Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins has put up impressive numbers in recent years, but stats aren’t going to be good enough in 2017.
The Washington Redskins need to see more from Kirk Cousins. Stats won’t be enough for the quarterback in 2017, and his great finish in the 2016 season wasn’t good enough either. However, every fan including myself used it as justification for a long-term contract. It was arguably the No. 1 reason.
We set aside the interception in the final game last season that effectively ended playoff hopes. We even downplayed the games leading to it that could have sealed a playoff spot. Everyone looked at his performance and said, “He needs a team built around him for success.”
He has wide receivers. He has good tight ends. The defense gave it their all in Week 1. And still the team lost, 30-17, to the Philadelphia Eagles, a result of broken plays in the red zone and no offensive unity.
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No one wants to hear about how Cousins threw for more than 200 yards. It’s not a defense. Even though it takes more than one man on that field to lose a game, the leader has to do just that.
Cousins has evolved since the RG3 era, and that could be the problem. If he wants to show he’s the one for the job, he’s got to show he can help to evolve everyone else around him. There’s got to be more to the fourth quarter performances than blunders.
It’s not just about Cousins closing the game, but him raising up everyone around him in those moments. It begins with him, and it has to finish with him. His future with the Redskins won’t be found in his stats.
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This is big picture thinking. Eventually people are going to stop caring about what he’s done and look at only one set of numbers: The score. When that happens, justifications will be weighed in wins and losses rather than individual performance.