Storyline: Not perfect, but resilient as hell. That has been the storyline for Kirk Cousins so far this season. He’s leading the Washington Redskins to wins “by any means necessary.”
Kirk Cousins hasn’t quite lived up to the high expectations placed on him at the start of the season. Cousins was masterful last season. He led Washington to the playoffs and shattered franchise records.
Courtesy: endzonescore.com
But it’s safe to say that we haven’t seen that side of Kirk Cousins thusfar this season. He has struggled with inaccuracy and has shown signs of poor judgment. But, for Cousins, it’s really all about growing into his role as a franchise quarterback.
Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens wasn’t Cousins at his best. He led an offense that accounted for only 10 points. He overthrew some deep balls and threw one god-awful interception.
His best throw of the day was a 21-yard TD strike to Pierre Garcon. His worst throw resulted in an interception by CJ Mosley, who took it to the house … well, almost. Fortunately for the Redskins, Mosely fumbled the football into the end zone, resulting in a touchback.
QBs need to have a short memory when it comes plays like those. You have to have the ability to bounce back. Baseball great, Babe Ruth, put it well: “Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”
Bouncing back is exactly what Cousins did on Sunday. He led Washington 72 yards in 11 plays in a drive that ended in a Dustin Hopkins field goal. “Didn’t blink. He didn’t blink. He came right back,” Redskins OC Sean McVay said.
Players agree. “If you let that stuff linger in your head, you’re screwed,” Spencer Long asserted.”We were just like, well, that was fortunate. The ball bounced our way. Now it’s time to take advantage of it on this drive.”
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
“He (Cousins) just marched us right down the field like nothing happened,” Brandon Scherff chimed in.
You don’t want to make a living being in that position. But, then again, Brett Favre made a career of doing just that. For Cousins, it’s all about competitiveness, resiliency, and growth.
Midway through the 4th Quarter, on a 3rd and 1, Long snapped the ball early and the ball sailed by Cousins. With Ravens defenders bearing down on him, Cousins instinctively grabbed the ball and managed to heave it toward DeSean Jackson. The easy–and probably more common– approach would be to jump on the ball. But Cousins’ smooth decision-making saved Washington from a potentially huge loss.
“It’s an instinctual game,” Cousins said.”It happens pretty fast, man. We’ve talked about it about 50 times longer than the moment it happened. For me, to grow as a player, it’s going to always be about situational awareness. Each individual moment of a game. What do you do? I think that’s where I have to grow. Can you throw the ball, can you make the reads, can you stand there, can you win big games? I don’t think that’s really a question. I don’t think people in the building are saying, ‘Can Kirk do that?’ I think it’s more of how good can he be in situations, and have awareness in certain situations as to how you play the quarterback position.”
Cousins hasn’t been perfect, but he has done some good things this season. He led Washington to two road-game victories over winning football teams in the past three weeks. He’s currently sixth in the league in passing yards and passer completion (67.2%). In the last two weeks he has thrown for 443 yards, going 50 of 68 (73.5%) with four TDs and two interceptions for a QBR of 97.8.
Courtesy: Redskinscapitalconnection.com
“Life in the NFL–it takes everything out of you each week,” Cousins said. “I just know that to win these games you have to be mentally physically and emotionally tough. And resilient. It’s so week to week. You’re going to be on the other end of these games your fair share too.”
Not perfect, but resilient as hell. That has been the storyline for Kirk Cousins so far this season. He’s doing it “by any means necessary.”
Follow all Redskins News on Twitter @RedskinsWriter
