Kirk Cousins: Just call him RG3 II?
Kirk Cousins saved the Washington Redskins’ season Sunday by emulating the man he’s been watching light up the field all season.
When superstar rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III couldn’t continue playing on a sprained right knee late in the fourth quarter of the Redskins’ game against the Baltimore Ravens, it was up to Cousins, also a first-year pro, to rally the team from an eight-point deficit in the final minute of the game.
Cousins, who had taken one snap earlier in the drive when Griffin first got hurt, took over for good with 45 seconds remaining and the ball on the Baltimore 26. After completing a 15-yard pass to Leonard Hankerson on the first play, the fourth-round pick out of Michigan State pumped once then scrambled out of the pocket before finding Pierre Garcon in the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown.
“I just didn’t feel comfortable sitting in the pocket and waiting on it,” Cousins said after the game. “I thought, ‘I’m going to try to make something happen, try to do my best RG3.”
With the Redskins still down by two, Cousins did something else Griffin has been doing all season long -- take the ball into the end zone himself, in this case on a called quarterback draw for a successful two-point conversion to tie the game at 28-28 and force overtime.
“I’m not as fast as Robert, so those blocks are going to have to be made for me to score, and they were,” Cousins said. “I just had to dive across the goal line to do the last part of it.”
Cousins didn’t have to throw another pass, as a 64-yard punt return by yet another Redskins rookie, Richard Crawford, helped set up a game-winning 34-yard field goal by Kai Forbath.
Although Griffin’s injury is not season-ending, Cousins may have to take the reins for a while as Washington (7-6) fights for a playoff spot. He may have electrified the Redskins fanbase for a brief period Sunday afternoon, but he isn’t about to anoint himself as the next coming of RG3 just yet.
“Robert’s been doing an awesome job,” Cousins said. “I have a lot to live up to if my number does get called because of the way he’s played.”
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