Kirk Cousins' campaign as the starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins did not get off to a great start after the team was blown out by the New York Giants on Thursday night football. The quarterback was thought to be the next franchise star if things went well, but he must have a bounce back game to meet expectations. Things will not get easier for the quarterback as the Redskins play against the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night, but he will get two of their offense stars back for help.
The Redskins got a welcomed sight on the practice field when both Jordan Reed and Niles Paul were active at the same time for the first time all season. Reed has been nursing a nagging hamstring injury while Paul suffered a concussion. Getting both players healthy for the matchup against the Seahawks will be critical. Reed is coming off a successful 2013 season where he proved to be a very dynamic tight end in the offense. Washington has not seen him since the first quarter of Week 1, so he could provide a much needed boost for Cousins.
The quarterback told media that he is simply focused on bouncing back after a bad game. Against the Giants, Cousins went 19 for 33 in passing for 257 yards and four interceptions. After hearing talk about potentially taking over the starting job for the long term whether Robert Griffin III was healthy or not, Cousins did very little to prove himself worthy. Now he must stay focused on improving for the next week.
"It's been tough," Cousins said, via the Washington Post. "Even my rookie year, when you only get a couple spots and everybody is going to try to write the book on who you are as a quarterback, from the end of the Ravens game or the Cleveland game, and then you may get spot duty last year. So, that is tough. And to say how you deal with that, you know, I don't know that I have the perfect answer. I'm the kind of guy who would like to know my future and like to know how things are going to play out. [But] I don't. So, I try not to ride the roller coaster. I try to be consistent as I can possibly be and I think that approach is going to help me have success in this league. But as a quarterback, you are going to have things that go your way,"
Getting both Reed and Paul healthy will be a huge asset for Cousins. He has had two weeks to work on chemistry with Pierre Garcon and DeSeaon Jackson, so it could be a very different looking Redskins team come Monday night.
