Washington Redskins Running Out of Excuses to Start Kirk Cousins at QB

It's a new season, but more of the same has followed Kirk Cousins. His consistently inconsistent career as the Washington Redskins' starting quarterback continued under the lights on Thursday Night Football.

With the way Cousins performed on the road against the New York Giants in a pivotal early-season NFC East showdown, the Redskins had no chance to win. He threw two costly interceptions, both of which resulted in opposing touchdowns in a 32-21 Giants win.

Despite the promise of being a much-improved quarterback and his status as the steadiest hand under center, Cousins has an inability to attack defenses through the air or even make sound decisions. He missed wide-open receivers on countless occasions and was unable to deal with the Giants' pass rush.

He did just enough in garbage time to salvage his stat line with 316 yards and a touchdown, but those first-half picks haunted him, and a whopping 49 attempts through the air doesn't fit the Redskins' M.O. of running the football.

With each of his interceptions coming on play action, it's safe to say the Giants had Cousins' number all night, as ESPN Stats & Info noted:

As Bill Barnwell of Grantland found humor in, one of them started on a busted play:

With the fragile nature of a Redskins offense that can't handle early deficits and needs the ground game to survive, Cousins was put behind the eight-ball with the Giants strolling to an early 9-0 lead. But was responsible for getting in that position with a first-quarter pick to Prince Amukamara that set the Giants up in the red zone.

The G-Men continued to make life difficult on the ground for Washington, which finished 88 yards rushing. That left the Redskins' hopes hanging on Cousins' arm, which typically isn't a good sign, as Aaron Schatz of FootballOutsiders.com noted:

It didn't help that the Redskins offensive line looked unable to deal with the Giants' pressure up front, but even more apparent was Cousins' struggles to make a play under duress. He just never showed an ability to step up in the pocket and deliver the football, as Joey Cartolano of ProFootballFocus.com pointed out:

The Redskins defense may have technically allowed 32 points, but it's not like the unit played at a level where Cousins couldn't win the game. Up until the Giants' fourth-quarter score, New York's only touchdown came on that short field from Cousins' first pick.

Washington held the Giants to three field goals on drives that should have yielded touchdowns, but it didn't really matter with the Redskins' offensive struggles. As Cousins' career record as a starter drops to 3-9, the following question begs to be asked: Is Kirk Cousins the quarterback on the Redskins roster who gives them the best chance to win?

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

It's getting harder and harder to make an argument that he is. With Cousins constantly missing what look like simple throws and making decisions that cause his team to have to play catch-up, it's safe to wonder whether either Colt McCoy or Robert Griffin III could do better with the job.

Even though Cousins' struggles are nothing new, hope flowed out of Washington for his potential in 2015. That seems to be fading fast, though, as John Miceli of TopSportsReport.com noted:

As Redskins fans fondly remember from 2014, McCoy dazzled early on as the starter, taking over in relief duty to lead Washington to a comeback win before beating the Cowboys. He threw three touchdowns and no picks in an ensuing 49-27 beatdown by Indianapolis before a two-interception game (and an injury) helped to sway the coaching staff back toward RGIII.

The same sort of two-interception game Cousins just had.

Even RGIII could be a better option than Cousins. Despite a preseason concussion and being relegated to the third quarterback spot on the roster, Griffin's proficiency for throwing picks is well under Cousins', as Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk noted:

It wasn't long ago that head coach Jay Gruden handed the offense's keys to Cousins and allowed him to back out of the driveway. But now that he's already wrecked it by Week 3, he may need to rethink a statement he made back when Cousins was named the starter Sept 10.

"Some people say when you have three (quarterbacks), you don't have one and I disagree with that," Gruden said, per NFL.com's Kevin Patra. "We have three good quarterbacks that I feel good about. I just feel like Kirk right now gives us the best chance."

The Redskins may have three quarterbacks, but they don't have one good one. Thursday night's game was a bare reflection of that.

And if they're going to find out whether that one who can lead the team to wins is actually on the roster, it may be time to take the keys away from Cousins and hand them off to someone else.

Follow Steven Cook on Twitter.