Another Lost Season, Great Performance by Cousins Doesn't Mean RGIII's Lost Team

It was an off-balance scramble and an awkward stagger. It was a rolling cart and a pained smile.

Was it a passing of the torch or just more of the same?

Kirk Cousins quarterbacked the Burgundy and Gold to victory, while Robert Griffin III sat out—not for the first time this calendar year or for the short span of their two careers.

Not long ago, I wrote that Washington's decision-makers deserved to deal with this quarterback controversy of their own devising—but general manager Bruce Allen again looks smart for drafting Cousins as insurance after mortgaging the franchise for Griffin.

ESPN's Adam Schefter tweeted ESPN medical expert Dr. Mark Adickes thinks Griffin's ankle dislocation is a season-ending injury, so we know what tomorrow will bring in Washington: Cousins will be the starter.

What will next Sunday bring, when Cousins leads them into the unfriendly confines of Lincoln Financial Field? Can Cousins really make Washington a contender in the volatile NFC East? What about next season? Will Allen be in the market for a franchise quarterback again—and will owner Dan Snyder allow Allen to move on, or will he pull rank on his football men until Griffin's legs have been run off?

He's No. 1

Cousins emphatically did what he had to: step in and excel when he got his opportunity.

Two plays after Griffin went down in the first quarter, Cousins zipped a 20-yard touchdown rainbow to Darrell Young:

Top receiving threat DeSean Jackson went down on the next series with a shoulder injury, but that didn't stop Cousins. Over the following two drives, Cousins was a perfect 6-of-6, and the offense scored two more touchdowns. Everything was working for Washington, both offensively and defensively, and the rout was on.

Once Silas Redd polished off the scoring with a 14-yard touchdown run, a 41-10 blowout of the Jacksonville Jaguars was complete. Cousins completed 66.7 percent of his 33 attempts, per NFL.com; despite the loss of his best deep threat, he gained a healthy average of 7.58 yards per attempt. He threw two touchdown passes and never turned it over.

As brutal as Week 1's 17-6 loss to the Houston Texans looked at the time, Washington's now tied with the Dallas Cowboys; a Philadelphia Eagles loss on Monday Night Football would create a three-way tie atop the division at 1-1.

Allen, head coach Jay Gruden and Co. would essentially get a do-over on the season, and just 14 weeks would separate Cousins and the squad from the playoffs.

Can Cousins deliver?

The Other 21

The good news is, he won't have to do it himself.

Redd, Alfred Morris and Roy Helu combined for 151 tough yards on 38 carries against Jacksonville's front seven for a hard-fought 3.97 yards per carry and three touchdowns. Tight end Niles Paul had a very welcome big day, getting loose for eight catches, 99 yards and a touchdown. And man oh man, that defense.

The Jaguars could not run. They could not pass. ESPN's Bill Barnwell tweeted this disturbing factoid, well into the second quarter:

By the end of the game, the Jaguars mustered 147 more offensive yards. That's a lot more than one but not many. Pass-rusher Ryan Kerrigan had an unbelievable four sacks; ESPN's Jason Romano was far from the only person on Twitter to compare Kerrigan to J.J. Watt.

Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Jason Hatcher, Perry Riley, Brian Orakpo, Frank Kearse, Ryan Clark and Keenan Robinson all got in on the act, sacking Chad Henne an unbelievable 10 times for 70 lost yards. Henne, after a strong showing last week, completed just 50 percent of his passes for an average of 6.89 yards per attempt, one touchdown and one interception.

Unbelievably, Henne led the Jaguars in rushing with 17 yards on three carries. Tailback Toby Gerhart was their only other rusher; his eight yards on seven carries were so poor they beggar belief.

Does Cousins just need to make sure he doesn't trip up an unstoppable Washington juggernaut?

Gruden, Allen, Snyder and the fans who make them wealthy men had better hope so.

Lucky Numbers?

Before this thrashing, per Pro-Football-Reference.com, Cousins' career regular-season stats were as follows: 56.2 percent completion rate, 6.5 average yards per attempt, 3.9 percent touchdown rate, 4.9 percent interception rate and a mediocre 68.6 NFL passer efficiency rating.

Except for a few flashes in relief, in preseason and in a joint training camp session with the New England Patriots, Cousins hasn't looked anything like a franchise NFL quarterback.

Maybe, in his third NFL season, Cousins has taken the big step forward everyone hoped Griffin would take. Maybe Allen's huge gamble will pay off, and Cousins will be the quarterback Washington's been waiting for in D.C. since Joe Theismann.

Sure and maybe Snyder will sell the team.

Snyder's relationship with Griffin, as Kent Babb of The Washington Post detailed, was a source of friction with departed head coach Mike Shanahan, and it may yet undermine Allen and Gruden's authority. Even if Snyder were not behind the scenes making sure Griffin keeps the gig, Allen sunk way too much of the franchise's future into making Griffin the quarterback of the future.

It doesn't matter how unlikely it seems that Griffin will ever be able to flip a switch and return to the stunning, electrifying player he was in 2012. Griffin's going to get every chance to come back, unless Cousins hand-delivers Snyder a Lombardi Trophy in February.

Barring that not-so-likely occurrence, it's hard to see Griffin's season-ending injury as anything but hitting the "replay" button on this franchise's DVR. It's another lost season for Griffin, another chance for Cousins to establish his trade value and another tortured offseason of rehab reports and speculation for Washington fans.