Cousins to start 2015 Season

Twice, sure. Three times, not likely. And since you are using that game as one fifth of the games you are basing your 16 game prediction on.....

And why not count the giants game in your prediction? Won't we play them twice?

Dude you're completely and utterly missing the point. The point is to illustrate that if Gruden were able to coach Cousins to avoid the snowball effect of letting a bad play get him down, then what does Cousins have the potential to do? The point was not to actually project Cousins' performance for this upcoming 16-game season.

That Giants game was the one game in particular where he threw an INT and then the wheels absolutely came off. There is nothing particularly scary about the Giants defense, I'm taking it out of the equation to illustrate how Cousins performed in games where he didn't go completely south.

It's not like I'm cherry picking here either. While he had that dynamite game against Philly, he also had a clunker against Arizona where he threw three interceptions.

In the end it's a small sample extrapolated over the course of a season. If you want to include the Giants game in the extrapolation, then that doesn't add any value, all it does is tell us how he performed last year. We know how he performed last year. The point is, with Gruden and Cousins saying there's been a major focus on mental toughness, what might his numbers look like if he's able to improve in that arena? This gives you a feel.

I'd take those numbers from a guy about to start only his tenth game, especially if we see improvement as the season goes on. They look similar to Andrew Luck's rookie season, and I hear he's pretty good.

4,374 yards 54.1% 23TDs 18TDs

Brett Favre, who I think KC compares to for several reasons, had 24 interceptions in his second year which is pretty close to the same point in each players careers.

3303 yards, 60.9% , 19TD's, 24INTS

Is Cousins the next Brett Favre, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning etc.. ? who knows, but none of those guys had anything to really hang their hats on after 10-16 games either. He has the tools, let him develop and I think he could be great. Just manage expectations. He doesn't need to be any of those guys to be the QB that we need right now..

Cousins needs a chance -- and not just a handful of games -- to show whether he can be a franchise QB, and only time will tell. Here's a look at stats for some other noteworthy QBs their first season starting, and then compared to what Cousins did last season:

Payton Manning (1998): 26 TD, 28 INT, 3739 YRD
Drew Brees (2002): 17 TD, 16 INT, 3284 YRD
Andrew Luck (2012): 23 TD, 18 INT, 4374 YRD
Tom Brady (2001): 18 TD, 12 INT, 2843 YRD

Kirk Cousins (2014, 6 starts*): 10 TD, 9 INT, 1710 YRD
* given how early he entered the JAX game, I have assumed that a start
Kirk Cousins (if adjusted same #s for 16 games): 26.7 TD, 24 INT, 4560 YRD

More TDs than any of the above QBs, although also more INTs than everyone except Payton Manning. And more yards than everyone too.

To be clear, I am not saying Kirk will be on par with any of these folks -- who the heck knows if that is possible? Again, only time will tell. But one cannot look at the numbers and conclude he's just a stop gap to a real franchise QB either. Let's not forget, Brady and Luck (at least) had better starting casts around them than Cousins had here last year too.

Let's give the guy a chance -- even with the inevitable growing pains. What do we have to lose at this point?

And Brees followed up 17TDs and 16INTs with 11TDs and 15INTs the next season. THEN, the the year after that he had 27TDs and only 7INTs. By that time, the Chargers had already decided to move on and had drafted Philip Rivers. Cousins may never solve the turnover/confidence problem, but it's way too early to close the book on him. After a full season this year, we should know exactly what we have in him and whether or not it's back to the drawing board as far as the QB position goes.

Whether Kirk 'needs' a chance is up for debate.

And just for the sake of accuracy this upcoming chance is Kirk's 3rd. The 1st was with Mike Shanahan in 2013. The 2nd was last year when Griffin was hurt.

I don't think any reasonable person would describe 9 total starts as being a real chance.

I think the point that several of us are making is that some of the best QBs in decades had significant INT problems early on -- Brees, Manning, Favre, to name a few. They got over it, but it took time and more starts than Cousins has had (by far). Will Cousins get over it? No one can possibly know that; only time will tell. Give the man time. It isn't as though we have any other real options at this point.

I, for one, am excited to see what the guy can do. There will undoubtedly be growing pains. But I suspect he'll have some games where he lights it up too.

I don't think any reasonable person would describe 9 total starts as being a real chance.Who said the NFL is reasonable?

You may not see the previous 2 stints as opportunities but had he performed better he would have been given greater opportunity.

That's how the league works. When you get your opportunity, however slight you have to capitalize.

Now Kirk has a 3rd shot to prove he's a starting QB in the NFL.

Not sure if I can agree with the above comment. By that logic, a number of sure HOF QBs would never have gotten off the ground -- Favre, Brees, and Manning had particularly bumpy starts to their careers.

Not sure if I can agree with the above comment. By that logic, a number of sure HOF QBs would never have gotten off the ground -- Favre, Brees, and Manning had particularly bumpy starts to their careers.You gotta be more specific about what you disagree with. Because what you are saying above doesn't follow from my post.

I don't know why some of you have a hard time admitting that Kirk did have previous opportunities?

why do you get so defensive when someone has a differing opinion? every thread doesn't have to devolve into you telling people that they aren't responding to what you said in the post that they just replied to...