101sports.com: Challenge for Rams: Get to Kirk Cousins

[Califan007 The Constipated]

http://www.101sports.com/2015/09/17/challenge-for-rams-get-to-kirk-cousins/

 

(Emphasis is mine)

 

 

When the Rams defense digs into the turf Sunday at FedEx Field, setting up to go after Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins, their pass rushers can’t waste time. The ball will be gone. Cousins won’t stand around and wait for the Rams to hit him.

 

Cousins isn’t elusive. He doesn’t scramble much. He will stay in the pocket.

 

Cousins won’t make anyone’s “Best Quarterbacks” lists. After all, we’re talking about a fourth-year QB that has played in only 15 NFL games including 10 as a starter. He has more career interceptions (21) than touchdown passes (19) and a mediocre passer rating of 76.9.

 

But Cousins does present a challenge for an aggressive defense that thrives on pressuring and disrupting quarterbacks.

 

Cousins is one of the quickest draws in the NFL.

 

He sets up. He fires. He releases the throw before the pass rushers have time to blink.

 

This is part of coach Jay Gruden’s system. He doesn’t want his quarterbacks to loiter, free-lance, or otherwise hold onto the ball. If you want to play QB for Gruden’s Redskins _ sorry, Robert Griffin III _ then you’d better be decisive and deliver the pass without hesitation.

 

The Rams have an abundance of active, swarming pass rushers known as “Sack City.” The cast includes defensive ends Robert Quinn, Chris Long and William Hayes. (Plus Eugene Sims, who injured a knee in the season-opener vs. Seattle.) And on the interior are defensive tackles Aaron Donald, Michael Brockers and Nick Fairley. It’s a group that features five first-round draft choices, impressive career sack totals, and enough pass-rush heat to make any quarterback squirm.

 

Last Sunday “Sack City” got after Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson for six sacks and 22 total QB pressures. The mobile Wilson couldn’t escape the rush. The Rams trapped him early and often.

This may sound crazy, but Cousins figures to be a more difficult challenge for the Rams.

 

It’s not because Cousins is the superior quarterback. Obviously, Wilson is the better player. And unlike Cousins _ a stationary target _ Wilson is capable of breaking down a defense with his quicksilver running ability. But in the simple task of getting rid of the football to avoid sacks, Cousins can frustrate a defense with his rapid-fire delivery.

 

According to Pro Football Focus, Cousins needed an average of only 2.41 seconds to put his passes in flight last season.

 

In Sunday’s 17-10 opening-afternoon loss to Miami, Cousins averaged 2.32 seconds to release his throw.

 

In 2014, Cousins used only 2.5 seconds or less to get the ball out of his right hand on 60 percent of his passing attempts. Against Miami, 72 percent of his passing attempts went airborne in 2.5 seconds or under.

 

That fast release time puts Cousins near the top of the charts among NFL quarterbacks over the past two seasons.

 

This is what happens when Cousins uses 2.5 seconds or fewer to defy the rush with his quick-release trigger.

 

In 2014 … a 70 percent completion percentage and a 101.9 passer rating.

 

Against Miami … a 77.3 completion percentage and a 94.3 passer rating.

 

But when Cousins holds the ball for more than 2.5 seconds, he’s a different quarterback. And not nearly as good. On his 2.6+ throws last season Cousins completed only 49 percent with a passer rating of 61.5. Facing Miami, Cousins connected on 44 percent of the his 2.6+ passes, threw two interceptions and had a sickly passer rating of only 13.

 

The Rams’ assignment couldn’t be clearer. Their rushers have to find a way to out-quick Cousins, and it won’t be easy.

 

 

 

(skipping to conclusion lol...)

 

The Redskins have at least one menacing pass rusher in outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan, who roams the edges of a 3-4 defensive alignment to hunt for a pass-protection weakness or mismatch. Left defensive end Stephen Paea had a sack and three hurries vs. Miami last week, and outside linebacker Preston Smith gave the Dolphins as much trouble as Kerrigan.

 

The young Rams O-line will be tested by the Redskins. Count on it.

 

And the Rams’ defensive line will have to speed up to put a hit on Cousins before he flicks his wrist.

 

 

 

Read  more at the link.

[BRAVEONTHEWARPATH93]

Sweet find.

His quick decisions are why I'm not as worried about sacks as other people. I'm worried about turnovers....

