OPINION:
Quarterback Kirk Cousins didn’t have a particularly good game Sunday in the Redskins’ 20-15 win over the Arizona Cardinals before the silent and invisible majority at FedEx Field.
But he found the end zone twice and played well enough for his team to win.
Cardinals quarterback Blaine Gabbert had a particularly bad game. He never found the end zone and played his way into a loss for his team.
And there you have it, Redskins fans — Christmas present and Christmas future.
Let’s not even bother with Christmas past for the Washington Redskins. It’s Scrooge-like ugly. We all know that.
For the possibly 40,000 or so (the team announced the attendance for Sunday at 71,026) who actually showed up to watch, they were rewarded with a win and not much else.
It was bad football, desperation December football between two teams, one of whom was still in the playoff picture.
That team would be the Cardinals, who came into this game with a 6-7 record and would have left FedEx Field with an 7-7 record if their quarterback had been named, say, Kirk Cousins, instead of Blaine Gabbert.
Don’t believe me? Ask Gabbert himself.
“It pretty much boils down to me making a play, delivering the ball accurately and on time,” he said. “The lack of execution for me all day — that just can’t happen. We were inches away from a bunch of plays but at the end of the day I have to make those and we have to score touchdowns in the red zone.”
They didn’t — five field goals.
Cousins didn’t have a chance to make a bunch of plays. Washington (6-8) had just 15 offensive plays in the first half, compared to 47 for Arizona. The Redskins had the ball for just 6:34 in the first half, compared to 23:26 for the Cardinals.
But Cousins made the plays he needed to — two touchdown passes among seven completions in nine attempts in the first half.
“We just didn’t get enough opportunities, 15 plays in the first half,” he said. “It really was a big difference in the final outcome. We just didn’t get enough opportunities.”
When they did — like the Arizona fumble on their first possession that gave Washington the ball on the Cardinals’ 6 yard line — Cousins delivered what Gabbert could not all day with a five-yard touchdown pass to Jamison Crowder.
What you saw Sunday was the difference in life in the NFL when you have a quarterback and when you don’t have one.
The Redskins have one — and they may let him leave.
Insanity.
Gabbert was not the starter going into this season — Carson Palmer was — but he lasted just seven games this year. Gabbert has started the last five games and has kept his team in contention for a wild card — until Sunday.
Gabbert could be Christmas future when you start searching for a quarterback when you already have one under your tree.
Maybe you draft a young quarterback, and sign a free agent as insurance.
In a league where quarterbacks break like glass, you suddenly wind up with Gabbert as your quarterback in important December games — instead of Cousins, who made his 45th consecutive start Sunday.
As the game ended with a Redskins win, an official tried to take the ball from Cousins, but the quarterback told him he was keeping it. “I try to keep the football whenever I can,” he said. “They make great gifts. It’s a chance to give something to someone that they can’t get on their own.
“You know Emmitt Smith kept every touchdown run he ever had,” Cousins said. “There is no rule that says we can’t keep it. If they are going to let us take the ball, I’ll take the ball. I’ll take what I can get.”
Yes, you will, Kirk — $20 million last year, $24 million this season and much, much more in the future.
However, there may only be two games left for Cousins to steal away a few more of those Redskins game balls.
• Thom Loverro hosts his weekly podcast “Cigars & Curveballs” Wednesdays available on iTunes, Google Play and the reVolver podcast network.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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