I Want Cousins To Start 16 Games This Fall

[nick_sanchize]

Well, that same line of thinking can be used against your defense of Griffin. If I'm a DC, I don't lose sleep over Griffin because his O will be punting in 3 plays. He protects the ball better, but he won't challenge my defense. At least against Cousins, I'll have to cover WRs. 

 

You still do lose sleep because unlike Cousins,RG3 can make plays with his feet..not like he did before but still can get you some yards with them. Cousins also has a lot of ints so it would be a good day for opposing defense stats

[TD_washingtonredskins]

You still do lose sleep because unlike Cousins,RG3 can make plays with his feet..not like he did before but still can get you some yards with them. Cousins also has a lot of ints so it would be a good day for opposing defense stats

 

Not really - he can run faster than Cousins without a doubt, so I would guess that 3-5 times per season he could cash in on a big rushing play. But he can't make people miss. If you notice, his big runs in the NFL have all come when a lane opened up and he could run straight ahead. This isn't someone like Wilson, or even Young/Cunningham of the past. He has no wiggle, just raw speed. 

 

Cousins is athletic enough to get around the edge and get 5-8 yards on a RO play. He'll never take one 75 yards like I suppose Griffin might do on occasion, but I think the DCs in the NFL would be more concerned about Cousins than Griffin at this point. 

[WilberMarshall]

Well, that same line of thinking can be used against your defense of Griffin. If I'm a DC, I don't lose sleep over Griffin because his O will be punting in 3 plays. He protects the ball better, but he won't challenge my defense. At least against Cousins, I'll have to cover WRs. 

 

But Cousins is the reason why Robert is still with this team.

 

Each and every game where a team gets an opportunity to game plan against him he is not as good as when he comes in as a relief QB.   Folks seem to forget that Cousins was given a fair opportunity to take over this team when Robert got injured.   In life we hope for just a shot... a chance to make folks forget the guy who is playing ahead of you. 

 

I am sorry, I have seen Cousins play and he does not make me forget Robert.

 

If Cousins starts the season, he will be benched because of underwhelming performance.  Not due to injury. 

By the way, I am not saying Cousins is a bad QB.  Just that folks yearning for him to start over Robert seem to suffer from short term memory issues.

[skins/psu1981]

You still do lose sleep because unlike Cousins,RG3 can make plays with his feet..not like he did before but still can get you some yards with them. Cousins also has a lot of ints so it would be a good day for opposing defense stats

I think Cousins has the same or more running TD's than RG3 since 2013. Kirk has a better bootleg than RG3, which was suppose to be one RG'3 better strengths because of his speed. Kirk has more skill back peddling and setting his feet in position than RG3 does...and finally Kirk legs has 3 significantly less injuries than RG3 does. .......So how does RG3 make plays with his feet again?

 

 

But Cousins is the reason why Robert is still with this team.

 

Each and every game where a team gets an opportunity to game plan against him he is not as good as when he comes in as a relief QB.   Folks seem to forget that Cousins was given a fair opportunity to take over this team when Robert got injured.   In life we hope for just a shot... a chance to make folks forget the guy who is playing ahead of you. 

 

I am sorry, I have seen Cousins play and he does not make me forget Robert.

 

If Cousins starts the season, he will be benched because of underwhelming performance.  Not due to injury. 

By the way, I am not saying Cousins is a bad QB.  Just that folks yearning for him to start over Robert seem to suffer from short term memory issues.

Cousins is the reason RG3 is still on the team....Or is it because we gave up 3 1st and a 2nd to get him and that his contract is for 4 years, which he is exactly on his 4th year now?

[nick_sanchize]

I think Cousins has the same or more running TD's than RG3 since 2013. Kirk has a better bootleg than RG3, which was suppose to be one RG'3 better strengths because of his speed. Kirk has more skill back peddling and setting his feet in position than RG3 does...and finally Kirk legs has 3 significantly less injuries than RG3 does. .......So how does RG3 make plays with his feet again?

 So your saying Kirk Cousins is a better dual threat than RG3?Kirk is better in the pocket than RG3,but dual threat,cmon man

[Aireskoi]

But Cousins is the reason why Robert is still with this team.

 

 

Nothing to do with the trade for him and what was given, just cause Kirk sucks?

