ASHBURN — New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick did not attempt to speculate what factored into Jay Gruden’s decision to name Kirk Cousins the starting quarterback at the start of the season instead of Robert Griffin III, but he applauded the Washington Redskins’ coach for sticking with it.
“I’m sure Coach Gruden made the decision that he felt worked best for the team and I totally respect that,” Belichick said during his weekly conference call with reporters.
Cousins has submitted polarizing performances through the first seven games and it remains unclear which version the Redskins (3-4) will ultimately get this season. Will they get more of the multi-interception games that incite questions about whether Gruden made the right choice, or the dramatic last-second comeback drives that make it look like he had it right all along?
Either way, Belichick was complementary of what the fourth-year quarterback has accomplished this season.
“I think he does a lot of things well, seems like a really smart guy who manages the offense well,” Belichick said. “He’s pretty athletic even though he hasn’t run a lot, but he moves around quite a bit. They run bootleg moving pocket plays, things like that, so he definitely has quickness to create a little extra time to throw and does a good job of finding and using all his receivers, backs and tight ends and multiple wide-outs.
“They play a lot of people in the passing game and he can get the ball to them. Definitely spreads it around, they’ve done a good job of controlling the clock, hitting passes to keep drives going, third down has been good, they’re one of the better third-down teams in the league and one of the better red-area teams in the league, so I think that counts a lot for a quarterback to make plays in those situations when the coverage is tight and there is less space to throw.
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“I think he’s done a good job for them. Their record is what it is, but they’ve been in a lot of close games — the overtime game against Atlanta, they were ahead of the Jets at halftime, the Giants game was close, the Miami game was close. I think this is a team that is a lot better than what their record is at this point. They have a lot of guys banged up. It looks like they’re going to be getting some of those players back this week. He’s done a good job with them. They have a good team, and it sounds like they’re going to be a lot stronger here in the coming weeks.”
• Anthony Gulizia can be reached at agulizia@washingtontimes.com.
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