Griffin Out For Undetermined Time, It's Cousins Time

What concerned me most about KC last night was that his passes went directly to the defenders. These weren't jump balls where our WRs got outplayed, or tipped passes, or ones where the WRs ran the wrong routes. They went directly to the defenders. I haven't ever seen anything quite like it, and I hope never to do so again.

So while the D was pathetic and surely didn't help (thanks for the helpful adjustments, Haslett -- not), I think a huge part of the blame here was KC and his terrible decisions to force throws.

I think Cousins learned last night to distrust his o-line, just like RG3 doesn't trust them.

I think Cousins learned last night to distrust his o-line, just like RG3 doesn't trust them.

You putting his performance on the o-line?

You putting his performance on the o-line?

Good question. To be clear, the O-line was awful, but the INTs didn't come as he was getting hit. In fact, the commentators were remarking on how in a few instances, he may have rushed the throws before he "sensed" pressure was coming, but I think he was kept clean on each of the throws that got picked off.

Polumbus was horrendous. I cannot imagine that our backups would play worse -- it has to be time to test that. There were a few plays -- including the sack/fumble -- when the defender just ran by him and he merely swatted in the guy's general direction. It was truly hard to watch. The Giants, unsurprisingly, moved their best rushers over to the right, with the predictable results. Good coaches would find says to compensate, either by sliding over extra help, or letting them run loose outside and then pushing short passes or runs to the middle.

The only player who was worth a damn last night was Tress Way -- pretty sad when your season MVP is your punter:

•Punter Tress Way averaged a career-high 58.3 yards per punt on four punts, falling 1.1 yards shy of matching Pro Football Hall of Famer Sammy Baugh’s team record for punting average in a single game (59.4 at Detroit on Oct. 27, 1940).
•Way’s 58.3-yard punting average and 55.5-yard net punting average were both the most by an NFL punter this season.
•Way recorded a career-long 77-yard punt in the third quarter, tying Steve Cox for the third-longest punt in franchise history (Nov. 1, 1987 at Buffalo).
•Way became the first Redskins punter since Matt Turk to record a punt of 60 yards or more in four games in a single season. Turk recorded a 60-yard punt in five games during the 1998 season.

I do think the O-line has played a huge role in both RG3's and Cousins' failures. Even if you aren't really getting pressure on one play or another, once you've been hit so many times you're going to start feeling uncomfortable in the pocket. In RG3's case, he would roll out of the pocket too soon, and in Cousins' case he tries to force a throw, or throw it before the play has developed.

The first sack and fumble, arguably, setup the whole rest of the game. Now, Cousins probably should've stepped up to avoid the sack, but Polombus might as well have been a turnstile. Once the Giants got the early lead, the Redskins were forced to try to keep up. They abandoned the run game early, which made it easy for the pass rushers and the guys in coverage to focus on one job. This led to more pressure on Cousins, leading to more and more turnovers out of desperation. The turnovers of course made an already weak, banged up, and tired Defense try to stop the Gmen on a short field, with no rest, and so you have the lopsided victory.

Certainly Cousins has to take the lion's share of the blame for the poor, wretched, awful decision making, but he would have had a much easier time if 1. We weren't behind and could run the ball to take some pressure off of him 2. He weren't liable to be hit every snap if he didn't get the ball out immediately.

Smoot, do you not think the O-line has contributed to our QBs struggling?

You putting his performance on the o-line?

No I'm not. He made his share of mistakes.

I think it's rare that every INT is 100% on the QB. But it's been the case with Cousins

I think it's rare that every INT is 100% on the QB. But it's been the case with Cousins

Interesting, and what about the fumbles?

Interesting, and what about the fumbles?

I don't pretend to be an expert, but having Polumbus as your RT doesn't exactly help with QB protection... We have too many holes and not enough depth, same story, different year...

I don't pretend to be an expert, but having Polumbus as your RT doesn't exactly help with QB protection... We have too many holes and not enough depth, same story, different year...

He looks like a fool out there. He doesn't even have close to the build of an NFL lineman. Maybe an old school tight end. I guess our young guys must have no ability to not have seen the field at this point. We should have built a line before selling the farm for a franchise QB. You'd think Danny would remember Patrick Ramsey.

He looks like a fool out there. He doesn't even have close to the build of an NFL lineman. Maybe an old school tight end. I guess our young guys must have no ability to not have seen the field at this point. We should have built a line before selling the farm for a franchise QB. You'd think Danny would remember Patrick Ramsey.

Remember when Ramsey was getting crushed in Spurrier's ole fun n gun system? Anyways, when Madden was still calling games, and Spurrier would have an empty backfield with 4 and 5 WR sets, Ramsey would just get completely obliterated by the defense... Madden use to always say, Ramsey, it's like he is a tackling dummy for the defense... I wonder if Coach Spurrier is even going to protect him...

Hey, on the brightside, at least we aren't' as bad as the Spurrier or Zorn days...