[TD_washingtonredskins]

But Cousins is the reason why Robert is still with this team.

 

Each and every game where a team gets an opportunity to game plan against him he is not as good as when he comes in as a relief QB.   Folks seem to forget that Cousins was given a fair opportunity to take over this team when Robert got injured.   In life we hope for just a shot... a chance to make folks forget the guy who is playing ahead of you. 

 

I am sorry, I have seen Cousins play and he does not make me forget Robert.

 

If Cousins starts the season, he will be benched because of underwhelming performance.  Not due to injury. 

By the way, I am not saying Cousins is a bad QB.  Just that folks yearning for him to start over Robert seem to suffer from short term memory issues.

 

I don't suffer from memory loss, I just hope that someone with 1/4 of the starts as Griffin might still have some improvement left in him. Also, when you actually look game-by-game at Cousins in 2014, he wasn't the disaster that people like to think. 

 

He came in and played well vs. Jacksonville and then had a strong game at Philly. Those games are well-documented, as is the Thursday night debacle against the Giants when he threw 77 interceptions (I think it was really 4). 

 

However, he bounced back from the Giants game and played relatively well against the Seahawks (over a 100 QB rating with 2 TDs and 0 INTs). After that, he played an erratic game against the Cardinals where he moved the ball very well but did throw 3 interceptions. Finally, he followed that with a pretty uninspiring game vs. Tennessee. In those other 3 games though, he was pretty average (not bad). He averaged over 300 yards per game and had 4 TDs to go with his 4 INTs. 

 

I guess my point is that I think he had 3 very strong games (Jacksonville, Philly, and Seattle), 1 awful game (New York), and 2 games where he was a mixed bag (Arizona and Tennessee). I don't think he really came in a "blew his chance" to take the reigns. Even if you think he did, I believe it's reasonable to believe he showed enough to warrant more than 9 career starts. 

[nick_sanchize]

I don't suffer from memory loss, I just hope that someone with 1/4 of the starts as Griffin might still have some improvement left in him. Also, when you actually look game-by-game at Cousins in 2014, he wasn't the disaster that people like to think. 

 

He came in and played well vs. Jacksonville and then had a strong game at Philly. Those games are well-documented, as is the Thursday night debacle against the Giants when he threw 77 interceptions (I think it was really 4). 

 

However, he bounced back from the Giants game and played relatively well against the Seahawks (over a 100 QB rating with 2 TDs and 0 INTs). After that, he played an erratic game against the Cardinals where he moved the ball very well but did throw 3 interceptions. Finally, he followed that with a pretty uninspiring game vs. Tennessee. In those other 3 games though, he was pretty average (not bad). He averaged over 300 yards per game and had 4 TDs to go with his 4 INTs. 

 

I guess my point is that I think he had 3 very strong games (Jacksonville, Philly, and Seattle), 1 awful game (New York), and 2 games where he was a mixed bag (Arizona and Tennessee). I don't think he really came in a "blew his chance" to take the reigns. Even if you think he did, I believe it's reasonable to believe he showed enough to warrant more than 9 career starts. 

Well if he didnt blow his chances as you say,why was he replaced by McCoy?If he wasnt doing all too badly, the coaches would have kept him. He blew it,I mean its not like he had to compete against a top QB, and he had been longer there than McCoy ,so you would expect him(Kirk) to know more about the offense than McCoy,when RG3 was out.

[DJD2]

Well if he didnt blow his chances as you say,why was he replaced by McCoy?If he wasnt doing all too badly, the coaches would have kept him. He blew it,I mean its not like he had to compete against a top QB, and he had been longer there than McCoy ,so you would expect him(Kirk) to know more about the offense than McCoy,when RG3 was out.

 

Last year was Gruden's first year so they both had the same amount of time in the offense. Cousins did not have an advantage there. Only Gruden can tell you why he pulled Cousins but I think it was a panic move more than anything. He was grasping at straws to try and "win now".

[WilberMarshall]

Nothing to do with the trade for him and what was given, just cause Kirk sucks?

 

What was given up for him comes into consideration when you start talking the "fan talk" of he is a bust get rid of him.

 

You get rid of him when and if you have capable replacement.   You pretty much ignored what transpired in NE with Bledsoe/Brady.  Did they just get rid of Bledsoe to play say a Cousins type QB?

