Kirk Cousins Development Tracker

[Ax]

Barry's defense has been the best unit on the field this season, when taken in it's entirety.

 

[Smoot Point]

Barry's defense has been the best unit on the field this season, when taken in it's entirety.

Barry's defense is middle of the pack with regard to points/game... However, bottom 5 in both YPA rush & pass. I don't care how many guys you have injured, you just gave up 400 yards to Kellen Moore. Barry is just not good. The best part of this defense is that it isn't led by Haslett. We have far better personnel than we did with Haslett & marginally better results. Only area of improvement is really with regard to generating fumbles.

Let's face it... nobody on this roster was really playing consistently well until the last 4 games. Those 4 games, the best unit has been the offense averaging about 30 points/game.
The offense, Desean Jackson, Jordan Reed & Kirk Cousins have been the best unit this year.

 

[Ax]

Stats mean little to nothing, IMO.

The defense kept us in practically every game while the offense struggled, mightily, early in the year. Barry had guys in position, only to see them miss tackles, or the stats wouldn't look as bad. Offense was keeping the D on the field to much due to there pathetic performances.

Now that the offense is finally doing it's part, the defense is still helping with turnovers and timely stops. They're far from perfect. But I still say, to date, the defense, with more injuries, and learning a new system, has easily been our best unit, for the whole season.

Just an opinion.

 

[redskins26]

Stats mean little to nothing, IMO.

The defense kept us in practically every game while the offense struggled, mightily, early in the year. Barry had guys in position, only to see them miss tackles, or the stats wouldn't look as bad. Offense was keeping the D on the field to much due to there pathetic performances.

Now that the offense is finally doing it's part, the defense is still helping with turnovers and timely stops. They're far from perfect. But I still say, to date, the defense, with more injuries, and learning a new system, has easily been our best unit, for the whole season.

Just an opinion.

I think the announcers last week alluded to it the defensive stats don't do the redskins going into the 4th last week the defense had given up 286 yards
philly had 200 in the 4th alone.

i would venture to say most of the games were like that as teams were trying to get back in the games quick

 

[Elephant]

Barry's defense is middle of the pack with regard to points/game... However, bottom 5 in both YPA rush & pass. I don't care how many guys you have injured, you just gave up 400 yards to Kellen Moore. Barry is just not good. The best part of this defense is that it isn't led by Haslett. We have far better personnel than we did with Haslett & marginally better results. Only area of improvement is really with regard to generating fumbles.

Let's face it... nobody on this roster was really playing consistently well until the last 4 games. Those 4 games, the best unit has been the offense averaging about 30 points/game.
The offense, Desean Jackson, Jordan Reed & Kirk Cousins have been the best unit this year.

I love how you discount a great play by Cousins with the fact it's a weak Dallass defense, but admonish Barry for giving up 400 yards (In a game of catchup) against Kellen Moore when he was playing 4th string practice squad players.

You see what you did there, right?

 

[Henry]

The defense has been average this year. This is leaps and bounds better than abysmally horrible that it's been over the previous 5 years.

Yes, the defense gives up a lot of yards. We gave up 500 yards yesterday, though about 400 of them were garbage yards. The defense also gets a lot of turnovers (we are 8th in the league this year) and doesn't give up a lot of points.

The biggest difference between this defense and past Redskin defenses is that this defense is capable of getting a stop when we absolutely have to have one. It gives up chunks of yards during certain stretches of a game, but it is able to actually stop the other team once in awhile. This is a luxury our offense hasn't had in awhile. I guess the defense pulled it together for that seven game stretch in 2012, but other than that it's been absolutely horrible.

I don't think it's the personnel either. It think Barry, while not awesome, does a decent job of mixing in and disguising his blitzes. Maybe it's me, but the defense is a lot more fun to watch these days than at any time Haslett was here.

There is absolutely room for improvement, but given the improvement we've already seen this year, I'm encouraged. I think against a struggling GB team with OL problems and no WRs, the defense can put forth an average outing and give our offense a solid shot to pull this one out. Certainly not a given, but I'm not exactly pessimistic about our chances either.

 

[GSF]

I love how you discount a great play by Cousins with the fact it's a weak Dallass defense, but admonish Barry for giving up 400 yards (In a game of catchup) against Kellen Moore when he was playing 4th string practice squad players.