No moronic "oh I thought Jordan was going to stay there" INTs.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

Sweet find.

His quick decisions are why I'm not as worried about sacks as other people. I'm worried about turnovers....

No moronic "oh I thought Jordan was going to stay there" INTs.

 

I said in the twitter thread before the Dophins game, that Cousins avoids sacks like the plague...I didn't realize how good he was at it until I read those release stats. Jeebus lol...

[TSO]

I'm seeing his pocket presence improving and, along with more trust being built in the Oline (if they continue their solid play)... we might actually see Kirk improve on his issues when it comes to improvisational plays or longer developing ones. 

 

He used to panic before, but I didn't see that against Miami. He was sliding and generally moving well within the pocket, but it did affect his accuracy a little bit. Two examples of this:

 

1) The pass to Roberts that was slightly behind him after the PA, I believe in the third quarter. The one Roberts surprisingly caught. Cousins drifts to his left because someone got around Moses (barely, though, I believe it was a blitzing DB or LB maybe coming off the edge, can't remember exactly) and he bought a split-second more time there by doing so, but his throw was slightly off.

 

2) The 3rd and 7 right before the last play of the final drive. Miami's DEs explode off the ball and he properly stepped up (maybe took too big of a step, though)... he was initially looking towards the right side of the field, but when he stepped up he quickly turned and he threw the pass to Thompson who was running a quick out to the left. He pushed the ball too far towards the sideline, it wasn't catchable at all.

 

But that's not even the real negative... had he held on to it for just one more half second (and he had that time), he had Reed wide open on a curl to that same side of the field. Reed destroyed his guy, like bad.

 

So, the problem to me is he needs to start trusting his (very good) instincts in the pocket a little bit more as well as the Oline holding up. I hope they continue to play it conservatively and let these guys all really get the confidence necessary. Slowly build it, even if it's at the cost of some games early on. They've got to be looking at this film right now and saying "okay, we're close here, just have to do this or that". Don't let it snowball now and completely ruin their confidence. 

 

There's some real potential here that's close to being realized, it's not just imaginary. I want to scream at Kirk and say "hold on just a little longer", but I also don't want him to against a Rams Dline that will thrive if he does, lol. I don't want the Oline to feel like they failed, either. I'm hoping the team sticks to the plan and keeps building. Maybe a couple of those plays we missed against Miami we hit on now and it makes all the difference.                 

[PigskinRedskin]

Awesome find Cali and completely agree thesubmittedone. He definitely does have potential and even after the 1st interception, he came back into the game poised and ready to continue to make plays.

 

With his ability to release and avoid sacks, I think with a few strong games and a longer stint as the starter, he may be something more then another journeyman in the league.

 

I did hear that he happened to stare down his receiver a few times against Miami, even when the receiver was alone on the right side (had 3 on the left). I think it was Cooley who mentioned it and that if he froze the safety in the endzone (directly in the middle), he could have had a TD.

 

I'm just hoping these are the things being brought to his attention in the film room and if the O Line plays like they did against Miami, I think Kirk will be able to push a few more scoring drives for us. Clean up the completely insane drive killing penalties and could build a nice offense. 

[Larry]

I've always admired his ability to get rid of the ball quickly. And he seems to put the ball where he wants it to go.

It's his decisions where to throw it that is sometimes . . . . Unfortunate.

That's one reason why I could imagine him doing really well at dink and dunk.

[Skinsinparadise]

I think its almost unfair to start the first 2 games against arguably the 2 best D lines in football and that is compounded by D Jax being out.  Cousins actually throws a decent deep ball.  Some on the board challenge his arm strength but IMO its at least average. Kirk's quick release is a good foil to aggressive defenses.  

 

I am expecting another game like Miami where he's serviceable stats wise (but good considering circumstances) and people panic and label Kirk as mediocre as if he should light up the Rams.  My thought about either young QB is they need at least 8 games to show what they got.  And for me I grade Kirk on a curve for the first two games. I suspect after Kirk gets through the Rams, his numbers will pick up.  

 

Like everyone here, I recall Gregg Williams defenses (I used to love watching his Thursday press conferences) and he religiously pushed the whole lets make the opponent one dimensional drill. Considering Alfred's big day against Miami, I'd presume Gregg might stack the box and take his chances that the Redskins won't stretch the field with D. Jax out.  They leaves a potential big day for Rashad Ross if he gets some play time.   

