Kirk Cousins Development Tracker

Browns and Skins are close, or on several defensive stats, Cleveland is better. Probably not a big surprise to anyone.
Even though the Redskins average 5 more points a game, are they doing it with their offense?

No, they are doing it with Hopkins who leads the league with 11 FG's, 8 of those less than 40 yards, versus 5 TDs on Offense. When your place kicker leads the league in FG's it usually isn't a good thing - your settling for three to often or your offense just can't move the ball. Moving the ball is not a problem. When your Kicker leads the team in scoring every week that's not good either. A 39 yard FG means the line of scrimmage is going to be right about the 22 yard line. There's where at least 8 of their 11 missed Red Zone opportunities are.

Kirk and the rest of the offense need to stop blowing chances. 3 of 14 in the Red Zone. That's good for 4th best in getting to the RZ and 31st in conversions after getting there. 1 of 6 in goal to go. Don't believe the man behind the curtain who say's the offense is not a problem. Click your cleats together three times Kirk and say, 'I want to go to the End Zone'. Repeat until the team gets there.

Kirk has overcome the interception bug, far earlier in his career, than Eli, Favre, or Romo.
Actually, none of those guys ever did overcome it.

JohnssBass said:

Browns and Skins are close, or on several defensive stats, Cleveland is better. Probably not a big surprise to anyone.
Even though the Redskins average 5 more points a game, are they doing it with their offense?

No, they are doing it with Hopkins who leads the league with 11 FG's, 8 of those less than 40 yards, versus 5 TDs on Offense. When your place kicker leads the league in FG's it usually isn't a good thing - your settling for three to often or your offense just can't move the ball. Moving the ball is not a problem. When your Kicker leads the team in scoring every week that's not good either. A 39 yard FG means the line of scrimmage is going to be right about the 22 yard line. There's where at least 8 of their 11 missed Red Zone opportunities are.

Kirk and the rest of the offense need to stop blowing chances. 3 of 14 in the Red Zone. That's good for 4th best in getting to the RZ and 31st in conversions after getting there. 1 of 6 in goal to go. Don't believe the man behind the curtain who say's the offense is not a problem. Click your cleats together three times Kirk and say, 'I want to go to the End Zone'. Repeat until the team gets there.

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There's no magic to it Johns. Let's put it up on the drawing board X's and O's. At the 22 yard line where red zone begins, we should be going with the bread and butter plays, i.e. those that are high percentage quaranteed type results. Like Jordan Reed country, that is where he excels and we have room to utilize him. like last year. But what we don't do is keep going to the well with cute plays and players we don't normally go to, like Grant, Doctson etc. Go to the "go to guys" in the red zone, that is on coaching to make the adjustment. Stop doing what doesn't work there and go with Reed.

From the 10 yard line, run all out of the passing formation. They all are expecting us to pass, we can score from there with this play or at least get inside the 5. Once inside the 5, you're going to run behind trent for a TD twice if you have to, but don't put it all on Kirk to thread the needle down that close. Too much traffic for a pass play to work well, and if you go shotgun at the 5 you're practically calling out the play and creating more yards to score. Not a good idea to go shotgun that deep.

Its not rocket science, but somehow play calling has stunk. I think we run more now inside the 10. Brilliant!

Some Tandler tidbits on Kirk's first down passing, shame that third down and red zone suck so far. Too many penalties, I think contribute to some of the third down problems...... red zone is still a bit of a mystery.
The first down running stat kinda surprized me though, who knew?

Here is a comparison of Cousins’ first-down passing results between this year and Weeks 1-3 last year.

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If you want a sign that Jay Gruden and Sean McVay are getting more pass happy, this is it, albeit in a small sample size. But if you are going to gain 9.2 yards per pass attempt on first downs, why not try it more often? The Redskins are averaging a respectable 4.2 yards per first-down rushing attempt so running isn’t futile but if you can gain more than twice as much, passing nearly 60 percent of the time is not a bad option.

However, Cousins and the Redskins aren’t getting it done on third down. Cousins’ third-down passer rating this year is 72.5 compared to 84.9 through three games in 2015. That’s a major reason why the Redskins’ third-down conversion rate is 39.5 percent, 17th in the NFL. For the 2015 season they ranked fifth at 43.5 percent.

The Redskins should think twice before changing their approach. They are averaging 6.5 yards to go on third down; the league average is 7.3. Cousins and company are in a position to succeed; they just need to execute a little better.

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Redskins? Cousins passing more often and more effectively on first down | Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

We may never again have as many great receiving options as we have this second.

Forget the best in the league...we have that.

We're now talking about the best the league has seen in many years.

We'll look back 5 or 10 years from now and talk about the season when all of these weapons were here at once:

Desean
Garcon
Jordan Reed
Jamison Crowder
Vernon Davis
Doctson
Ross
and the RBs.

