When Robert Griffin III first got injured, most assumed it was the perfect escape for the Washington Redskins to move on to Kirk Cousins being their starting quarterback for the remainder of the season. Griffin has not looked the same since his knee injury at the end of his rookie year. Head coach Jay Gruden runs an offense better suited for Cousins. It seemed like the perfect situation, until Cousins began leading the league in interceptions. Now, the Redskins are preparing to go back to Plan A as soon as possible.
Griffin began individual drills for the first time since dislocating his ankle. Gruden made note that it appeared Griffin had a little "bounce in his step" during practice and looked eager to return to the field as soon as possible. The Redskins are not offering up a timetable in regards to the quarterback's return. Gruden did not say when he was preparing to move on from the drills, but with games against the Tennessee Titans, Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings all before the team's bye week so a good quarterback is necessary.
Cousins does not fit the "good quarterback" description right now. He is struggling with consistency and turnovers which has the Redskins sitting at 1-4 on the season right now. When Cousins first took over, Gruden was not shy in saying that if he played well, he would remain the starter for the rest of the season. However, he is not playing well and Gruden told the media that he expects Griffin to start upon his return. Mike Jones of the Washington Post reports that when healthy, Griffin gets to take back over the offense.
"He's got to get cleared first, then we'll have to have a plan. Once they say he's healthy and he practices with us and we feel like he's ready to go mentally and we have a good game plan for him, then he'll be the starter," Gruden said, via the Washington Post. "But I don't know when that will be yet. That's hard for me to project. Could be one week, two weeks. Could be five weeks. I don't know yet. He looks good so far, he's making good progress, as we knew he would, the type of worker he is. But making progress in the training room and making progress on the practice field are two entirely different things and we just got to make sure he's right both mentally and physically before he gets back out on the field."
For now, the Redskins are backing Cousins as the quarterback. Pierre Garcon took time to praise the backup while Alfred Morris made note that he must improve in order to help Cousins out.
