Seahawks should be licking their chops for Kirk Cousins, Redskins
The Seattle Seahawks have a bye week in Week 4, but the next time they are on the gridiron will be Oct. 6 in Landover, Md., taking on the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football.
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The Redskins did well in the offseason to upgrade their offense, adding speedster DeSean Jackson to compliment Pierre Garcon and running back Alfred Morris. Assuming Robert Griffin III could stay healthy, the Redskins actually had a good looking offense on paper a month ago.
But that offense took a serious blow when Griffin dislocated his ankle in Week 2 and Jackson sprained his shoulder, forcing third-year quarterback Kirk Cousins to take over.
While there is no doubt Cousins has played decently, his stats this year don’t quite tell the whole story and the Seahawks should be excited to face the young quarterback in Week 5.
When Cousins took over Washington’s offense against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2 after Griffin’s injury, he threw a pair of touchdowns for 250 yards with no interceptions. Good stats for his season debut, sure, but Jacksonville has the worst pass defense in the league, allowing 306 passing yards per game this season.
The media liked Cousins’ performance and because the Redskins won the game 41-10, some felt like Cousins could save the Redskins, who had once again lost their star QB to injury early in the year.
The following week, Cousins put up mega-numbers against the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles.
He was 30-for-48 for 427 yards, three touchdowns and only one interception, leading Washington to an offensive shootout with the defending NFC East champs.
The Eagles won the game 37-34, and once again, experts around the league said they felt Cousins had the stuff to turn things around in Washington.
But once again, Cousins’ stats were tainted. He put up 427 yards against a pass defense that ranks 30th in the NFL, allowing more than 280 yards per game through the air. And 257 of those passing yards went to Garcon and Jackson, both of whom went off to have huge games.
Then, on Thursday Night Football, the league saw Cousins take on a New York Giants secondary that features Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Prince Amukamara and Antrel Rolle. Prior to the contest, the Giants had allowed about 258 passing yards per game, 22nd in the league.
“While there is no doubt Cousins has played decently, his stats this year don’t quite tell the whole story and the Seahawks should be excited to face the young quarterback in Week 5.” -Mitch Quesada
But New York’s defense absolutely dominated Cousins and the Redskins air game, which was third in the league in averaging more than 308 passing yards per game.
The Giants forced Cousins to throw four interceptions, holding him to 257 pass yards, sacking him twice and allowing him to complete only 57 percent of his passes. Cousins spread the ball around, completing at least one pass to eight different receivers while not relying on Jackson and Garcon to take over.
But the Giants exposed Cousins and certainly excited the Seahawks defense who has Cousins’ offense to look forward to next week.
Seattle’s offense should be excited too, as the Redskins have allowed 82 points in their past two games.
The Seahawks secondary should be able to take care of Jackson and Garcon, who combined for just three catches on Thursday night.
With those two out of the picture, Cousins lost his go-to’s, instead making his favorite receiver his halfback, Roy Helu, who finished with five catches for 78 yards.
The last time the Seahawks visited Landover, they beat the Redskins in the NFC Wild Card game in January 2013.
Seattle scored 24 unanswered points in that game after falling behind two touchdowns in the first quarter. They went on to win 24-14.
After watching Cousins’ offense and Washington’s defense (or lack thereof) against the Giants, I am extremely curious to see how they play against the NFC-best Seahawks.
Hopefully Seattle doesn’t keep it as close a game as they did last week against the Denver Broncos. But with the way Redskins looked Thursday night, things could get ugly, quickly.