Washington Redskins: Kirk Cousins game prep is key

Kirk Cousins started all 16 games for the Washington Redskins in 2015 and, thanks to his game preparation and daily routine, managed to break team passing records on the way to nine wins, an NFC East title, and a playoff berth.

The Washington Redskins made the bold decision to start Kirk Cousins over Robert Griffin III prior to the start of the 2015 season. Although the team’s choice to go with Cousins over the former rookie of the year looked like a questionable decision at the time, the 27-year-old quarterback proved his worth by delivering a record breaking season on the way to an NFC East championship and playoff berth.

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The progression in Kirk Cousins’ game can be attributed to a number of things, but I believe that it all boils down to game experience and game preparation. The experience aspect of development is fairly obvious, as very few football players are capable of making large improvements while riding the bench. Taking snaps and getting out on the football field are crucial parts of becoming a better player, and Cousins proved that much with his play down the stretch.

With that being said, I believe that the amount of preparation that Kirk Cousins goes through on a daily and weekly basis is equally as important as the amount of experience he gains on the gridiron. His eagerness to improve his game is evident and necessary, and if he’s going to become an elite player at the quarterback position, he will have to continue to sharpen his skills.

One way a player can improve his game is to prepare well, and that is something that Cousins undoubtedly does. A little while back, details about the quarterbacks’ daily routine were released, as Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post reported that Cousins goes as far as separating his day into 15 minute blocks to ensure that he accomplishes everything he needs to do between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.

“I color-coded every 15-minute increment with what I’m doing,” Cousins stated in the piece by El-Bashir. To me, that level of planning and commitment is extremely important because it shows that he wants to improve, and that he will go to whatever lengths necessary to do so. That’s the kind of eagerness and forward thinking you want out of a franchise quarterback, and Kirk Cousins clearly has it.

In addition to becoming a master of time management, the up and coming quarterback also makes it a point to study film on a regular basis. In an Ask Me Anything event on Reddit yesterday, Kirk Cousins was asked how his time before early games and late games differed in terms of preparation.

“For the later games, I just end up sitting in the hotel room and I watch some film on my iPad, I take notes and draw plays,” he wrote on the Reddit discussion board. “I draw plays over and over in my journal until the whole page is just filled with chicken scratches of plays and then usually, my brain is just fried and it gets to a point where you’ve crammed everything in that you can cram.”

The amount of game preparation and planning that goes into Kirk Cousins’ play is what you want to see from your starting quarterback. His drive to improve and win is evident, and I believe that the strides he took in 2016 can be directly linked to his game preparation and rigorous film study.

At only 27 years old, Kirk Cousins still has a lot to learn about the NFL and the quarterback position, but I firmly believe that he is taking the necessary steps to do so. The Washington Redskins feel as if he’s their guy, and his on and off the field work leads me to believe that they are correct in their thinking.

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