Redskins vs. Vikings: Back to the Future

Last Sunday's win over the Vikings gave Redskins fans a glorious glimpse of the franchise's past, present, and future all at one time.  It made us try and remember the last time we had a winning record after our ninth game of the season, which we then realized was at the tail end of the Horny 4 Zorny craze of 2008 and we started to have that all too familiar Redskins fan feeling of "this team will let us down like it always does".  But the win against the Vikings reminded us that the 2016 iteration of the Washington Redskins maybe the Marty McFly of 1985 that helps erase the memory of his family's past impotency through moxy and determination.

It has been stated that there is a different air about this team this season; a determination not seen in years past that has kept them fighting in close games where they had wilted in the past.  This comes as a surprise to a fan base whose Pavlovian response in the last two minutes of a close Redskins game is to settle in to their favorite chair and calmly wait for the meteor of disappointment to make its inevitable crash into the depths of our hearts.  But the attitude of this team has changed because the Redskins finally have players in leadership positions that have shown that determination in their career arcs through this league and the franchise.  Think about Will Compton and Chris Baker who had to work their way off the practice squad to become central leaders of this defense.  Pierre Garcon had to prove that he could emerge out of Reggie Wayne's shadow and produce on his own, and he has anchored this receiving corps for the last four years.  Rob Kelley won his starting role as an undrafted free agent this season and has sparked a renaissance in the Redskins running game.  DeSean Jackson has always had to overcome issues with his size to prove himself to teams that drafted Devin Thomas and Fred Davis over him in 2008 (We also let the Packers draft Jordy Nelson two picks after we took Devin Thomas).  We finally hit on a big name free agent in Josh Norman, who may have been a bad ass last year but he was not so hot being drafted in the 5th round out of Coastal Carolina in 2012.  We also hit on the wily veteran free agent who surprisingly has something left in the tank.  Vernon Davis has been rejuvenated playing in front of his hometown crowd after being left for dead in Denver last season.  And the ultimate leader of this team is a guy most everyone thought was a waste of a draft pick and would never see the light of day playing behind the franchise's golden boy, and some still believe we can go it without him next season after all he has done.  All of these players fill leadership positions and have fought to get where they are and still have something to prove.  This combination is why we have seen the Redskins continue to fight on both sides of the ball, regardless of what has transpired during the game.  It is a delicate balance that Scot McCloughan would be wise to keep intact as much as possible, and the win over the Vikings provided some telling portends about the future of this franchise.

The Vikings game provided two pieces of information about the Redskins future.  The first is that Kirk Cousins is going to be a franchise quarterback for us if we resign him.  He not only led the team on four scoring drives in the second half, but his two touchdown passes showed that he has the ability to throw people open in the red zone (the Jamison Crowder TD) and that he can throw an accurate deep ball (the Vernon Davis TD).  He is the leader of this team, and if we let him go we will be letting go of the invaluable intangibles that he brings to this team.  Kirk Cousins needs to be back next year.  Unfortunately for DeSean Jackson, this game proved that he may not be as valuable as we once thought.  He obviously makes the Redskins better, but how bad are they without him?  The Redskins moved the ball efficiently enough to show that Jackson's deep threat may be more of a myth than reality as long as the run game stays healthy.  This is not to say that his deep ball is not helpful, but the argument was that the threat of Jackson going deep opens up the passing game for everyone else.  The offense looked just fine against Minnesota without DeSean streaking down the field, so don't be surprised if the Redskins let him walk at the end of the season.

Onto the Packers on Sunday Night, where the Redskins determination will be put to the test in a thickening NFC playoff race.

We Know Kirk Cousins, and We Need Him to Stay

The Redskins bye week has been a cacophony of opinions about the future of Kirk Cousins and this franchise.  This dialogue was inevitable given that the franchise tag that Cousins has been carrying around this season makes for sensational conjecture and blogger fodder.  But the tone of this dialogue is what is baffling given Cousins performance as the unquestioned starter over the last 25 games.  This notion that we still don't know what to make of Cousins is asinine.  Even more asinine is the hypothetical notion that we could be in the same spot if Colt McCoy had been under center this season.  Both of these lines of thinking are dangerous given that Scot McCloughan will more than likely not be paying what Cousins and his agent are looking for this offseason, and there are a number of suitors who may very well break then bank to enlist the services of the Redskins signal caller.  All of this means that we will need to make Cousins feel wanted so much that he turns down $3-5 million more per year, and possibly $10-20 more in guaranteed money, to stay in Washington.  We must do this by putting away the notions that there is ambiguity in what kind of quarterback Cousins is and that we would be able to do the same thing without him.  The Redskins need Kirk Cousins because of what he has become over the last two seasons, and these accomplishments can be highlighted by debunking the two most prevalent arguments against Cousins getting a big contract here in Washington.

