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Evan Silva @evansilva 12s
#Eagles QB Nick Foles' last 16 games: 302-of-473 passing (63.8%) for 4,064 yards (8.59 YPA), 35 TDs, 4 INTs. 3 more touchdowns on scrambles.
the "skinny knees" was the best one
i don't blame people for knocking him over the pro day, which i would think carries a little more weight than the combine (but overall, doesn't really mean a whole helluva lot in the grand scheme of things). but that's just how it works, people love combine/pro day performers.
but the knees and hand size and preferred toilet paper brand crap...comical
"He came into the huddle for the first snap chewing gum and smiling" "His composure and confidence calms the entire offense down" "We should win every game with him back there at quarterback" - John Sullivan
"He's going to do a tremendous job. This is what he's been waiting for and he's going to take full advantage of it" - Matt Cassel
"He's ready. Honestly...I think he was ready the day he walked in here" - Mike Zimmer
"He's going to be a different challenge to game plan against, that's for sure" - Mike Smith
Flip side, Cousins wasn't too shabby neither. He certainly moves the ball better thru the air than RG has. Gettin pretty close to sure that Cousins is the new sheriff in town for good.
Washed Out
It has felt for weeks, right or wrong, like a quarterback controversy was coming in Washington. On Sunday, that controversy disappeared for all the wrong reasons. A scrambling Robert Griffin suffered a noncontact injury, dislocating his ankle while rolling out to the sideline. The injury led Washington to bring in backup Kirk Cousins, who had an impressive day in leading Washington to a 41-10 victory over a hapless Jaguars team.
First, Griffin. It was obviously sad to see the face of the Washington franchise facedown in pain on the sideline for minutes on Sunday, especially after having battled through a serious knee injury and a year of limited motion on said knee. Washington sources suggested Sunday night that Griffin could be back in four to five weeks, but that seems unlikely.
Every other example of a dislocated ankle I can find resulted in a season-ending injury. In many cases, the injury occurred to a bigger, slower player who had his ankle rolled up in a crowd, resulting in a dislocated ankle and other damage. That includes guys like J.D. Walton, Eric Foster, and Connor Barwin. A noncontact dislocated ankle might be unprecedented. It might insinuate that there’s less damage and that the return timetable might be quicker, but we’ll know more after today’s MRI.
In the bigger picture, this is probably going to be the injury that ends Griffin’s career as a franchise quarterback upon whom a team would depend as a long-term solution. His skills are still there in one way or another, but after an ACL tear in college, assorted injuries including a second ACL tear in his first two pro seasons, and this ankle injury without contact, it would be very tough for a GM to build around Griffin the same way that, say, the Colts are building around Andrew Luck. Griffin will still have a career, but if this is a season-ending injury, he veers away from the Luck career path and more toward that of somebody like Randall Cunningham or Trent Green as the above-average talent who has a few impressive post-hype seasons in between injuries.
For at least the next month, Washington will turn the starting job over to Cousins, who had attracted attention as possibly the better option for Jay Gruden’s offense anyway. He was excellent filling in for Griffin in Week 2, going 22-of-33 for 250 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Of course, Griffin had looked good before he left; he started 2-of-3 for 38 yards, and the incompletion was a bomb downfield to DeSean Jackson that was incorrectly ruled to be a drop on the field, costing Griffin a 50-plus-yard completion.7
I wrote about Cousins in December before he came in as the starter for a deposed Griffin at the end of the campaign. At the time, Cousins had looked good in a relief role against the Ravens and won his lone start against the Browns, but he had been brutal in his other pro appearances, especially in terms of avoiding turnovers. Washington brought him into the lineup as a trade showcase for three starts, which came against generous competition. Two of his three starts came against bottom-six pass defenses in Dallas (which finished 27th in DVOA) and Atlanta (last) before finishing up with the eighth-ranked Giants. Here’s how that went:
Split Cmp Att Cmp% Yds Y/Att TD INT Fum Touches/TO
Before December 2013 Starts 48 83 57.8% 604 7.3 4 5 3 11.5
December 2013 Starts 69 130 53.1% 747 5.7 4 5 2 19.6
Total through 2013 117 213 54.9% 1351 6.3 8 10 5 15.3
Against bad competition and with first-team practice reps, Cousins somehow played worse. His turnover rate thankfully improved, but it was still far worse than Griffin’s rate in the same offense; even if you include only Griffin’s numbers from his supposedly disastrous 2013 campaign, he turned the ball over once every 25.2 touches. Of the 47 quarterbacks who threw 200 passes or more in the regular season and playoffs between 2012 and 2013, Cousins was 43rd in completion percentage and yards per attempt, 44th in passer rating, and 46th in interception rate. His rate numbers are an almost exact duplicate for Mark Sanchez’s final season as the starter in New York, when he completed 54.3 percent of his passes and averaged 6.4 yards per attempt. Cousins turns the ball over more frequently than Sanchez did that final year, and he didn’t even get attacked by any offensive linemen.
While 213 passes isn’t an enormous sample, of course, plenty of other quarterbacks have been written off in far smaller doses. Cousins was very good Sunday, but it was against a terrible Jacksonville pass defense that left the likes of Niles Paul and Andre Roberts wide open. I lost count of how many times I saw Cousins complete a pass to a receiver who had nobody within three yards. If he gets to play the Jaguars every week, Cousins will be a star. Perhaps Gruden has suddenly turned Cousins into a self-aware, accurate passer. Given that I saw dropped Cousins interceptions during the preseason and on Sunday, though, I’m skeptical.
Cousins > Carr
Luck's pick was atrocious though.
Anyway, he played well, but get off your schtick.
Andrew
68.9%, 1305 yards, 13 TD, 4 INT, 326 YPG, 108 QB rating. League leader in yards + TDs.
Romo looked great tonight.
Loved what I saw out of Bortles and Teddy.
Cutler gon Cutler.
Phil looking like an MVP candidate.
Stafford looked like week one Stafford.
Yep. Surgically dismantling the Jaguars and Titans in a most impressive fashion...Luck has earned every bit of shine the last two weeks.Andrew
68.9%, 1305 yards, 13 TD, 4 INT, 326 YPG, 108 QB rating. League leader in yards + TDs.
Romo looked great tonight.
Loved what I saw out of Bortles and Teddy.
Cutler gon Cutler.
Phil looking like an MVP candidate.
Stafford looked like week one Stafford.
Quietly, Phil Rivers this year.....
Romo looked great tonight.
can we get some love for Romo?