Kirk Cousins, Washington Showing Signs of Another Late-Season Playoff Surge

It happened right around this time last year.

As we reached the middle of November, the Washington Redskins were 3-5, and their relatively new starting quarterback, Kirk Cousins, was one of the NFL's lowest-rated qualified passers. There wasn't a lot of hope for a quarterback drafted to be a career backup or a team that had won just 10 games in two-and-a-half seasons. 

That's when Cousins and his team flipped a switch. He had a perfect 158.3 passer rating in a four-touchdown performance as the Redskins destroyed the New Orleans Saints 47-14 on Nov. 15, and he went on to post triple-digit passer ratings in six of Washington's final seven games as the team lost just twice in the final eight weeks.

During that second half, Cousins was the NFL's highest-rated passer as the Redskins came back to easily win the NFC East.

So I guess it shouldn't surprise us that Cousins and his team are again turning it on as we reach mid-November. 

Prior to its Week 10 matchup with the Minnesota Vikings on Nov. 13, Washington hadn't won in nearly a month. At 4-3-1, the boys in burgundy were trying to hold off the Philadelphia Eagles in order to stay out of the division basement. Cousins ranked 18th among qualified quarterbacks with an uninspiring passer rating of 93.1.

Both Cousins and his team looked good, not great. And then the fifth-year Michigan State product completed 22 of 33 passes and posted a 110.9 passer rating against one of the league's highest-ranked defenses as Washington beat the Minnesota Vikings 26-20. And one week later, Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, in the face of severe wind, Cousins completed all but nine of his 30 passes for 375 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in a statement 42-24 victory. 

Time frame	Record	Points/game	Cousins' rating
First half, 2015	3-5	19.8	82.9
Second half, 2015	6-2	28.8	126.1
First half, 2016	4-3-1	23.3	93.1
Second half, 2016	2-0	34.0	127.5

The numbers don't do justice to Cousins' performance. That's because his Green Bay counterpart, Aaron Rodgers, struggled mightily when the Packers were moving into the wind, while Cousins was actually somehow better against the wind than with it. 

The Redskins won by 18 points, but this was a close game in the fourth quarter. The home team led by five early in the fourth, and the Packers had strategically chosen to have the wind at their backs in that final frame. That didn't bode well for Washington, but Cousins defied the elements in crunch time. 

It started 25 seconds into that final quarter, when he stepped into the pocket and launched a pass that traveled 50 yards in the air to Pierre Garcon, who strolled into the end zone for a 70-yard touchdown. 

Ten minutes later, after the hard-charging Packers had scored their second touchdown on nine fourth-quarter plays with the wind at their backs, Cousins evaded a Green Bay blitz on a 3rd-and-7 and launched another tight spiral through a double-digit-mph wind that traveled an easy-looking 38 yards to Jamison Crowder. That led directly to a Rob Kelley touchdown, putting the game away. 

A lot of folks will minimize the 28-year-old's numbers because the Green Bay defense is depleted and in disarray, but as NFL Media's Gregg Rosenthal pointed out, great throws are great throws regardless of the quality of the defense they come against. 

On Sunday night, Cousins made a multitude of great throws in arduous conditions, and it was the difference for Washington in a second consecutive victory over a desperate, playoff-contending opponent. 

"It's the tightness of those spirals throwing into the wind that's making the tip of that ball turn over, and he's able to get that added distance," said NBC's Cris Collinsworth on the Sunday Night Football broadcast. "It doesn't seem to have been much of a factor for him throwing into the wind, which is amazing [because] the Packers scored all their points going with the wind."

He's not kidding. When facing the wind Sunday night in blustery Landover, Maryland, the Redskins scored 27 points. The Packers scored zero. 

Category	Rodgers	Cousins
Offensive points	0	27
Comp.%	52.6	69.2
YPA	7.2	15.3
TD-INT	0-0	1-0
Passer rating	75.8	137.5

All things considered, it certainly feels as though Cousins and his squad have another second-half run in them. The 2012 fourth-round pick posted a 126.1 passer rating during the second half of the 2015 season, and he's got a 127.5 rating two victories into the second half of 2016. And while the 6-3-1 Redskins will have a tough time catching the 9-1 Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East, they're already in possession of the second NFC wild-card spot. 

Cousins won't have to do it alone. Kelley has given the running game a huge boost. Crowder, Garcon, DeSean Jackson and Jordan Reed are all healthy in the pass-catching corps. They've survived Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams' suspension thus far, and Williams will return in two weeks. The pass rush is solid, and they've got an All-Pro leading the secondary. 

This is a talented team with a star under center, and it is only getting better. 

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012.

Follow @Brad_Gagnon