Redskins bench Kirk Cousins in favor of TD-throwing Colt McCoy

With Robert Griffin III injured, the Washington Redskins hitched their collective wagon to backup quarterback Kirk Cousins, who was selected in the fourth round

Doug Farrar | Oct 19, 2014

Redskins bench Kirk Cousins in favor of TD-throwing Colt McCoy /

With Robert Griffin III injured, the Washington Redskins hitched their collective wagon to backup quarterback Kirk Cousins, who was selected in the fourth round of the same 2012 draft in which Griffin was picked. It was thought by many that as a pocket passer with limited mobility and a reasonable sense of the field, Cousins might actually be a better fit for the offense preferred by first-year head coach Jay Gruden.

So far this season, it hasn't quite worked out. Cousins came into Sunday's game against the Titans with 10 touchdown passes against eight interceptions, including four in a horrid performance against the Giants on Sept. 25, and three more picks last Sunday against the Cardinals. Against the Titans, Cousins was similarly unimpressive, completing 10-of-16 passes for just 139 yards, no touchdowns, an interception and a fumble.

Early in the third quarter, Gruden decided enough was enough, and replaced Cousins with backup Colt McCoy, who hadn't thrown a regular-season pass in a year. Of course, on the first pass McCoy threw, with 12:27 left in the third quarter, he hit Pierre Garcon on a 70-yard touchdown pass which should be credited mostly to Garcon. That play put the Redskins ahead 13-10.

The Redskins have a problem here, and it's not one McCoy is good enough to address. Cousins' mechanics are inconsistent at best (as detailed in this article), and he's not helped by his porous offensive line and inconsistent receivers. The hope is that Griffin, who's been getting limited reps in practice and recovering from his ankle injury, might be back in time for the team's game against the Cowboys on the Oct. 27 version of Monday Night Football. Gruden has already said that Griffin will be the starter when he's back, which intimates that the coach has seen all he needs to see with Cousins.

Published Oct 19, 2014

DOUG FARRAR

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009, Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine. He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.