That's an historically sick lineup. One that should put up some of the best numbers the league has ever seen.

I thought we did the wrong thing by not playing Kirk much in pre-season. We seemed to be being really careful with him to try and avoid injuries.

Same with alot of players on the team, and while we managed to avoid the injury bug pre-season, it hasn't helped us a jot really as we've lost people hand over fist this week.

I've always seen the pre-season as like stretching before exercise. You know if you just get out of your seat and go straight to running around without the pre-requisite warm up, the chances are... you're gonna hurt yourself.
Pre-season for me (philosophically anyway) has been about a) evaluating talent and b) getting your starters up to speed ready for the season to start.

Not playing Kirk and co, or at least playing them as little as they did, it doesn't surprise me that this team needed to shake off rust for the first couple of games. To me Kirk especially looked rusty. Even those first two games, he kinda looked ok, but like his thinking was a half a slit second behind, and he was a little off. Even this last game against the Giants where he looked much better, he was still a little off on some throws and made some questionable choices.

But I'm optimistically hoping that this week was where we see them turn the corner and this offense take off. We have the weapons all over the field, and Kirk doesn't need to be Elite to use them. This week also proved that we could supplement the Pass with a Run game. We're not the power running team of eras gone by, but we can do enough to maintain a balanced offense and keep things interesting for opposing defenses. Hopefully these first few games saw the coaching staff shake off any rust too.

And to be honest I've always figured that that was Scotty's plan was. I really believe he saw the weapons we had all over the offense for the passing game, saw that we'd have a pretty good O-line in pass protection at least and saw that with Kirk as a game manager and with a competent running attack our offense would be pretty good. That would be enough to hopefully keep us relevant till this next off season where he can address the D-line. I think (hope) that's what we're finally starting to see. I don't think he's under any illusions about how good Kirk really is, but what are the QB options realistically? We know McCoy isn't the answer, franchise QB's never come on the trade market realistically (Unless they're done... ladies and gents I give you Donovan McNabb) and unless we bottom out totally and shoot for a really high draft pick for a new QB (And even that is a hit and miss strategy, hello RGIII).

I think he's well aware that Kirk is a good game manager who may get better over time as he gets more experience under his belt. So shore up the O-line, get a great O-line coach, put a gaggle of great targets on the field and put in a running game that's just enough to get the job done. That's the thinking. I do believe that this is an offense that will only get better the more time it spends together. If we can get a stud running back too then we'll really take off!

I reckon we'll see a really close dedication to the Defense next off season to try and bring that up a couple of notches.

I don't think the rosters of the Browns and Redskins are all that close.

Cleveland getting that 23 point lead before the Ravens woke up and smoked them in the second half makes the scores look more respectable, but the fact is the Browns were really blown off the field in those first 2 games and the Dolphins are one of the worst teams in the AFC.

I don't think the Redskins are a juggernaut or anything close to it, but they are in the mid-tier of competitive teams.

Cleveland is in the lower category with clubs like the Bears that seem rudderless and with few impact players at this point.

If the Redskins lose this game it will be because the Redskins lost the game not because the Browns won it.

Maybe too many 'fine tools' in the shop is causing some mind lock on which one to choose for best results.

That end zone pick probably set Kirk back a bit as well, he should get over that soon I would think.

A lot of pundits are scouring over film and picking up on Kirk's missed opportunities on the field, I've got no problem with that.... it's a learning moment... but there was at least one big miss by Eli that could have been a game breaker... 'Cotton Top' was left totally uncovered down the left side and the throw went elsewhere.. might have even been on the game clinching pick play.

Eli has been there, done that in spades going on 13 years, I'm willing to give Kirk some slack now and again, he's playing against his book now and just needs to write new chapters.

TomE said:

Eli has been there, done that in spades going on 13 years, I'm willing to give Kirk some slack now and again, he's playing against his book now and just needs to write new chapters.

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I watched the game again on Monday (reveling in the win!) and I was watching Eli. Arguably I'd say he was slightly more accurate on throws than Kirk, but he too made some pretty bad decisions and missed some golden chances to put up scores. I remember noticing a couple of times when I watched it live where a Giants receiver seemed to be running free behind our secondary and he missed it and then me breathing a sigh of relief.

I think like most fans sometimes we get wrapped up in our own QB and his foibles, but as you say, Eli has been around 13 years and is a superbowl winner and still he has his moments of madness. Realistically this is only Kirks year 2 as leader of this team and I think he's doing pretty well. I'd like to see him continue to grow and develop, I'm not sure he'll ever be Elite, but I'd like him to be the man that means we don't have to search for a QB anytime soon. If we can settle that position then it makes life easier as we can then just concentrate on putting a team around him.