You see what you did there, right?

LOL....I was thinking the same thing! The defense gave up a bunch of yards yesterday using mostly second and third stringers so they suck. Cousins finished his first season as the starter with 101.6 rating, 5th in the league, and he's around 20th in the league. Makes sense to me!

 

[GSF]

The defense has been average this year. This is leaps and bounds better than abysmally horrible that it's been over the previous 5 years.

Yes, the defense gives up a lot of yards. We gave up 500 yards yesterday, though about 400 of them were garbage yards. The defense also gets a lot of turnovers (we are 8th in the league this year) and doesn't give up a lot of points.

The biggest difference between this defense and past Redskin defenses is that this defense is capable of getting a stop when we absolutely have to have one. It gives up chunks of yards during certain stretches of a game, but it is able to actually stop the other team once in awhile. This is a luxury our offense hasn't had in awhile. I guess the defense pulled it together for that seven game stretch in 2012, but other than that it's been absolutely horrible.

I don't think it's the personnel either. It think Barry, while not awesome, does a decent job of mixing in and disguising his blitzes. Maybe it's me, but the defense is a lot more fun to watch these days than at any time Haslett was here.

There is absolutely room for improvement, but given the improvement we've already seen this year, I'm encouraged. I think against a struggling GB team with OL problems and no WRs, the defense can put forth an average outing and give our offense a solid shot to pull this one out. Certainly not a given, but I'm not exactly pessimistic about our chances either.

I agree! The defense is not great, but they made big stops when needed most, compared to recent seasons when they crumbled when needed most. They also created a lot of turnovers. I think Barry did a great job with the personnel he had to work with. I also liked that he wasn't afraid to make changes with starters based on play, a philosophy that Gruden has apparently installed with the whole team. I think Tom Compton gave the defense a big boost and is going to be a good player for the Skins moving forward.

The only thing I didn't like with Barry is that I felt he went a little too conservative when protecting a lead, though it did work most of the time.

 

[Henry]

I love how you discount a great play by Cousins with the fact it's a weak Dallass defense, but admonish Barry for giving up 400 yards (In a game of catchup) against Kellen Moore when he was playing 4th string practice squad players.

You see what you did there, right?

Well, and let's not forget that Cousins put up 3 TDs in the first quarter without Desean Jackson. I realize it's against the Cowboys (though their defense is not bad) but Kirk looked just as good without Jackson in there as he has recently with Jackson. Just sayin.

 

[Henry]

If we were playing against a competent defense, the safety would've picked that one off... It was keystone cops in the Dallas secondary.

Smoot, I took another look at that play because over this past season I've generally agreed with you more often than not, and I've been one of the big skeptics when it comes to Cousins.

I don't agree with your assessment. Garcon was behind the secondary on that play and Cousins put the ball where only Garcon could have caught it. Now, Pierre made a GREAT catch and thats the sort of thing that makes QBs look good, but that ball was exactly where it was supposed to be, in a spot that allowed the WR, and only the WR, to make a play on it. Considering Cousins was flushed out of the pocket with a DL free and bearing down on him and how far that ball had to go ... it was a great play.

In my opinion.

 

[fansince62]

Stats mean little to nothing, IMO.

The defense kept us in practically every game while the offense struggled, mightily, early in the year. Barry had guys in position, only to see them miss tackles, or the stats wouldn't look as bad. Offense was keeping the D on the field to much due to there pathetic performances.

Now that the offense is finally doing it's part, the defense is still helping with turnovers and timely stops. They're far from perfect. But I still say, to date, the defense, with more injuries, and learning a new system, has easily been our best unit, for the whole season.

Just an opinion.

I agree..with a qualification: the offense really has improved in the last 4-6 games (with exception of the running game) and Cousins has improved by orders of magnitude (i.e., he looks good!). they can be potent. where I depart from others in spooging over all the stats, etc., is that I want to see the same offense perform against good defenses - that hasn't happened yet. don't really care how others see it - I'm not all that much into this season anyway cuz I see it as a stepping stone. and the next stone to step is beating a team with a good defense.

all in all - a good season. changing my mind on Cousins for the better. Gruden? nope.

 

[TomE]

One might also add is why their secondary looked like keystone cops, maybe, just maybe Kirk and company is starting to get into defenses' heads.

