The Washington Redskins have seen Robert Griffin III go down with injuries way too many times, and they have seen backup quarterback Kirk Cousins come in and outplay him quite a few times as well. Cousins did just that once again yesterday afternoon, and led the Redskins to a 41-10 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Griffin left the game with a dislocated ankle, and that gave Cousins the opportunity to come in and showcase his game once again.
Cousins ended up completing 22 of his 33 passing attempts for 250 yards and two touchdowns. He finished the game with a quarterback rating of 109.4, and played with great composure and confidence. Griffin has struggled mightily over the past couple of seasons, and simply hasn’t played as well even when healthy as Cousins has.
It’s going to be a very difficult decision for Washington to change quarterbacks, especially due to the price that they paid to acquire Griffin in the 2012 NFL Draft. He was the second overall pick, while Cousins was drafted with 102nd overall pick int he same draft. The Redskins were just asking for this type of issue when they drafted both talented quarterbacks in the same draft, but then again they weren’t expecting for Griffin to have the type of struggles that he has had.
Griffin ended up playing in 13 regular season games last season with the Redskins, and simply didn’t play a quality season. He did compile 3,203 yards through the air to go along with 16 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, and also picked up 489 rushing yards. While the numbers may not look too bad on the surface, he didn’t play with confidence and his decision making was poor. There were some highlights to be made last season, and you can take a look at a few of them.
There are some nice plays that he made, but his overall performance was not what Washington needed from him. Cousins on the other hand has had success when he has been in the game, and ended up playing in five regular season games last year. He threw for 854 yards to go along with four touchdowns. Unfortunately, he did end up throwing seven interceptions as well, but that is expected when being thrown into the action without much preparation.
Despite all of the numbers, the fact of the matter is that Cousins is a more dependable quarterback than Griffin. There are going to be quite a few people who don’t agree with that statement, but it’s hard for a team to deal with a hesitant quarterback that misses time due to injuries each and every year. Perhaps if Griffin could stay healthy and on the field, this wouldn’t even be a question and he would be developing into the star that many expected him to be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN9tZ8Zpm5M
All of that being said, Cousins should be given the reigns to the Redskins offense over the next five or six weeks. Griffin is going to miss a good amount of time and may even miss the rest of the regular season, which would force this move to happen. The Redskins responded very well to Cousins when he came into the game, and he works very well with the team.
Obviously there is a chance that this ends up being a disaster and Cousins completely wastes this opportunity, but there is also a good chance that Cousins takes this opportunity and runs with it. He definitely has the potential to be an NFL quarterback, and if Griffin misses the rest of the season, he will have the confidence that comes from knowing that there is no pressure of being replaced.
This is a controversial situation around the NFL, but things simply haven’t been working out in Washington with the way that Griffin has been playing. Cousins came into the game yesterday afternoon and showed excellent leadership and the team responded and looked better than they have in quite some time. Whether that is simply because they were playing the Jaguars or because they just had a good game, it was something to keep an eye on.
Now is the time for the Redskins to make the change at quarterback and give Cousins the starting nod, even if Griffin is capable of coming back sooner than expected.