LANDOVER — Until Sunday, Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins hadn’t thrown for more than three touchdowns in a game in his NFL career. Until Sunday, he hadn’t completed a scoring pass of more than seven yards this season.
And until Sunday, he never got the chance to play against the New Orleans Saints’ porous, poor-tackling defense, either.
Probably not a coincidence.
In by far his best game as a pro, Cousins threw a career-high four touchdown passes — each one longer than any touchdown toss of his all season — and registered a perfect passer rating of 158.3 to lead the Redskins past the Saints, 47-14, on Sunday.
“I’m getting better as a quarterback,” said Cousins, who went 20-for-25 for 324 yards and did not throw an interception. “When you’re in the zone and things are going really well, you’re just playing and your mind is free and you’re not allowing things to inhibit your play.”
Asked how Cousins should be viewed after this performance, Redskins coach Jay Gruden cracked himself up.
“Maybe you should write a positive article on him, for once, you know?” Gruden said.
“Kirk’s going to take his lumps, man, but he’s going to keep grinding, and you can see the results starting to pay off.”
Cousins connected on touchdown passes of 78 yards to running back Matt Jones, 16 and eight yards to tight end Jordan Reed, and 11 yards to wide receiver Jamison Crowder.
The 33-point margin of victory was the largest for the Redskins (4-5) since beating the San Francisco 49ers, 52-17, in 2005.
The Redskins led, 37-14, at the end of the third quarter, then tacked on more points 42 seconds into the fourth on safety Dashon Goldson’s 35-yard touchdown return of an interception of Drew Brees.
Coming off a pair of games in which he accounted for 10 touchdowns and nearly 900 yards, Brees went 19-for-28 for 201 yards, two first-half touchdown passes to Brandin Cooks and two fourth-quarter interceptions.
The Saints (4-6) lost their second consecutive game, following a run of three victories that briefly got them to .500.
“There wasn’t a lot, I’m sure, that we [are] going to look at on that tape that we’re not going to be disappointed in,” Saints coach Sean Payton said.
He was asked about the possibility of personnel or coaching staff changes during his team’s upcoming bye week and said: “We’re not going to discuss any of those type of changes, certainly not right now.”
Sunday’s numbers brought the totals for New Orleans’ past three opponents to 130 points and more than 1,400 yards; it’s the most points the Saints have allowed in a three-game span in team history.
“We can’t allow this to keep happening,” strong safety Kenny Vaccaro said.
The Saints’ defense didn’t put up much resistance when the Redskins ran the ball, either. Alfred Morris entered having gained 51 yards on 29 carries in his previous four games combined; this time, he wound up with 92 yards on 15 carries.
In the first half, Washington’s offense seemingly could do no wrong — in large part because Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan’s unit couldn’t do anything right.
The Redskins led, 27-14, at halftime, their most points through two quarters in nearly three years. They put up 28 points against the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day in 2012, when Cousins was a backup to Robert Griffin III and both were rookies.
Washington’s opening possession set the tone. It covered 96 yards in 10 plays, the team’s longest drive since a 98-yarder in December 2000, and included an early 42-yard pass to DeSean Jackson, then ended with Cousins’ 16-yarder to Reed.
“I see his confidence growing each week,” Reed said. “I feel like he’s putting in hard work and that’s given him confidence to know that he’s going to go perform on the field.”
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