All I know is that the offense is getting pretty strong at the right time against each and every opponent they've recently faced, weak or not.

We are now at the stage to see what's up and get more answers in the playoffs.

 

[Ax]

I agree..with a qualification: the offense really has improved in the last 4-6 games (with exception of the running game) and Cousins has improved by orders of magnitude (i.e., he looks good!). they can be potent. where I depart from others in spooging over all the stats, etc., is that I want to see the same offense perform against good defenses - that hasn't happened yet. don't really care how others see it - I'm not all that much into this season anyway cuz I see it as a stepping stone. and the next stone to step is beating a team with a good defense.

all in all - a good season. changing my mind on Cousins for the better. Gruden? nope.

While I share some your skepticism about Kirk, and most of it concerning Gruden, I have to say I've never considered this season a stepping stone.

Being opportunistic is also the sign of good teams. At this point in time, it matters very little, what got us in the dance. It matters immensely what happens now that we're there. This is the kind of year that can accelerate the growth of a team. We have a shot that 20 other teams wish they had. We CAN beat anyone in the tournament.

I know we're all hoping that we will.

Of course, chances are, somewhere in Redskin Nation, some idiot believes we have no chance, so we might as well preserve the best draft position we can get, and tank the game.

Hell, a month ago, there were likely some here that felt that way.

As to the thread title, Kirk has done great. But I'd still wait before paying huge, long term dollars. Unless he's hoisting the Lombardi next month.

 

[Ax]

All I know is that the offense is getting pretty strong at the right time against each and every opponent they've recently faced, weak or not.

Well, except for the Monday Night Humiliation to Dallas. Offense and coaches looked like they just started playing football the day before.

 

[Goaldeje]

Kirk has looked better and better as the season has gone on. I said in chat yesterday, and I'll say it here: I WAS DEAD WRONG ABOUT COUSINS. I'm turning the corner on Gruden much more slowly, but Cousins has far exceeded my expectations. The guy is really good.

And the thing is, he's playing better than most QBs out there right now. We can talk about injuries and OLines and all of that, but he is playing better than Rodgers, Luck, Peyton, Eli, etc. In fact, there are only a handful of QBs I would take over Kirk right now, and even then I would have to carefully consider it. I'm including guys like Cam and Wilson in that, by the way.

Dallas had an awful season because Romo went down and they never had any semblance of a replacement for him. Their D wasn't the problem, their O was. And Kirk just shredded their D. Destroyed it. Clowned it. Whatever you want to call it, he put up 24 points in a half. I have no idea if he can keep it up next year, but I sure as shit want to find out if he can in a Redskins uniform. He's gonna get paid. A lot. I'm cool with that, he's played out of his mind.

 

[Ax]

Cybil, is that you?

 

[TomE]

Well, except for the Monday Night Humiliation to Dallas. Offense and coaches looked like they just started playing football the day before.

Yep, Mon Nite Dallas stunk... one of those games.... no excuses but we were in position to get it done and had we done so, we would have been talking about a six game streak instead of four.


Baby steps

 

[MikeSr619]

In regards to the deep pass to Garcon....I was VERY against it when I first saw it. I thought the shake off of the defender was a great move but that he was just doing the "same ol heave ho" that he has done in to traffic too many times. But when I watched it again I saw that he threw it to a spot that Garcon could get to open and it was nowhere near in range of a defender.


but that was a duck....a 40 yard duck lol

 

[Smoot Point]

Smoot, I took another look at that play because over this past season I've generally agreed with you more often than not, and I've been one of the big skeptics when it comes to Cousins.

Respect the opinion here and will take another look at it from that point of view. I was thinking the Safety really should've had the pick, and the CB lunged awkwardly losing balance. I'll look at it again... I appreciate people keeping me in check.

 

[DixieFlatline]

Pulled from this ESPN article. Cousins career stats split via the Tampa game. Sorry for the way the stats look. If anyone knows how to format a table on here, let me know. You can see them in the article too. His section is near the end.

Before And After "You Like That!?"

SPLIT CMP ATT CMP% YDS Y/ATT TD INT PASS RT QBR
Before YLT 391 635 61.6% 4,450 7.0 24 27 77.5 45.6
After YLT 228 315 72.4% 2,746 8.7 23 3 119.1 79.8