Jay Gruden is once again left to defend his decision to keep Kirk Cousins as the starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins. The head coach made the call at the beginning of the year following a concussion to Robert Griffin III and has not looked back despite low wins and production on the field. Sunday's loss against the New York Jets was another negative mark towards the quarterback and Gruden is once again standing up for his guy.
Any idea of a quarterback competition taking place in the middle of the season and being put to bed by Gruden. Cousins' day was not the best as the quarterback went 24 of 43 for 196 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The New York Jets defense gave him headaches all day, but Gruden remains confident in what Cousins can bring to the field.
"We stand behind Kirk," Gruden said, via ESPN.com. "...They played pretty vanilla today, and I think he hurried in some throws he didn't have to, or maybe he did. But I'll have to look at the film. But overall, you hate to pin this game on Kirk. I know he could have played better, but we had no running game whatsoever. Kirk's not at this stage in his career right now - nor is anyone on our roster - to carry the team throwing the ball as much as we would have had to today."
Of course the loss cannot be completely blamed on the quarterback. Trent Williams was injured, DeSean Jackson and Jordan Reed were out with injury and the run game managed just 34 yards between three players. That will not win any team a game right now. Of course Cousins is going to be the one to shoulder the loss and have his future put into question as the interceptions pile up. For the first time since his injury, Griffin was active and ready to play, but knew he would not be placed in the game. One more struggling performance from Cousins and he might get his shot to regain the starting job.
"That's not my call," Griffin said, via ESPN.com. "I was not expecting it. You obviously come in here and expect to win, so I wasn't expecting it at all. I'm not going to talk about myself. We need to win next week. That's all we're focused on. I'm not focused on what I've had to go through or anything like that. We're just focused on Tampa Bay for next week. We have to get a win before the bye."
It is unclear just how long Gruden can remain committed to Cousins with both Griffin and Colt McCoy waiting in the wings. Gruden desperately wants to make the Cousins situation work out, but he might not have a choice if the quarterback struggles against the Buccaneers.