 

Brady's play made Bledsoe expendable.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Well if he didnt blow his chances as you say,why was he replaced by McCoy?If he wasnt doing all too badly, the coaches would have kept him. He blew it,I mean its not like he had to compete against a top QB, and he had been longer there than McCoy ,so you would expect him(Kirk) to know more about the offense than McCoy,when RG3 was out.

 

My answer is that the team is relatively dysfunctional. Not to mention we had a rookie head coach who was probably looking for ways to win games. The move to McCoy sparked a brief 2-game winning streak (he brought us back vs. Tennessee and then engineered the upset in Dallas). 

 

But, when looking at the long-term, it would be ridiculous to assess a QB after 9 NFL starts (especially 9 starts spanning 3 years and 2 coaching regimes). What I would want to see if I was a Redkins decision maker is a larger sample size to see if Cousins has shaken off his trait of going into a shell when he makes a mistake. He clearly moves the ball better than the other 2 QBs and puts up more points. I'd want to see if he can avoid the major mistakes - which I believe sometimes takes time and reps to correct. 

[WilberMarshall]

I don't suffer from memory loss, I just hope that someone with 1/4 of the starts as Griffin might still have some improvement left in him. Also, when you actually look game-by-game at Cousins in 2014, he wasn't the disaster that people like to think. 

 

He came in and played well vs. Jacksonville and then had a strong game at Philly. Those games are well-documented, as is the Thursday night debacle against the Giants when he threw 77 interceptions (I think it was really 4). 

 

However, he bounced back from the Giants game and played relatively well against the Seahawks (over a 100 QB rating with 2 TDs and 0 INTs). After that, he played an erratic game against the Cardinals where he moved the ball very well but did throw 3 interceptions. Finally, he followed that with a pretty uninspiring game vs. Tennessee. In those other 3 games though, he was pretty average (not bad). He averaged over 300 yards per game and had 4 TDs to go with his 4 INTs. 

 

I guess my point is that I think he had 3 very strong games (Jacksonville, Philly, and Seattle), 1 awful game (New York), and 2 games where he was a mixed bag (Arizona and Tennessee). I don't think he really came in a "blew his chance" to take the reigns. Even if you think he did, I believe it's reasonable to believe he showed enough to warrant more than 9 career starts. 

 

Just saying he had the opportunities to unseat an expensive liability like Robert.  This is pro ball.  Darn, even college ball you have to be better than the scholarship athlete if you want to takeover as a "walk-on".   Lots of folks have a lot riding on salvaging what is left of Robert before they junk him.  Cousins did not help with the decision.  He had a coach that was actually actively looking for a reason to junk Robert.... Cousins sucked enough for Colt to play. 

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Just saying he had the opportunities to unseat an expensive liability like Robert.  This is pro ball.  Darn, even college ball you have to be better than the scholarship athlete if you want to takeover as a "walk-on".   Lots of folks have a lot riding on salvaging what is left of Robert before they junk him.  Cousins did not help with the decision.  He had a coach that was actually actively looking for a reason to junk Robert.... Cousins sucked enough for Colt to play. 

 

I guess. 

 

I still see him as the best QB on the roster. By a pretty wide margin the team gains more yards through the air and puts up more points when he's playing QB. That's a little more telling to me than the specific number of interceptions or the record, especially on a bad team (since we can lose games so many different ways). 

[autoidiodyssey]

I think one of Kirk's biggest problems was that with the D and Special Teams being so bad he had to throw too much. He averaged 37 attempts per game last year. That is a lot for a QB making starts 5-9. By comparison Russell Wilson, in his 3rd full year as a starter, averaged 28 attempts last year.

 

Cousins has had over 30 attempts in 9 of 14 games played. Wilson has 14 games over 30 in 48 regular season starts. Wilson has never thrown over 40 attempts in a game. Cousins has topped 45 three times. The only start Kirk threw less than 33 passes was the Titans game where he got pulled at halftime, he was on pace for 32. He had 33 attempts in the Jags game in basically 3 quarters.

 

I think if you put Kirk in a situation like Wilson he can be successful. Dominant D, good Special Teams, and a strong running game. Keep his attempts under 30 and let the guy learn. I think his issues, after only 14 games played, are typical of a young QB and fixable. Certainly more fixable than the issues RG3 seems to be having after 38 games played. 

