Rgiii Vs Cousins; A Civil Discussion On Pros & Cons

[skins island connection]

OK, I can imaging whats going through the mod's minds right now, but relax, this isn't a divisive choice, but an honest and point-of-view opinion on the topic of whether/if RGIII should be TEMPORARILY pulled.

 

Now, myself included, I'm guessing the fan base is 99.99999% for RGIII as the QB of the future in Washington. There is no questioning this.

 

But;

Lets look into the bigger picture a little more from an overall view rather than a singular topic.

 

RGIII has been struggling, mostly in the first halves of games thus far. Struggling may be a bit of an understatement. In all honesty, the entire team looks out of sync. His doctor has given him the 'physical' ok to play, but mentally he has a way to go. The question is, how long do Mike and Kyle stick with RGIII IF he continues to struggle? It has been pointed out that he looks to have improved during the 2nd half of both games, but the counter to that by some was the opponents had such a huge lead they were looking to chew the clock and the defense played softer.  Honestly it could go either way, because I think a little of both was the case.

 

Well, lets say that RGIII continues to struggle in game 3, against a player like Suh, who seems to like the negative attention he receives, and the same results happen, being down 27-0 or something close.

 

Is it in the best interest of the team to leave him in there, or should Mike put Cousins in? Now, its always been my belief in 'team first', and I could understand the idea of that happening, especially with the NFCEast up for early grabs.  Some have said this should happen, because of the other 52 players want to win as much as RGIII or Cousins do, and it may provide a much needed spark to the team.  It also showcases Cousins' abilities and providing he plays good, makes an attractive young prospect to teams in need of a QB. If he doesn't play good, well one of the questions would be answered.

 

Some say that RGIII needs to play through this, mostly for his mental sake. He needs the reps to get back in the groove, which I totally understand. My only question is, supposedly he had shaken the rust off in the 2nd half of the Eagles game, only to look rusty again against GB, at least the 1st half. Its doubtful the question is 'IF' he will get back in the groove, it's 'when' he does.

 

The season is young, only 2 games thus far, and the entire team has not played to their abilities, but naturally alot of focus is on RGIII and his coming back from his injury. The team will right the ship eventually, and I want to believe that both RGIII and Cousins could co-exist in a rotation which would benefit both QBs, if Mike were to bring both into his office and lay the cards out on the table. It is not the norm for something like this to happen, but its also not often a team has a good QB and an equally good back-up. Both guys are smart, young, and hopefully understand the situation at hand.

 

Keep it clean and make it a healthy learning experience on the discussion. There have been alot of ideas mentioned on how to remedy this, and its understood the entire team is not playing well, but it may give some a different angle they may not have thought about.

 

SIC

[Mocountyskins]

The best case scenario is that Rg3 gets his **** together and leads us to the promise land. 4th Q 00:5 on the clock at the 5yard line 4th and goal. Rg3 sprains his foot on 3rd and goal and has to take the last play off. KC comes it and throws the SB winning TD pass. Bam bam trade KC in 2 years for a 1st right before is contract his up. GG

[IrepDC]

I wouldn't have minded Cousins starting the season, but now that Griffin is in, I feel we should ride with him. I'm one of the people who feel like these first two games have been preseason games for Robert, and he's still getting up to speed. I actually see him playing very well this season as long as he doesn't have a setback with the knee. What I've seen is an athlete who is regaining trust in his own abilities.

 

A very close friend of mine who is a MLB went through this process just this past season. It took him a while to really trust his own abilities again. He was healed physically, and he still had most of the ability he had before, but it took him regaining confidence in his knee before it showed on the field. 

 

I see Robert in warm ups flying around looking swift and agile, but then in the game I see him plodding and stiff. He's still regaining that trust in that knee. The more he gets hit, and gets up fine, the more confident he'll get. The more he plants that leg, and drives the ball down field, the more confident he'll get. I see this season playing out similar to last year with a slow start and fast finish. The key now is to allow Griffin's confidence to grow.

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

Not only do I think RGIII should stay in, I also do not think Cousins could do much of anything with the team in its current state. Cousins is overrated to hell on ES when in reality he has played as inconsistently as Rex has. Kirk stares down receivers and is not very good at ball protection, which will make matters even worse. Now I'm not saying that Kirk is awful and can't be a starter someday, but I don't see this All-Pro that everyone is making him out to be. The ensuing media circus isn't worth it in my opinion. 

 

But if things don't change and we're 2-10 or something like that, who knows?

 

This team goes as far as Robert Griffin III. Simple as that.

[abdcskins]

If Cousins were to play right now...

 

1) He could potentially play well and up his, "stock," if and when we are going to trade him.

 

2) Would allow RG3's knee to heal a bit more.  I think it's obvious he could use more time.

 

3) We might actually be better.

