Kirk Cousins, NOT IMPRESSED

[Why am I Mr. Pink?]

24 minutes ago, zoony said:

 

One thing that I think is NOT fair to Kirk... That he made the correct read on a lot of those overthrows and misses

making the correct read is the hardest part of playing the position and what has lacked most in Washington over the past 5 years. 

So in that sense, at least the fans got to see the wide open receiver he missed. In the past that receiver would have been ignored completely and the average fan would be none the wiser

This is what I wanted to comment as well but I have been looking to find video to confirm what my eyes saw live. Havent been able to find video yet.

On the DJax over throw, (i think it was this play), he sees D Jax running full speed with a deep linebacker (#50 sean lee) standing still with his hips facing the LOS. Cousins throws the ball before D Jax is parallel with the defender bc he knows the LB is flat footed and didnt turn his hips up field yet. 

Its a throw that RG3 and some bottom feeder QBs might not have seen and waited to see the guy open vs throwing before the guy is open .... but its a read and throw a top 15 QB sees and makes. Cousins is a 2nd tier, 10-15 ranked QB imo and by seasons end he should be there but these early game count as a W or L juts as much as games in December and we need Cousins and everybody to be prepared week 1 and week 2. 

We cant give points and games away. We are not a good enough team or coached well enough to overcome self imposed speed bumps.   

edit - Cousins also needs to put more air under that long ball to allow D Jax or any WR to find it, adjust and then run under it. Putting more air under it makes it a higher percent completion and no defender was going to be able to catch up regardless. 

[Llevron]

Yea thats the Redskins. Full circle. We go from a guy who some would consider "lesser" as a passer who can make literally every throw except a fade rout but cant read a defense and has no idea what to do with the ball so he just runs into trouble (also literally) -- to a guy who can seemingly read the entire field but doesn't have the balls or ball skills to do anything about it. 

Im depressed. 

[Califan007 The Constipated]

20 minutes ago, Aireskoi said:

A low and away throw to the left bottom corner of the endzone to Crowder, or a run attempt with some fake pumps to freeze the defenders would have been the safe plays.

Yep for both of those, too *nod*...

I didn't get to see the whole game, but I saw a clip from the Steelers game last Monday...it was right before halftime (I think)...on 3rd down and in the red zone, Cousins seemed to stand in place forever, and then threw the ball out of bounds. Seemed like there was far more he could have done, lots of open space around him (kinda like in the pic I quoted from you), but he didn't seem to know what to do and ended up just throwing the ball out of bounds.

When he walked to the sidelines they showed Gruden looking at him...the expression on Gruden's face said it all lol. He kinda shook his head a little back and forth, all wide-eyed, as if saying "Kirk...dude...you gotta do something there, man!"...then patted him on his back as he walked by.

For a guy who was pretty much money in the red zone his entire career, these first two games are a bit shocking.

 

 

36 minutes ago, Skins Wingman said:

but he's not a wide-eyed, rookie qb anymore.  he shouldn't need help calming down.

"Shouldn't need it" doesn't mean he didn't need it, though...

[DogofWar1]

Zoony makes a good point, and it suggests the issues may be somewhat fixable with some playbook tweaking and confidence boosting.

Might never fulfill the promise of being a franchise QB, but maybe with some more rust getting knocked off, he could improve things.

Either way, gotta stay the course for a while now.  Showed too much last season to be trying to move on after only a few games.

[Why am I Mr. Pink?]

2 minutes ago, Califan007 said:

 

For a guy who was pretty much money in the red zone his entire career, these first two games are a bit shocking.

We have imo the best RZ target in the nfl --- Jordan Reed. Why we arent going to our bread and butter of last year is beyond me. Maybe the D Coord have taken this away, idk. Move him around, get him isolated as best you can and allow him and Cousins to see what the D is doing, then run a choice/option route. If the defender plays outside, throw the inside slant. If he plays inside or jams, go shoulder fade and sideline. 

Without Jordan Reed doing what he did last year, Cousins would have been pedestrian and we would have won 7 games instead of 9. Jordan Reed, when used properly, cannot be stopped. 

We were one of the best RZ teams last year (better than the #11 ranking indicates) and this year, on a small sample size, we are 28th. 

https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/red-zone-scoring-pct?date=2016-09-19

[Califan007 The Constipated]

5 minutes ago, Why am I Mr. Pink? said:

We have imo the best RZ target in the nfl --- Jordan Reed. Why we arent going to our bread and butter of last year is beyond me. Maybe the D Coord have taken this away, idk. Move him around, get him isolated as best you can and allow him and Cousins to see what the D is doing, then run a choice/option route. If the defender plays outside, throw the inside slant. If he plays inside or jams, go shoulder fade and sideline. 

Without Jordan Reed doing what he did last year, Cousins would have been pedestrian and we would have won 7 games instead of 9. Jordan Reed, when used properly, cannot be stopped. 