[nick_sanchize]

My answer is that the team is relatively dysfunctional. Not to mention we had a rookie head coach who was probably looking for ways to win games. The move to McCoy sparked a brief 2-game winning streak (he brought us back vs. Tennessee and then engineered the upset in Dallas). 

 

But, when looking at the long-term, it would be ridiculous to assess a QB after 9 NFL starts (especially 9 starts spanning 3 years and 2 coaching regimes). What I would want to see if I was a Redkins decision maker is a larger sample size to see if Cousins has shaken off his trait of going into a shell when he makes a mistake. He clearly moves the ball better than the other 2 QBs and puts up more points. I'd want to see if he can avoid the major mistakes - which I believe sometimes takes time and reps to correct. 

Yes it would be ridiculous, but he was brought in as a backup to RG3, so he doesnt have the time to impress. Like Brady-Bledsoe, when Brady came in, he did so well in his first starts that the coaches decided to keep him and let Bledsoe be on the sidelines even tho Bledsoe was the starter. Kirk when RG3 was hurt, came in, and did well in the beginning. After that,his performances faded away. My  point is he (Kirk)came in as a backup, and as a backup, didnt/doesnt have enough time to impress and be assesed,meaning he had to ball out like Brady to keep the job,which Kirk didnt.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Yes it would be ridiculous, but he was brought in as a backup to RG3, so he doesnt have the time to impress. Like Brady-Bledsoe, when Brady came in, he did so well in his first starts that the coaches decided to keep him and let Bledsoe be on the sidelines even tho Bledsoe was the starter. Kirk when RG3 was hurt, came in, and did well in the beginning. After that,his performances faded away. My  point is he (Kirk)came in as a backup, and as a backup, didnt/doesnt have enough time to impress and be assesed,meaning he had to ball out like Brady to keep the job,which Kirk didnt.

 

I think it's more likely Belichick saw something in Brady and was betting on his potential more than any "balling out" he did. Take a look: 

 

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/BradTo00/gamelog/2001/

 

The guy didn't throw a TD until his 3rd start and then "melted down" with 4 interceptions in his 5th start. For the year, he had a very average 86.5 QB rating. That's pretty similar to what we saw from Cousins...some good, some bad. Brady didn't turn into Brady until the following year. 

[Taylor703]

So the guys who spend all day bashing Robert in the RGIII thread are pretty much making the same excuses in this thread for Cousins that the RGIII guys make in the other thread for Griffin. We're all ****ing crazy. Look what Daniel Snyder has done to all of us.

[pjfootballer]

Even that is debatable

 

Yep Kirk throws INTs and Griffin fumbles.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

So the guys who spend all day bashing Robert in the RGIII thread are pretty much making the same excuses in this thread for Cousins that the RGIII guys make in the other thread for Griffin. We're all ****ing crazy. Look what Daniel Snyder has done to all of us.

 

Same excuses? No. 

 

Griffin has had 38ish starts in this league and looks lost in the pocket. He doesn't sense pressure and doesn't seem to find the right guy to throw to. 

 

Cousins has had 10ish starts in the league and looks pretty good in the pocket, moves the chains, and puts up points. In a few of those starts, he's let turnovers snowball. That weakness is also something that has plagued even some of the all-time greats in their first 16 starts in the league (Manning, Elway, Aikman, Young, etc.). ***

 

**** I am in no way comparing Cousins to one of those guys, simply stating that struggling with turnovers early in your career doesn't mean your ceiling is Rex Grossman. 

[XtremeFan55]

Including regular season games...playoffs...Super Bowl...then adding pre-season games...I must watch an average of over 100 games per year. Been watching regularly for about 43 years. That gives me experience as a spectator of about 4,300 NFL games. You can't discount the 'eye test' when looking at quarterbacks. You KNOW when you see it. You can almost always pick out the ones that will do well in this league. Even with RG3's 2012 season...I didn't see a franchise quarterback...I saw a gimmick offense devised by Kyle that would be successful only for a few years. He just doesn't have it. Cousins IMO really does have it. You can just tell by watching and if some team would stick with him and let him make some mistakes and grow...I see a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback. Shanahan isn't blowing smoke with this guy....he knows what is there. Cousins is going to leave after this year and he is going to raise eyebrows somewhere else and make the Redskins look like fools

[Bishop Hammer]

And yet you have hope for Griffin who since is 2012 injury has clearly looked inept. In 2014 he clearly was the worse of the 3 and this year forget about it. The Coaches get roasted for the leaving the poor hapless Griffin in the game with the first team line minus 1 starter.

