Kirk Cousins has developed a reputation in his NFL career as a quarterback prone to throwing interceptions, but that wasn’t a problem for the Redskins this Sunday.
Cousins picked apart the Saints defense to the tune of 20 completions in 25 attempts for 324 yards and four touchdowns in a 47-14 win that goes into the books as a perfect passer rating of 158.3 for Cousins. You like that?
Sunday’s nearly flawless performance is certainly a high point for Cousins, but it comes after two other outings that saw him protect the ball well. Cousins has now thrown eight touchdowns and one interception in the last three weeks and the Redskins have gone 2-1 to up their record to 4-5. They’re still behind the Giants in the NFC East and have to travel to unbeaten Carolina next weekend, but more of the same from Cousins could make for an interesting second half in Washington.
It would help to have the Saints defense on the other side of the ball, of course. Sunday’s game was the most lopsided defeat of the Sean Payton era with the Saints and there’s really no reason to suspect that Rob Ryan is suddenly going to get this team’s defense figured out after more than a season of embarrassing results on that side of the ball. The offense wasn’t anything to behold on Sunday, but you need only look at their 52-49 win in Week Eight to see what it takes to overcome the defense most weeks in New Orleans.
In addition to Cousins’s exploits, the Redskins also had Alfred Morris return from a rib injury to finish with 93 yards on 15 carries while Matt Jones had 186 total yards from scrimmage. It added up to 513 yards of offense overall for the victors and a long flight home for their opponents.
