ANALYSIS/OPINION:
It will be known as Kirk Cousin’s greatest mistake — the knee to the groin of the doubters.
It happened at the end of the first half of the Washington Redskins’ 38-24 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday, which clinched the NFC East title for Washington at Lincoln Financial Field. The Redskins, leading 16-10, had the ball at Philadelphia’s six-yard line with six seconds left on the clock and no timeouts remaining.
Cousins snapped the ball, and in a state of confusion that was as Redskins-like as Jim Zorn’s swinging gate calls, took a knee rather than spiking the ball to stop the clock when a quick fade throw wasn’t there for him.
Time expired, and the Redskins went into the locker room at halftime having wasted a chance at three points. More importantly, they were ready to drown in the sea of dysfunction that this franchise has swam in for decades.
The stage was set for a Cousins collapse. You want three interceptions? That’s nothing. Let me show you the dumbest, most inexplicable error I can think of — and then watch me work.
It was like someone who was superstitious walking under a ladder while breaking a carton full of mirrors with a parade of black cats walking in front of him.
If you needed any more proof that the Cousins whose shoulders slumped to his knees last season after throwing eight interceptions in four games, and who, after coach Jay Gruden benched him at halftime in the game against the Tennessee Titans declared, “I submitted to his authority,” is dead and buried, look no further than his greatest mistake — the six-second knee.
I mean, that is set up to go down in the annals of Redskins dysfunction lore, along with Gus Frerotte slamming his head into the wall at FedEx Field in the 7-7 overtime tie with the New York Giants, or Zorn’s swinging gate debacle, or any number of moments that have defined the aura of self destruction that has surrounded this franchise.
If there is a mistake that is going to get into the head of Cousins, you would think it is that six-second knee and then having to face your teammates and coaches at halftime in the locker room.
Instead, Cousins said, “Watch me work.”
He came out in the second half and, on the second possession by Washington, lead an 11-play, 54-yard, drive that lasted 4:05 and ended with a precision 12-yard touchdown pass to Chris Thompson and a 23-10 lead.
It was perhaps the most symbolic moment of the transformation of Cousins from the deer-in-headlight turnover machine to confident leader on the field who has slayed the demon of doubt.
Gruden noted it after the game.
“I’m very proud of Kirk,” he said. “He came in here and we had the debacle at the end of the half, and a normal guy could have gone in and tanked there. He just came in there and kept his composure just like he has all year, just like he has done his whole career.
“He kept his composure and just kept his nose to the grindstone and kept battling and competing and doing what he’s supposed to do, man,” Gruden said. “He’s a class act, and I’m very happy for Kirk and what he’s accomplished, man. I’m very proud of him and the whole team. You know, anytime you go out and you name a starting lineup, you want them all to succeed like you do with everybody, but Kirk has really taken his position and done well.”
How well? He is passing his way into the franchise record books. With 3,990 passing yards this season, Cousins is third on the team’s single-season list behind Jay Schroeder, with 4,109 yards in 1986, and Brad Johnson, with 4,005 in 1999. He is the first Redskins quarterback to open a season with a touchdown pass in 15 consecutive games since the NFL instituted the 16-game schedule in 1978. Saturday night marked his third four-touchdown game this year, tying Sonny Jurgensen for the most by a Redskins quarterback in a single season since 1960.
Kirk Cousins has thrown 26 touchdown passes this year, with just 11 interceptions — eight of them in the first six games — and has a league-leading 69.5 completion rate.
More importantly, Saturday night, he led his team to a division-clinching victory on the road against a division rival.
“This is the most satisfied I’ve been as a player,” Cousins told reporters after the win. “It’s a big accomplishment. Now we need to build from here.”
The six-second knee? “There was a lot of confusion with what the play call was,” Cousins said. “For lack of a better word, I just had a lapse in my decision-making and took a knee when I should’ve thrown the ball away to stop the clock. We were fortunate it didn’t end up hurting us.”
It would have been great if Cousins had said, “I just wanted to show all of you that I’ve got this,” because now, Cousins submits to no man’s authority.
⦁ Thom Loverro is co-host of “The Sports Fix,” noon to 2 p.m. daily on ESPN 980 and espn980.com.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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