 

I think Cousins might be a better pocket passer than RG3, and RG3 is pretty much relegated to doing just that since he can't run.  It might not be such a far fetched idea.

 

If RG3 is 100% healthy then it isn't even close.  But watching him not plant that right foot and step into throws shows me that he is not.  In the end, I don't care who starts.  RG3 can still do work, and he is getting into game shape so either way is fine with me.

[shangster]

If RG3 plays horrible in the first half again and the Lions are lighting up the score even though the defense is playing their heart out, then he deserves to get benched.

However, I'm confident he will get his -ish together in this game.

[Chachie]

Stop it. Please.  

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

In hindsight, 10 wasn't ready and Kirk would probably have done enough to see us past a woeful Eagles D and have us at .500 right now.

But they backed themselves into that much of a corner that there's now NO way a change could be made if they wanted to. If they sat Robert now, after all the pre-season B/S, the fall out from the media, fanbase and no less 10's ego and his family et all chipping in would reach unprecedented heights.

I'm encouraged by news that there's plans to boot leg him and roll him out Sunday as he's been neither use nor ornament sat like a statue under centre.

Hail.

[Taylor703]

The reality is there is no comparison.  There isn't one aspect of Cousins game where he's better than an healthy RGIII.  Griffin is more accurate, stronger arm, ability to move in and out of the pocket and his explosiveness as an runner is a complete game changer.  When Griffin is healthy he is the leagues ultimate weapon and this idea that Cousins could play better is absurd.

[Rhodus333]

The time to play cousins was the first 4 weeks of the season. In hindsight he may have been more effective at moving the offense, but you don't pull RG3 now that he's in.

[ballin2041]

How can the fans turn on RG3 like this? Weve sucked for 2 decades. Now one guy finally brings us hope, tears his ACL, and we want him replaced because 2 games in he doesnt look as good even when he had no preseason reps? I said before the season that I dont think he fully returns to RG3 until the 2nd half of the Raiders game and we will dominate from then on. Hopefully its sooner but if not then we just have to wait it out.

 

Its clear that he's only going to get better by playing. People saying things about playing Cousins until the bye are crazy. Either way RG3 is going to look exactly the same. Weather its game 1 or week 6. He's going to have to play a few weeks before he's comfortable. Its best to get it out the way now and then we will go on a run while looking like a SB contender. No change

[paloosa]

The woes of this team are bigger than RGIII's play. Aaron Rodgers lit up the defense even before RGIII took the field with easy throw and catches that my grandmother could make. The corners are playing 7 yards off the line of scrimmage and afraid of getting beat especially D.Hall. But it doesn't matter because he got beat like a drum both games. The only good play he made was the fumble that he picked up and ran back for a TD other than that he hasn't done anything. Then you have the rest of the defense unable to tackle RB's and WR's. LeSean McCoy ran wild on them and then Eddie Lacy or Starks ran for over a 100 yards. The first GB RB to do so in 45 games which is almost 3 complete seasons. So benching RGIII for Cousins is not going to fix all of the other problems this team has.

[Henry]

If Griffin's healthy enough to play he plays. We forget, but this is only his second season. You don't pull a young QB because he's struggling. You let him take his lumps and learn. This would be true even if we hadn't already seen what a fully healthy and mentally recovered Bob can do.

Pulling him for Cousins is a short term move that has far more downsides to it than upsides. It sucks that Griffin got hurt but thems the breaks. Don't make things worse by pulling the guy after a few bad games.

[Zazzaro703]

Ridiculous. Griffin is by far the better player. You play him all 16 games baring an injury and if he doesn't return to form its open competition next summer. When he does return to form, you trade Cousins. He is coming off a major injury and has to work through it to gain confidence in his knee. Again, I don't see how people think Cousins can play on all 3 parts of the team. No matter who we had playing at QB we would have lost to both teams we played. Both offenses when running their game plan moved down the field at will. Also there are a lot of other players on offense that aren't executing well either. Yet somehow people think Cousins can go out there and put up 60 pts. What a joke this place is sometimes. Hope this thread is greeted with a "Hi There".

Starting Kirk Cousins is so short sighted. You don't give up tons of picks to finally get a franchise quarterback that actually delivers a division title and RoTY honors because he has two bad games coming off knee surgery. You plan for the long haul and let him learn, grow and play through this. Silly doesn't even begin to describe this conversation.

[TK]

Hi there.

How about the Defense actually, you know, stop someone first.

Eagles game opening drive, Philly drove it down their throats until the backwards lateral pass INT returned for a TD. Philly gets the ball back & goes the whole field back to their end zone.

Packers game. Green Bay drove it ALL over the D. Post game, their coaches are telling OUR coaches they knew everything we were doing on D & it allowed Rogers to pick thm apart.