 

I'd like to see Kirk take off at times when there are opportunities and even like to see some read option wrinkles like in the preseason.  He actually is a decent-underrated athlete. 

 

Love to see another good game from the right side of the O line, if they can handle two killer defensive fronts back to back games then I think we got a really good young O line cooking.  As for Kirk, I am not completely sold, need to see a bigger sample size but if he plays like he did against the Dolphins, I'd see it as promising.  

 

To me the caliber of opponent's defense isn't an incidental point but its actually an overriding point in the evaluation.   McCoy was eaten alive by this front last year.

[Larry]

Yeah, I figure it's a safe bet that the Rams D7 have been looking at film of Morris running over the Phish, and vowing that it ain't gonna happen to them.

Cousins is gonna have to move the chains with his arm.

[Skinsinparadise]

Yeah, I figure it's a safe bet that the Rams D7 have been looking at film of Morris running over the Phish, and vowing that it ain't gonna happen to them.

Cousins is gonna have to move the chains with his arm.

 

Yeah I could just visualize Gregg using that as talking points with the defense.  One of my favorite Gregg memories was in 2007 right before they played a critical late season game against the Giants, a reporter asked Gregg if he reminded the players about how they blew the previous game to the Giants in the 4th quarter and Gregg just snarled, nodded his head and said you better believe it.  And I did believe it.  He wasn't per se perfect here but he got the defense to play hard. 

[Newera]

Against team like the Rams, Djax will be sorely missed. 

[TheItalianStallion]

DJax also missed the STL game last year, and we got shut out. Tough matchup for our O.

[Bang]

I can't like that enough. I hope it is effective this week.

~Bang

[TD_washingtonredskins]

It's funny, when you think about what the Rams defense does and how Seattle thrives on offense, it could just be that Wilson is tailor made for the Rams. That's not to say they won't disrupt our offense on Sunday (I believe that they will), but Wilson and Seattle rely and thrive on extending the play and doing things off-schedule. That's doesn't mix well with a DL that can get to the QB and finish the play.

 

I didn't watch any of their game, but I'd be surprised if some of their 6 sacks didn't come after several seconds of Wilson moving around in the pocket and trying to make a play. They are just good enough to catch up to him and bring him down.

 

So, in that respect, Cousins (and other pocket passers) might be set up to have a little more success. What I would be concerned with is what the Rams will do to counter this on the back end. If they have their DBs jump the quick throws and play tight, he might be throwing into coverage all afternoon...we've seen how that goes. There will need to be some scheming to have guys open early and we'll need to rely on some YAC to compete with St. Louis.

[DC9]

I said in the twitter thread before the Dophins game, that Cousins avoids sacks like the plague...I didn't realize how good he was at it until I read those release stats. Jeebus lol...

 

But I even drew you pictures

Sweet find.

His quick decisions are why I'm not as worried about sacks as other people. I'm worried about turnovers....

No moronic "oh I thought Jordan was going to stay there" INTs.

 

I do think, with all of the fire blitzes they ran against Seattle last week, they can certainly get to Cousins.

 

We'll have to see what the gameplan is.  Hopefully we are able to run the ball and keep it close.

[Koolblue13]

It's tough to start a season against two top defenses, but it's great that the game plan doesn't need to change much.

[Skinsinparadise]

It's tough to start a season against two top defenses, but it's great that the game plan doesn't need to change much.

 

Gregg is really good when you give him a template to defend against.  I recall Mike Bullock from the WP diagramming the looks from last years match up where it looked like Gregg had a real good handle on what Jay wanted to do. 

 

If I am Jay, I'd throw a lot of play action early in this game, mix it up, Joe Gibbs style show formations-looks from the Dolphins game but run different plays from them.  Obviously, the short passing game and running game would be critical in this game, too but I suspect Gregg will crowd the box and have his corners play tight.  If so, hopefully Jay has a counter plan to exploit this.

[mistertim]

Interesting read, and not all that surprising. It always seemed like Kirk decided where he was going with the ball before the snap and that was that. When it worked out, he got the ball out fast and decisively and was very effective. But when coverages were masked and defenses adjusted to it...that was when he got into trouble because he didn't seem very adept at adapting or reading after the snap and making a quick decision...he would either go where he had planned before the snap anyway or panic. And those ended up with lots of his interceptions.