Cousins has had 9 starts, I don't know what Cousins would like after 36 NFL starts but we know Griffin looks like dog doo after his 36 starts and I want to try something different.

If a quarterback has 36 starts and one, still, has to wonder if he has what it takes then the answer is no, he doesn't has what it takes.

[wysknz1]

, and that is Mike Shanahan.

Part of the reason RG3 isn't what he was.

[FivePointHammer]

Here's the thing. Griffin's leash absolutely has to be very short for one reason... The fans won't tolerate another year of the same garbage at QB. How many games over the past two years have we seen an empty stadium at halftime or the 3rd quarter? If RG3 goes out there and takes 15 sacks in the first two weeks the fans are going to tell Snyder what he can do with his tickets and parking fees, merchandise and concession sales will fall dramatically, and management (even Snyder and Allen) will be willing to do anything to provide the fans a reason to come back to the games.

There is no way they force an inept RG3 down our throats for another whole season. I give him 2-4 games and if we aren't at least competitive then it's over,we accept that the trade was a total bust, and the media gets to hold it over our heads forever. But at least we'll be able to move forward.

[Aireskoi]

RG3 comments.

 

I'm not trying to be "that guy", but maybe we can just keep the Kirk stuff in here and let the RG3 talk go in the other thread.  

 

There is a lot of talk about all threads becoming the same, so maybe we can just discuss Kirk here.

 

I know the point of the post is that we will be able to move forward, but the post is begging for responses about Griffin.

 

Edit - Didn't mean to single you out, there are a few posts I could have quoted by others as well.  The idea is lets keep this one clean and nice...

 

[NickyJ]

Initiating rant:

 

In 2013, when Shanny benched Griffin, I was okay with it. 'Oh, okay. Griffin won't get injured, and Cousins gets a chance. I can roll with that.' Three games later, Cousins sucked eggs and I was done with any hopes of grandeur with him. Move on to 2014, pray Griffin doesn't repeat that year. Well, ****. Texans was deflating, Jacksonville was too short. Cousins stepped in. 'Whoop-de-doo.' And he actually made it work. We torched them, we torched them good, and I was willing to re-open his book. Week 3 against the Eagles, he torched it again, but ran out of gas at the end. But he still looked good, I was willing to make exceptions. 'Maybe it was just the jitters', I though. 'We'll see how he does next week.'

 

There is no way to unsee what I saw. Kirk Cousins is amazing. He's fun to watch. Watching him is like Christmas, because he will light up the field like a Christmas tree. But the problem is that he lights himself up as well. When he sets his mind to it, he can torch teams like nothing, but then he fumbles the lighter and torches himself. I know it chafes his fans when they hear the comparison, but he makes me feel like I'm watching Rex Grossman. I remember when Grossman sweeped the Giants. I remember when Grossman gave the Pats a run for there money. They both could have gotten it done if they played smart. Grossman didn't, Cousins hasn't, and I don't think either one ever will.

 

I'll admit, I've been pulling for Griff ever since 2012. That was lightning in a bottle, and it kills me to think that that bottle expired two years ago. But I'm finally ready to accept it. If Griffin can't get it done this year, I'm done, I'm throwing in the towel. But I expect nothing from Cousins. He and Griffin are a two-headed monster that was given birth to in 2012. By the end of this season, if neither of them shows any great improvement, I want them gone and I'd send McCoy out too, if I could. They are all dead weight, I'm pretty much out of the "he can do it, he can do it, he just needs a fair chance" kool-aid that I've guzzled since 2013. I'm sick of it. Griffin is a strawman that's nailed to a post set behind the center, waiting for a defender to cut him down. Cousins is the Human Torch that will burn everyone in the vicinity, and McCoy is a five year old bag of blah. He tastes like the blandest food ever discovered.

 

If none of our QBs can get it done, I want the dead weight gone, and I want to leave it all behind. Cut them all, every last one of them, and admit that it was a disaster that we must never repeat again.