Redskins: A fine line to walk for Jay Gruden, Kirk Cousins
There’s a fine line between playing loose and playing timid, with interceptions being the line of division. Such is the case with Washington Redskins quarterback
Kirk Cousins.
The Redskins can ill-afford turnovers from the position, but head coach
Jay Gruden said that the team can’t afford for the quarterback to play scared either.
“We’re trying to fix them,” said Gruden of the interceptions. “You know, we do drills out here ball-security-wise for the running backs, receivers and quarterbacks, all-the time. And as far as decisions for the quarterbacks, they’re going to throw some interceptions throughout the course of the season, there’s no doubt.
“You see great quarterbacks doing it every week also. It’s just a matter of not forcing balls and making good decisions with them. If a defensive back makes a good break and picks one off, that’s fine. You know, that’s going to happen, but if we throw them across our body to a blind spot and it gets tipped up and intercepted, that’s on us as coaches and on the player.
“So we just try to teach good-sound decision making, but you also don’t want to have the quarterback play scared either. He’s got to let balls fly. Kirk [Cousins] has done a nice job. He’s only been sacked a few times this year. He’s thrown with good anticipation and precision. We don’t want to take away from that, but when plays break down, not making a play worse is very, very important. Those decisions will have to be on him.”
Asked if the missed sure touchdown pass to Jordan Reed was an example of a “timid” throw, Gruden said he wouldn’t characterize it as that.
“I wouldn’t say 'timid.’ I just think he was so open that he just tried to guide the ball instead of throwing it. He has plenty arm to throw it over there. He just tried to aim it – you know what I mean? – and not overthrow him. Sometimes when a quarterback sees a receiver that open, they try to guide it instead of throwing it in there. I think he just guided it and didn’t get enough out there. Jordan’s deceiving. Once he gets going, he’s a lot faster than he looks, so he was gauging his speed and just underthrew it.”
Cousins concurred with his coach’s assessment.
"Yeah, I thought the first one Jordan beat him so much that a part of me said, 'Don't overthrow him. Just give him a chance,’ you know? When you win that much at the line of scrimmage, you start to try to aim it and try to give him a chance to just make sure it's not overthrown,” said Cousins. “As a result, sure enough, when you start aiming it and not throwing it, it gets underthrown and the guy was able to recover. So, that one was one we felt we left on the table and then other one to Jordan was a tough deal where the protection, the safety blitz got on me quickly and I wasn't able to set my feet and let it go.
“And that was another one where you felt like Jordan had beat his guy and if the ball had been able to be thrown further out potentially could've been a touchdown as well. And that's where you walk away and say, 'You know, we have the talent to make the plays. The plays are there to be made. We’ve just got to make them.' We’ve got to be play through these things and work through them and hopefully, like I said, not repeat the same things over and over."
Gruden caught flack from fans and the media alike for his comments that quarterbacks, even the great ones throw interceptions.
Looking at the numbers through three games, Cousins has plenty of company in the interceptions category, so maybe Gruden has a point.
Andrew Luck (7),
Matthew Stafford (5),
Colin Kaepernick (4), Phillip Rivers (4),
Joe Flacco (4),
Sam Bradford (4),
Peyton Manning (3), Alex Smith (3), and
Ryan Tannehill (3) are among the names either having more interceptions thrown or within one of Cousins (4).
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