As for Cleveland... I'm kinda terrified of this game. I know it's real obvious but it still feels like a trap game to me. The kind of game we SHOULD win, especially as it looked like we turned a corner last week, but we'll end up blowing it. OR maybe that's just the way I'm now conditioned as a Redskin fan.

Feels a little like the Dallas game to me. And we blew that one.

I also feel a little like this team bought it's own hype and went into the season thinking it was better than it was, only to have a rude awakening. I hope the first two weeks gave them a hefty dose of reality and that they don't take last weeks Giant slaying and blow it out of proportion.

We're not world beaters and we shouldn't believe we are. I want to see the team I saw on Sunday afternoon, the scrappy team that fought for every yard. That's Redskin football and I want more of that!

McD5 said:

We'll look back 5 or 10 years from now and talk about the season when all of these weapons were here at once:

Desean
Garcon
Jordan Reed
Jamison Crowder
Vernon Davis
Doctson
Ross
and the RBs.

That's an historically sick lineup. One that should put up some of the best numbers the league has ever seen.

Click to expand...

It's a good, solid corps. I'm not sure it's '98 Vikings or '99 Rams awesome, but it's solid. I think it's just been a long time since we had more than one decent WR on this team at the same time.

Right now we have four receivers on pace for 75 or more receptions. Reed and Jackson are both on pace to break 1000 yards. Crowder is sitting at around 930. That's pretty crazy. I can't imagine that holding all season long.

What everyone is lacking though are the statistics in that all important category of 'receiving touchdowns'......................

That's where we separate the men from the boys.

Reed had 11 TDs last year. So, we all knew he was going to draw a LOT more coverage in 2016.

That should open things up for Pierre Garcon, Vernon Davis, Chris Thompson and Co. in the red zone.

But we haven't taken advantage of those match-ups.

Totally agree. Cousins is having a hard time at the moment.

Henry said:

It's a good, solid corps. I'm not sure it's '98 Vikings or '99 Rams awesome, but it's solid. I think it's just been a long time since we had more than one decent WR on this team at the same time.

Right now we have four receivers on pace for 75 or more receptions. Reed and Jackson are both on pace to break 1000 yards. Crowder is sitting at around 930. That's pretty crazy. I can't imagine that holding all season long.

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Not even 91 Redskins' awesome? We had 3 WR's with 80 reception...first team to ever do so.

Elephant said:

Not even 91 Redskins' awesome? We had 3 WR's with 80 reception...first team to ever do so.

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They were pretty awesome too. Monk and Clark both broke 1000 yards.

I think you're thinking of the '89 Redskins, though. Not only did all three break 79 receptions, but they all also broke 1100 receiving yards.

Yeah, that's pretty awesome.

Surprising stat of the day:

Kirk Cousins now averaging 285.3 pass yards per day in 27 full NFL games. Would be most in history, ahead of 2nd-place Drew Brees (281.7).

--@adamlevitan

Is Kirk's middle name Robert ? Boy needs to learn how to throw the ball away......

McD5 said:

Surprising stat of the day:

Kirk Cousins now averaging 285.3 pass yards per day in 27 full NFL games. Would be most in history, ahead of 2nd-place Drew Brees (281.7).

--@adamlevitan

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Cousins threw for 183 (145 after sacks) today but 78% completion rate, 3 TDs with 1 Int. Jeez imagine that - passing in the short game works just like it did last year in the last half of the season when they were winning games. He doesn't need 300+ yards and no TDs. TD's win games, not yardage.

Miles Monroe said:

Is Kirk's middle name Robert ? Boy needs to learn how to throw the ball away......

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That first sack taking them out of the RZ was all on Kirk. All kinds of time to dump it, especially considering how far back he went that balls got to be gone.

Maybe Kirk is actually progressing, sounds funny I know...... but the guy looked like he was trying to get a feel for the out of the box stuff.

That second TD to Reed was excellent, he barfed on a few but if he "gets-it" doing that kind of stuff he might be on his way to success.

New O line config might have led to some of that too.

Running game beginning to shape up, quick pocket passing ain't too shabby, imagine if Kirk can develop a decent off schedule acumen too....

Well, watching Cybil switch between personalities is a little nerve racking. When Captain Turnover jumped out of him, helping the Browns tie the game, I thought, "Dude needs electro shock therapy, for sure". But Captain Kirk quickly regained control of his mind. Only to have a new personality briefly show his face in the second half. When Dumb Blonde Cousins took the sacks, during Wrong Play McVay's brain cramp drive, I got real worried. That 1st sack was "play in your own shit" stupid.

Continued therapy for Cybil is required. As he still can't prevent many of his worst personalities from appearing at inopportune moments.

Lucky it was just the Browns.