[TimmySmith]

It's rather amazing that the Rams have sacked Wilson 18 times in the 4 games at home. Yet last year the Rams were mid-pack as far as sacks go.  Perhaps they just have Wilson's number.

[Probos]

Where did this guy get his numbers on Kirk?  A 70% completion percentage and a 101.9 QBR for 2014?  Um,...no, that's not correct.  Numbers for the Dolphins game are off too.

 

Sure -- Kirk does get the ball out quickly but that's just one aspect to the game.  The offense still struggles to score points.  They're gonna have to be able to run the ball against the Rams -- if they can't, it's gonna be ugly. 

[DC9]

Where did this guy get his numbers on Kirk?  A 70% completion percentage and a 101.9 QBR for 2014?  Um,...no, that's not correct.  Numbers for the Dolphins game are off too.

 

Sure -- Kirk does get the ball out quickly but that's just one aspect to the game.  The offense still struggles to score points.  They're gonna have to be able to run the ball against the Rams -- if they can't, it's gonna be ugly. 

 

Well... you have to actually read what he said.  It was in 2.5 seconds or less.

 

But this is a great example of why advanced stats are dumb.

 

Essentially this is a metric of "if the play/Wide Receiver was open - Cousins did well".  I say that because if it's more than 2.5 seconds... obviously the 3 step drop route isn't open.  That means either the play is dead or you have to rely on Kirk's down the field arm strength and accuracy... neither of which are very good.

[skinny21]

Gregg is really good when you give him a template to defend against. I recall Mike Bullock from the WP diagramming the looks from last years match up where it looked like Gregg had a real good handle on what Jay wanted to do.

If I am Jay, I'd throw a lot of play action early in this game, mix it up, Joe Gibbs style show formations-looks from the Dolphins game but run different plays from them. Obviously, the short passing game and running game would be critical in this game, too but I suspect Gregg will crowd the box and have his corners play tight. If so, hopefully Jay has a counter plan to exploit this.

Yeah, this is a game for Gruden to earn his money. Halftime adjustments may be key. If they're able to take away Cousins' first read at times, they should be able to get sacks and enough pressure to affect throws/cause INT opportunities. I expect the pressure to be on for our oline potentially leading to a slew of penalties like last week.

I hear you about utilizing PA right off the bat, but that could actually play into the Rams hands - forcing Cousins to hold the ball for an extra tick or two. With that said, the run game, PA, quick passes and screen game will be crucial. Hopefully having some success at those will enable deeper passes. The D keeping the game close (would (obviously) allow the 'Skins to commit to the run to wear down the Rams D.

Tough, tough matchup for a team with a young/jelling oline, missing DJax and starters missing in the secondary. The Rams put it on Seattle's cover 3, and I can't imagine ours is up to snuff with Seattle's (at least not yet).

[Larry]

. . . I suspect Gregg will crowd the box and have his corners play tight.  If so, hopefully Jay has a counter plan to exploit this.

I certainly would.

Especially with DJax out.

[Peregrine]

Not saying this guy doesnt know what he is talking about but....... "Left defensive end Stephen Paea had a sack and three hurries vs. Miami last week"

 

As far as I know, he had no tackles, no sacks, and no hurries, based on all of the available stats, and my not seeing him in the game much.

[TimmySmith]

Well... you have to actually read what he said.  It was in 2.5 seconds or less.

 

But this is a great example of why advanced stats are dumb.

 

Essentially this is a metric of "if the play/Wide Receiver was open - Cousins did well".  I say that because if it's more than 2.5 seconds... obviously the 3 step drop route isn't open.  That means either the play is dead or you have to rely on Kirk's down the field arm strength and accuracy... neither of which are very good.

This is the NFL.  If you watched Manning last night, everything was out of his hand quickly.  It's not a metric of whether someone was open, it's a metric of knowing which player is the right read and getting the ball to them.  Honestly I don't think a 101.9 QB Rating is that great in these situations, but it's not bad.

[DC9]

This is the NFL.  If you watched Manning last night, everything was out of his hand quickly.  It's not a metric of whether someone was open, it's a metric of knowing which player is the right read and getting the ball to them.  Honestly I don't think a 101.9 QB Rating is that great in these situations, but it's not bad.

 

That's fair.  I just think these are ways of rewarding very basic quarterbacking fundamentals.  Essentially this is more indicative of the play calling than it is the quarterback play (especially in this offense).  If you want to reward the quarterback play, give them credit for the checks that they make or the like.