Speaking of Cousins … The crisp timing and anticipation that he displayed during the preseason gave Jay Gruden hope. The quarterback has done a good job of getting the ball out of his hands and avoiding sacks, which eases pressure on his linemen. However, his ongoing Achilles’ heel remains ball security. The narrative provided by Gruden and Cousins featured claims of improvement in the fourth-year quarterback’s game and his decision-making. But in all four losses, Cousins has reverted to his old form (or maybe he has just remained true to form) and has thrown multiple interceptions.
His decision-making was poor on Sunday, as he continues to make up his mind too quickly, or fail to recognize defenders’ tendencies. But the other troubling aspect of Cousins’s play the past two weeks in particular has involved accuracy issues. He continues to throw the ball behind receivers, overthrow them and underthrow them. Receivers will get open, only to miss out on those opportunities because the balls are arriving in spots where it’s tough to make a catch.
Cousins got the hook after six straight games last season, and yesterday marked his sixth consecutive outing as starter this season. Gruden says that he will continue to stand by his quarterback. Asked if Cousins will remain the starter for the remainder of the season, he said, “that’s the intent,” which is a little lukewarm. But he couldn’t say, “We’ll see if I’m ordered to alter course.”
Gruden said he wants to see how Cousins does with a full arsenal at his disposal. This Sunday could be that opportunity. We’ve said this many times before, but Cousins badly needs a bounce-back game, because his time as starter could be running out. The problem is, there aren’t drastically better options. Colt McCoy takes better care of the ball, but he takes more sacks because he holds on to the ball longer. Griffin holds on to the ball longer still and also has great durability issues. So Gruden’s options are limited.
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