The Washington Redskins seemed to have played harder, if not better with backup QB Kirk Cousins at the helm.
Here comes the hate mail.
Out of all the observations taken in the 41-10 win at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Redskins were visibly different. Something snapped that wasn’t former starting QB Robert Griffin III’s ankle.
The Redskins looked like the team we got excited about in 2012 and then fizzled back to the team we were used to seeing in the Jim Zorn era. Now we’re getting another glimpse at the Redskins team that we’ve been waiting to see. Watching Cousins play you almost thought that somewhere in Maryland the starting squad had to be meeting with him in order to gel that good.
There’s no doubt Cousins has the skillsets head coach Jay Gruden hoped to see in RG3. What he got was a man on the field fighting the urge to play his game. RG3 is injured because he was playing against himself, again. Last year he was playing against his worry of the newly healed and recovering knee. This year he was playing against his urge to just be himself.
Cousins is a pocket passer.
Cousins molded quickly with the offense.
The offense responded.
The defense responded.
The crowd lost its mind.
Even Niles Paul caught a ball.
However, it’s still RG3’s team.
“This is Robert’s team,” Cousins said to media after the game. “My job is to be the backup quarterback and, if called upon to come in and play, then I better play and help this team win. That job doesn’t change. This is Robert’s team.” It’s the correct response to a stressful situation. However, if the Redskins go undefeated with Cousins, it will not be RG3’s team anymore.
RG3 will always be a hero, just not the one we need right now.
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Follow R.C. Allen on Twitter @UltimateRedskin
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