cousins' incompletions were right on the money in pressure situations but were forced out by defensive backs or dropped. Cousins rarely missed on his 48 pass attempts. His deep balls were always right there, he didn't overthrow on any long pass attempts. He also wasn't sacked and showed good awareness in both moving around the pocket and getting rid of the football on time, again almost always on the money.
Additionally, Jay Gruden put the team on Cousins' back as the running game was not there as it was against Jacksonville. Alfred Morris averaged 3.3 yards on 22 carries and Cousins was forced to move the ball through the air. He did so admirably, throwing for a whopping 427 yards. It's a lot harder to move the ball when you're one dimensional as the defense has a leg up on what you're going to do. It's hard to run when you can't pass and vice-versa but Cousins showed he can come through when we need him.
The one flaw everyone noticed at the end of the game was that Cousins isn't "clutch". Now this is a hard trait to define statistically or what have you, and is more anecdotal than anything but it's legitimate. It's sort of the like the concept of momentum in a game, hard to define but you know when it's there. With the team down a score Cousins came onto the field with 7 minutes to go in the 4th looking to even out the score. Instead of driving down he threw an interception, it looked like a mis-communication but nonetheless he turned it over. After getting the ball back Cousins lead a scoring drive to bring them to within 3. The defense held strong and got them the ball back on the Eagles' 44 yard line, maybe 9 yards away from field goal range. Cousins threw three straight incompletions to turn the ball over on downs and go on to lose the game by 3 points.
Here's what this means, if Cousins continues to play like this then Jay Gruden can't let RG3 play. The good from Cousins outweighed the bad. It's not a case of who has more upside or who did the team give up 2 first rounders to draft, it's a simple case of don't fix it if it ain't broken. Why would you bench a top 5 NFL quarterback? You simply can't justify it, especially when RG3 hasn't played a full season of NFL football straight through without getting hurt. If Cousins puts up 4 consecutive stinkers after this then we can talk, but at the very least he's earned the opportunity to show what he's capable of this season.
Other notes from the game:
- You can't win when you have 130+ yards in penalties, plain and simple.
- Special teams gave up a touchdown and missed a field goal. That's -10 points for your team and is the difference in a game that ended 34-37
- Redskins run defense is amazing, giving up less than 25 yards to both Darren Sproles and LeSean McCoy, speedy backs who've burned the Redskins in the past.
- Chris Baker's hit was dirty and inexcusable, division rival or not, there's no place in football for dirty play like that.
- The Redskins pass defense was porous to say the least and will be worse off without DeAngelo Hall, who could potentially be out for the season with that torn achilles. Tracy Porter has yet to play because of a messed up hamstring leaving three healthy corners on the roster. They might bring up Chase Minnifield from the practice squad or sign a veteran to fill the void.
- There's still 13 games left in the season and the way the team played against one of the better teams in the NFC is a good sign looking forward.
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