[redskins59]

You play RG3 because he is way more accurate.  He is only 23.  The reality is he is still learning.  

[PlayAction]

RG3 is more accurate?  Based on what?  Certainly not these last two games.  Nevertheless, the only reason to bench RG3 IMO is for health reasons.  Yes, he should have been yanked immediately in the Seattle game.  But, now I don't see anything to be gained because he appears physically able to do everything that he's called upon to do.  He's not playing well but there are no practice games to get better.  He has to improve his play during the regular season when it counts.  If he can't handle that pressure then he'll never be a franchise QB.  In year 1 he showed that he can be a great leader when everything is going well.  This year there are some concerns.  But, there's no reason to throw in the towel yet by any means. 

 

The Skins should continue to develop Cousins as the backup and as an insurance policy for RG3.  If RG3 is injured or flames out then we would have Cousins to step in.  Just not right now even if RG3's poor performance means no playoffs. 

[Bishop Hammer]

If Griffin's healthy enough to play he plays. We forget, but this is only his second season. You don't pull a young QB because he's struggling. You let him take his lumps and learn. This would be true even if we hadn't already seen what a fully healthy and mentally recovered Bob can do.

Pulling him for Cousins is a short term move that has far more downsides to it than upsides. It sucks that Griffin got hurt but thems the breaks. Don't make things worse by pulling the guy after a few bad games.

Hails yeah! Peyton Manning went through some growings pains first starting out and look at him now. Plus he didn't have a monster rookie season like our guy. Right now he is, in a sense, learning a new style of quartingback. Instead of keeping defenses on their heals with his running threat he has to be a pure pocket passer. Last time I check not many are good at that in ONLY their second year.

[Koolblue13]

Hot shot vs modest back up? Kind of like benching Schrader for Williams? Superbowl!

seriously though? Let the kid knock the rust off. At least hes got an excuse. Looking at you Haz!

ive always been a pro Haz guy, but I am off that failure train. Hell no to Morris either. Linebackers look great, maybe promote Slowik

[Vanguard]

I wouldn't have minded Cousins starting the season, but now that Griffin is in, I feel we should ride with him.

 

 

And that's the same school of thought that I have.

[Commander PK]

Here is the problem.  Many fans want to win now...and they could care less who the QB is now in order to do so.  Frankly, I would throw away this whole season if it took that long for Robert to get it together, because I know what he is capable of in the long run.  Sure it would suck, but it would be necessary.  

 

Any decision to play Kirk should have been made prior to game 1, now it's too late, because no matter what your justification or reasoning it would effectively be an admission that Robert was not ready to play this season.  

 

Until this defense learns to tackle it's all moot anyway.  We are going NOWHERE if this defense does not improve substantially starting on Sunday no matter how well Robert plays.

How can the fans turn on RG3 like this? Weve sucked for 2 decades. Now one guy finally brings us hope, tears his ACL, and we want him replaced because 2 games in he doesnt look as good even when he had no preseason reps? I said before the season that I dont think he fully returns to RG3 until the 2nd half of the Raiders game and we will dominate from then on. Hopefully its sooner but if not then we just have to wait it out.

 

Its clear that he's only going to get better by playing. People saying things about playing Cousins until the bye are crazy. Either way RG3 is going to look exactly the same. Weather its game 1 or week 6. He's going to have to play a few weeks before he's comfortable. Its best to get it out the way now and then we will go on a run while looking like a SB contender. No change

Not to mention the distraction to the team this would cause.  Nobody would want to talk about anything else in the media.  

[LadySkinsFan]

It's Robert's team, he's our starting QB.  He'll be fine.

 

Fix the other glaring problems on the team, especially the defense that let's teams get way ahead in the score before the offense even has a chance to get on the field.  The offense can't play the whole game in the 2 Minute Drill.

[mike42]

We started him in week 1, might as well ride the whole season with RG3. I think it would create more too much of a stir to bench him. Our offense can't afford any distractions from media/fans. Even though our offense is struggling, it has capability to score big and fast. 2012 is a reminder. RG3 will rebound to that level later in the season. Our defense is the main concern. Not to sound dramatic, but I've never seen such a awful redskin defense in my life. Is it me or the Hasslett's defense continues to regress each season?

[AlvinWaltonIsMyBoy]

RG3 is a race horse. He's just stretching his legs. I wouldn't be surprised if he drops 4 TDs on Sunday. The "he's back" moment is coming...it's just a matter of when. He'll get there. Hell, I remember people saying Peyton was done. Not so fast my friend.

Let's hope our D is only a small turd on Sunday, and not the turd pile from Jurassic park.

[Toe Jam]

We are the most impatient fanbase in the country. It's week three. WEEK THREE. We shouldn't be having this conversation.

 

Winning cures all. When we're 2-2 at the bye, maybe these threads will disappear.