Redskins Breakdown: Consistency is the difference in close loss

Yes, the Redskins lost. But don’t go blaming Kirk Cousins.

The Redskins 29-year old quarterback put on a show on Monday Night Football, and while his stat line (14-24, 220 yards, 2 TD) doesn’t suggest a monster game, Cousins played one of his best games as a Redskin against the Chiefs.

What we saw from Cousins last night is something we haven’t seen from him since the midway point of 2016. We’ve seen flashes of it this year, but yesterday evening, Cousins broke out and showed us why he’s being paid $24 million. He was incredibly poised in the pocket, stepping up calmly when the rush beat the man on the edge. He was decisive, but not panicky, and when there was nothing there, he extended the play on the ground. In the end, Cousins led the team with 38 rushing yards on seven attempts, two of which went for first downs on the team’s final drive.

Cousins didn’t make mistakes. Rather, he watched helplessly as his own receivers did. His receiving core is proving to be a bit of an issue, and during the bye week, they need to focus on converting in clutch situations. Terrelle Pryor dropped a couple easy first down passes in the game, killing Redskins momentum. And Josh Doctson failed to haul in what could’ve been the game winning score on a beautiful pass from Cousins. With those completions on the board, Cousins’ stat line looks a whole lot better, and so does the Redskins’ chances at a win.

Coming out of Sunday’s game, Kirk Cousins is 80 for 121 for 1,004 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 1 interception in 2017. The quarterback has shown steady improvement each week, and the hope is that it will only continue. The sixth-year pro has some time to prepare for the 49ers over the bye week.

The Redskins have a lot of injuries to worry about, and a lot of issues to focus on fixing. They can be glad that Kirk Cousins isn’t one of them. Cousins gave the team every chance to win on Monday.