“With NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate Robert Griffin sidelined with a sprained knee, Washington Redskins backup QB Kirk Cousins passed for 329 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Leonard Hankerson in his first NFL start as the Redskins cruised to a 38-21 win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.”
\n— Brian McIntyre, Yahoo! Sports<\/p>\n
“Griffin’s playing status was in doubt all week before the Redskins surprisingly announced late Saturday night that Cousins would start. If the Browns thought they were getting a break, Cousins proved to be as challenging to stop as his more elusive and hyped teammate.”
\n— Associated Press<\/p>\n
“Mike Shanahan drafted Kirk Cousins for a day like this. He wanted to establish stability at the Washington Redskins\u2018 quarterback position. And with star quarterback Robert Griffin III watching from the sideline with a sprained knee, Cousins delivered.”
\n— Rich Campbell, Washington Times<\/p>\n
“His first start in the NFL couldn’t have gone much better, and Washington showed that drafting two quarterbacks in 2012 was absolutely the right call as they moved into a tie for first place in the NFC East. Let me say that again: the Redskins, mostly behind the injured Robert Griffin III and heroics from Cousins the past two weeks, are tied for first place in the NFC East with the Giants and Cowboys.”
\n— Josh Katzowitz, CBSSports.com<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would have been doing all the same things, with the addition of the option if RG 3 was in the game. That looked like the Redskins offense. I\u2019d like to credit Kirk. He did a nice job.\u201d
\n— Pat Shurmur, Browns coach<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been preparing to go all season as if I had to play knowing I\u2019m one play away. This isn\u2019t my first rodeo. I did play a lot of football in the Big Ten. We started slow, but you\u2019ve got to have character to dig deep. We didn\u2019t get spooked by a slow start.\u201d
\n— Kirk Cousins, Redskins QB<\/p>\n
\u201cI talked to him about being cool, calm and collected and not to freak out. He did a good job of staying poised and staying confident in there.\u201d
\n— Robert Griffin, Redskins QB<\/p>\n
“Cousins said he saw it as an opportunity to show he could start and win a game in the NFL — something he felt people may have had reason to doubt after he was drafted in the fourth round to be a backup.”
\n— Dan Graziano, ESPN.com<\/p>\n
“Cousins helped put the Redskins on more secure footing in the NFC playoff race, and prevented the absence of rookie star Robert Griffin III from undoing the team\u2019s season. But Cousins knows he\u2019s still the understudy; he said he will step aside willingly whenever Griffin\u2019s sprained knee heals enough for him to play.”
\n— Mark Maske, Washington Post<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did great. He did a lot of great things. He passed for over 300 yards. It\u2019s his first start. He wasn\u2019t rattled at all. He made plays with his feet and with his arm. That\u2019s all you can really ask for.\u201d
\n— Pierre Garcon, Redskins wide receiver<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got a lot of confidence. You can see that in practice. I did not say anything to him. I just told the guys that we stopped ourselves a couple times with penalties. Just relax. He got out of the pocket on that quarterback keep and threw a perfect strike to Hankerson. Not a lot of guys can make that read .\u2009.\u2009. He made a perfect throw. That kind of gets you started. We needed that play at that time.\u201d
\n— Mike Shanahan, Redskins coach<\/p>\n
\u201cI had all the faith in the world in Kirk. I never doubted him at all. Kudos to him. He did one heck of a job of going out there and playing and helping us get this win.\u201d
\n— Alfred Morris, Redskins runningback<\/p>\n
“He threw a 54-yard score in the first quarter and engineered four TD drives in the second half. Most of all, he foiled the Browns all day with bootlegs and rollouts off perfectly-executed play-action.”
\n— Branson Wright, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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