We were one of the best RZ teams last year (better than the #11 ranking indicates) and this year, on a small sample size, we are 28th. 

https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/red-zone-scoring-pct?date=2016-09-19

Reed was triple teamed in the red zone at one point, wasn't he? lol....that screams "respect" from the opposing DC.

I would never had chosen THREE fade attempts to Doctson...one, sure.

[DogofWar1]

We need to see throws to Reed, jump balls to Doctson, and QB sneaks, along with maybe a fade or shallow route here and there with Jackson/Garcon/Crowder.

The QB sneaks especially.  If they're triple teaming Reed it means they probably aren't leaving a QB spy at home.  Get Cousins behind Scherff or Williams and watch teams quickly fall off Reed.

[TheGreek1973]

6 minutes ago, Califan007 said:

Yep for both of those, too *nod*...

I didn't get to see the whole game, but I saw a clip from the Steelers game last Monday...it was right before halftime (I think)...on 3rd down and in the red zone, Cousins seemed to stand in place forever, and then threw the ball out of bounds. Seemed like there was far more he could have done, lots of open space around him (kinda like in the pic I quoted from you), but he didn't seem to know what to do and ended up just throwing the ball out of bounds.

When he walked to the sidelines they showed Gruden looking at him...the expression on Gruden's face said it all lol. He kinda shook his head a little back and forth, all wide-eyed, as if saying "Kirk...dude...you gotta do something there, man!"...then patted him on his back as he walked by.

For a guy who was pretty much money in the red zone his entire career, these first two games are a bit shocking.

And that is exactly what has many of us baffled Cali.  Seriously when  you have a guy with 38 TD and zero INTs in the redzone, how come all of a sudden with more practice, arguable more targets etc, is totally stopped. 

[Aireskoi]

35 minutes ago, Why am I Mr. Pink? said:

 

On the DJax over throw, (i think it was this play), he sees D Jax running full speed with a deep linebacker (#50 sean lee) standing still with his hips facing the LOS. Cousins throws the ball before D Jax is parallel with the defender bc he knows the LB is flat footed and didnt turn his hips up field yet. 

...

I think this is the play because I didn't find another deep miss to Jackson over the middle.

 

[Why am I Mr. Pink?]

7 minutes ago, Aireskoi said:

I think this is the play because I didn't find another deep miss to Jackson over the middle.

 

The play I was talking about must have been Crowder and not Jackson. 

Thanks for all the still shots, awesome work, really helps understand the plays. 

[mcsluggo]

19 hours ago, Thirtyfive2seven said:

Let the Cousins bashing begin.  RGIII is SOO much better, rite, rite? 
I love this fan base.  

 

have you heard a single breath of a hint of that in this thread??   The exact same number of people in this thread called to bring back Billy Kilmer as called to bring back RGIII  

 

(at least to the point where you posted! )

[Skinz4Life12]

I still support Kirk 100%. That being said, I think he pretty much lost the game for us with the interception in the end zone. That could have been the dagger and instead it gave the cowboys the opportunity to take the lead and not look back.

[RandyHolt]

Thanks for the stills Air. Wow... that pass pro!

I will nit pick the play call a bit. If Garcon was the primary, Garcon all ~5'11" of him in the back of the end zone, that is simply not his game.  He has never been a big red zone threat. I prefer Garcon on a slant or hook where he can use his physical tool set. I know the frame before this shows otherwise, but he looks covered.

I'd rather a tall target for the crossing back of the end zone throws, where the QB can MUCH safer throw it up high and the WR can go get it. Heck, ride the tide of the over throws. A designed high throw there is much less likely to be intercepted.

Agreed as others noted, Cousins could have used his feet, as he had all the time in the world.

[Aireskoi]

2 minutes ago, RandyHolt said:

Thanks for the stills Air. Wow... that pass pro!

I will nit pick the play call a bit. If Garcon was the primary, Garcon all ~5'11" of him in the back of the end zone, that is simply not his game.  He has never been a big red zone threat. I prefer Garcon on a slant or hook where he can use his physical tool set. I know the frame before this shows otherwise, but he looks covered.

I'd rather a tall target for the crossing back of the end zone throws, where the QB can MUCH safer throw it up high and the WR can go get it. Heck, ride the tide of the over throws. A designed high throw there is much less likely to be intercepted.

Agreed as others noted, Cousins could have used his feet, as he had all the time in the world.

No problem, happy to break down any play if anyone has one in mind.

I like slants in the red zone and short yardage.  Slant the hell out of them until they overplay it and take the slant/fade or slant/go.

[Llevron]

13 minutes ago, Why am I Mr. Pink? said:

The play I was talking about must have been Crowder and not Jackson. 

Thanks for all the still shots, awesome work, really helps understand the plays. 

Just wanted to quote this and thank you as well, Aireskoi. Definitely helps me. The plays and the beers (shots on days like yesterday) for me to keep up most times. 

