Someone posted their film analysis of Sterling Shepard earlier. Coincidentally, I saw the same feature on Kirk Cousins over at Extremeskins. Written back over the summer, I'm posting it here because it confirmed pretty much what I've been saying since last year about this guy :) ..... he threw a ton of very short passes that receivers and backs turned into big gains, which pumped his numbers up quite a bit, along with facing a bunch of horrid defenses late in the season. The author compares his illusory success to Nick Foles in Philly.
| If we look specifically at that Week 10 game against the Saints, we can see that Cousins averaged 13.0 yards per attempt, but the average depth of his throws was a measly 4.4. Cousins had three screens go for 138 yards, and gained 202 yards with two touchdowns on Simple YAC throws (passes where the ball doesn't travel further than 2 yards past the line of scrimmage). On that day, Cousins only needed to be average to be good -- to be great even. |
| Fifty-eight percent of Cousins' passes traveled 5 yards or fewer past the line of scrimmage last season. Not only did he lead the league in that measurement, he was a full 10 percent ahead of Derek Carr, who runs a somewhat similar offense, and a full 20 percent ahead of Cam Newton, who runs the polar opposite offense. When you're not throwing the ball down the field, your completion percentage should be as high as Cousins' was. |
| As a weak-armed passer, Cousins can't throw with precision downfield. He has to force passes more to get them there on time, which takes away from his placement......Over this period, Cousins was also regularly throwing interceptable passes. He had 17 interceptable passes on 308 attempts, or one interceptable pass in every 18.1 attempts. Only three quarterbacks -- Johnny Manziel, Peyton Manning, and Andrew Luck -- had a worse ratio for the full season. Cousins was extremely lucky that only nine of those passes turned into interceptions, because more than a few were awful throws. |
Cousins and the Washington offense faced a lot of inferior opponents over the second half of the season. With the abundance of talent around him, it would often have been tougher for him to struggle than to produce the numbers that he did.
In three of his final eight games during the regular season, Cousins faced the worst defense in the league (and the last quarter-century), the Saints; the second-worst, the Bears; and the third-worst, the Giants. He only faced two defenses that ranked in the top 16 from Week 10 onwards (one if you discount the playoffs). |
There's a whole lot more there with plenty of film evidence. The guy simply isn't that good.
I am burned out. Way too invested in this game. Sports radio in DC is wall-to-wall Skins. If one station talks Nats, all you need to do is flip the station and it's all Cousins and Norman and poking fun at the Giants: Beckham's grudge match with Norman and Janoris Jenkins's repeated comments (Brian Mitchell is basically him an insecure attention whore).
Giants need to bury this team. This game sets up well for DC: Backs against wall, everyone against them, ... Hopefully talent prevails.
New game, 60 minutes, past stats mean squat, imv..There may be a pattern for certain, but for any given game, I'd throw that out the window
New game, 60 minutes, past stats mean squat, imv..There may be a pattern for certain, but for any given game, I'd throw that out the window
I'm with you. I would like to see the Giants put heavy pressure on Cousins to ensure he does not get on track.
I think the Skins are going to move Cousins out of the pocket. He is mobile. I see boots, read option, and QB draws. I'm sure the Giants prepared for this with Dak. This will be an issue. The Skins cannot continue to do what they have done the first two games of this season.
The match-up that I love in this game is Eli and the three weapons on the outside vs. the Skins defense.
Their DL blows. Do you mean their LOLB Kerrigan? I think the Giants realize Hart or Beatty will need help.
This is a huge season for Eli and the Giants. This is a game we typically lose but need to win. Odell needs to prove who here really is
Losing our rising star safety has me nervous enough.
This is a huge season for Eli and the Giants. This is a game we typically lose but need to win. Odell needs to prove who here really is
Two schmoes on ESPN980 this evening compared Cousins to Luck. 65% career completion percentage to 58%. Hey dumbasses. Cousins throws short. Luck goes downfield.
They also wondered when Luck's honeymoon period was going to end as he has not lived up to expectations. They feel Cousins is being unfairly criticized while Luck has been getting a pass.
They continued by saying Cousins is receiving so much scrutiny because he is getting $20 million this season. Wrong again. No one cares what Cousins is making except the guy writing the check and the guy managing the cap. He's being scrutinized because DC made the playoffs last year and the pundits thought they were hot shit.
Albert Breer made a ridiculous comment today as well. SomethI got to the effect of Cousins is expected to throw nine TDs a game. Hyperbole much, Albert?
Redskin RCB Breeland is terrible. Week one, Big Ben torched him. I'm not throwing Josh Norman under the bus, he's played well in both weeks. But if he is going to shadow Odell, Eli is going to torch the shit out of Breeland and the rest of that secondary trying to guard Sterling & Victor (who I'm also considering playing in my 2nd flex spot over Lockett & Golden Tate).
We can't run, and hopefully McAdoo learned last week, that running for 1-3 yards on 5 consecutive first downs in the 2nd half, was not the smartest play calling.
I'm a big fan of Darian Thompson. But his injury only adds to the shootout possibilities.
Sterling the real deal, and perfectly matched with our quick release offense.