Argument 1: We Still Don't Know What Kind of Quarterback Kirk Cousins Is

The people who want to temper the talks of giving Cousins a large contract use this argument to obfuscate the true nature of what Cousins means to this team, and to use it to artificially manufacture dissent within HTTR nation about what Cousins should be paid this coming off season.  These people are the people who call Cousins an empty stat collector without looking at the most important stat of all.  Wins.  While the detractors look to dissect Cousins's stats to point out inconsistencies within his play they neglect that, for the first time since Brad Johnson, the Redskins have a winner at quarterback who has the temperament to perform at a high level in close games and lead meaningful drives late in the game.   Let's look at those drives over the past two seasons:

1) 10/4/15: Cousins leads a 15 play, 90 yard drive at the end of the 4th quarter to beat the Eagles
2) 10/11/15: Cousins goes 46 yards in :24 to set up a game tying field goal in Atlanta, and was a Ryan Grant slip away from leading the Redskins to score on their first possession in overtime
3) 10/25/15:  The infamous "You Like That" game.  Cousins led the biggest comeback in Redskins history, but you may have forgotten that the last touchdown was thrown to Jordan Reed that capped an 11 play, 80 yard drive in the last two minutes
4) 10/23/16: Cousins put his contract on the line as he ran in a 20 yard read option play to cap off a 9 play, 76 yard drive to take the lead.
5) 10/30/16: Cousins did all he could except kick the field goals himself to put the Redskins in position to win in a hard fought game.

These are not event counting the fact that last year he was plagued by drops against New England that may have allowed the Redskins to at least keep pace with the Patriots.  He put the redskins ahead in the third quarter of their playoff game against the Packers.  He led the Redskins into a position to go up by two scores against Dallas and threw an untimely interception.  He led the go ahead drive after halftime against the Ravens that proved to be the difference in the game.  All of this shows that Cousins has put the Redskins in a position to win more often than not, and aside from the Dallas game this season he has cleaned up the back breaking mistakes that plagued him early in his career.  This is who Kirk Cousins is.  He puts the team in a position to win.  Whatever way Cousins's stats are used to define him as a quarterback, Cousin has compiled a majority of those stats in games where the Redskins were in the thick of competition.  This leads into the second bogus argument against keeping Cousins.

Argument #2: Colt McCoy (or hypothetical replacement) could do what Cousins is doing

This statement is only bogus when looking at the long term prognostication.  In the short term it is hard to argue some of the facts.  McCoy has a limited arm, but can make short throws and is more athletic than he looks to keep defenses honest in read option.  McCoy may not have the leadership qualities that Cousins has, and Cousins can throw deep enough to keep the safeties at bay, but let's say that McCoy could be 4-3-1 right now as a starter and we let Cousins walk at the end of the season.  What then?  McCoy would only be a short term solution and we would need to look for a replacement.  We would probably want to bring in another QB in order to have Nate Sudfeld not be one hit away from being the starter, but the free agent class for 2017 looks bleak and hopefully  McCloughan is smart enough not to draft a quarterback again in 2017.  Then at the end of next season we are back at square one.  I can hear people saying, "We'll have the money to resign all of our offensive weapons if we go with McCoy next year", but do they think that Jackson and Garcon will stay after this season knowing that the next two years may be in rebuilding mode?  Both will be entering their 10th year as a pro, and they know that they may only have 3-4 good years left.  It would not be surprising if they decide to walk from uncertainty here in Washington if Cousins leaves, so McCoy would be without two huge weapons.  It is more than likely one leaves anyway if Cousins resigns to a large contract, but there is more incentive to stay if Cousins is under center.

All of this points to one conclusion.  Barring a complete meltdown from Cousins over the next eight games, the best option will be to resign Cousins to a long term contract.  Even though some have stated his average annual salary should be about $22.1 million, it is unlikely that McCloughan will go that high.  It may be that Cousins gets a higher amount of guaranteed money over a longer term contract in order to keep the per year cap hit low enough that we can resign some of our free agents, but Cousins is the only option to continue the success the Redskins have had over the last 25 games.  Cousins is a winner who has shown improvement over his time as a starter, and he has gained the respect of the players around him.  At no time in the Dan Snyder era have the Redskins had a quarterback who instilled so much confidence in his play over a longer period of time, and the Redskins need to show that they are committed to the players they have developed.  If not, get ready for the Brian Hoyer vs. Colt McCoy battle in training camp, and blog posts about how good DeSean Jackson looks in silver and black.