[NoCalMike]

I think the reason Cousins is catching so much flak after this game particularly over other games is because despite all the stuff that went wrong during the course of the game, Cousins still simply missed too many very pedestrian throws to wide open WRs that likely put this game out of reach for a Cowboys team who's only ability on offense is to dink and dunk slowly down the field.  I said before, if Cousins hits on just 1 of the 3 long passes, the 'Skins are winning the game.  If he hit on 2 of the 3, the 'Skins likely win by 10 or more points, and if he manages to do the 3 for 3 thing, the game is a route by the time they get to the 4th quarter and I guarantee you see Dallas having to diverge from their safe scheme for the rookie QB, he would have had to start forcing the ball downfield, which is something Garrett is obviously not comfortable with him doing yet.

Again, this game didn't come down to Cousins having to make a perfect throw in one scenario, he missed more open "easy" throws than I have seen him miss in a long time.  It was disheartening. 

[Gamebreaker]

14 hours ago, Taylor703 said:

The problem with this is we have real issues with our defense. So again, we've neglected a need hoping to find a needle in a haystack. I mean right now that first round pick has to be a game changer on defense. Having to spend it on a QB is disastrous. 

A QB is more important than any other position on the field. Yeah, it sucks that we need to find a new one. But it's a necessary sacrifice that needs to be made. Our #2 problem on this team is DT. Baker is fine. We can get away with inconsistent play from the other DE, but not having a good NT in the 3-4 or even decent DTs when we move to Nickel is killing us. Our ILBs are average, but they look horrible when we don't have a good front. 

[Darrell Green Fan]

I was so angry at the coaches for calling those fade patterns, which rarely work as we know, to a rookie with no training camp who EVERYONE knew was going to run a fade.  But I just heard that Kirk admitting to checking into those plays, they were his idea.

So there's that. 

[Why am I Mr. Pink?]

5 minutes ago, Darrell Green Fan said:

I was so angry at the coaches for calling those fade patterns, which rarely work as we know, to a rookie with no training camp who EVERYONE knew was going to run a fade.  But I just heard that Kirk admitting to checking into those plays, they were his idea.

So there's that. 

Gruden: "Yeah, we tried it three times, and we’ll try it again three times next week if we have to."

It was a brief moment in an otherwise amicable exchange. Gruden explained that the team liked their matchups at the goal line to run the fade. It also hurt the Redskins that the Cowboys were committing to stopping the run on some of the fade throws, commiting as many as nine players to the box in an effort to thwart the rush game.

http://www.csnmidatlantic.com/washington-redskins/pressed-sonny-jurgensen-redskins-jay-gruden-doubles-down-fade-routes-end-zone

[NoCalMike]

In the modern NFL era it seems like you are seeing more teams build a team first and then draft the QB so that they have a better opportunity to succeed early in their career.  It is no longer assumed or necessarily expected you are going to suck just because you are starting a rookie.

[mcsluggo]

19 hours ago, Thirtyfive2seven said:

 

[Llevron]

What is a high first round QB going to do that Kirk Cousins isnt? Not a damn thing. 

What we need to do is coach up the guy we have for once. He can be good. We dont need the hope of a transcendent talent that we cannot move on without. 

We need to fix the guy we have that we know has talent. 

[Aireskoi]

28 minutes ago, Why am I Mr. Pink? said:

The play I was talking about must have been Crowder and not Jackson. 

Thanks for all the still shots, awesome work, really helps understand the plays. 

This must be the one, he makes the read on Sean Lee and throws it to Crowder.

Pass protection is great and a MLB that is not going to be able to cover my man Jamie(son) Crowder!

 

Really nice play, he just missed him.

[NewCliche21]

2 hours ago, TheGreek1973 said:

Now that I think calmly think about the game and watching a lot of the highlights, Cousins played just about average.  What is certain, if he had hit Crowder and then Doctson in stride we all would be saying damn what accuracy, what an arm etc.  You simply can't miss these throws if you think you are worth 20 million + per year. 

 

No man, no.  Average, by its homonym definition, is what you get when you mix the good with the bad.  Cousins had very little good and a lot bad.  Yes there were times when he didn't eff up, but there were next to no plays that he made in order to make up for the mistakes.  If he had missed Crowder and then led the drive to a touchdown, then that's average.  Made up the bad with the good.  If he had missed Jackson and then hit him the next down for a touchdown, then that's average.  Or even if he just did one of those two.

Those major misses, along with underthrowing Doctson and the pick, you could even throw the Fail Mary in there, completely disqualify him from having an average game.  It's reverse cherry-picking.  It would be silly to say, "If you took away Jackson's long catches, then he's just an average receiver" right?  The inverse is true here.  Except big negative plays are WAY more impactful than a big positive play.  Missing positive plays are about as impactful as those big positive plays.

[12Shawn21]

Don't forget about the fact what seemed like 80% of his completions required the receivers to make extra efforts to haul in. He looked very inaccurate all game. Even when he did complete a pass.