Redskins Weekly – Enjoying the Bye Week

1- I have to give credit where credit is due.  Kirk Cousins prevented the Code Red. 

We don’t get to put soap bars in a towel and pound the crap out of Jay Gruden and the team when they are sleeping.  Cousins was very impressive as it was even great to see him actually keep the ball and run on a read option.  Too bad its one solid performance followed by a struggle performance and with the Patriots next it would be big for Cousins to play well.

One thing that obviously helps is if Jordan Reed is on the field.  He changes the whole offense and you have to say injuries aside is a top five pass catching tight end in this league.  Maybe higher.   I think he is the team MVP easily so far and that showed Sunday.  Cousins has trust in Reed and unfortunately without him he seems lost at times.

2- When is DeSean Jackson going to rejoin the party? 

Maybe join the party should be the saying since he barely played week one.  He was almost back and tweaked his hamstring again.  This is scary because a hamstring may be the worst injury for a player like DeSean.  I did like his enthusiasm after the Reed touchdown on the sidelines.  I think any concerns of Jackson not being with this team mentally should not be a concern.  It would just be great to grade Cousins with everyone out there for a least a few weeks.

Not only because this team has to make a decision on Cousins but Jackson also.  Jackson will be going into a year with a large cap number and based on his past it wouldn’t be a shock if he asked to extend for big money.  Especially if he can get back and make a difference like a year ago.  Do you commit to Jackson for 2016 and beyond?  I think the month of January will be interesting for McCloughan to decide in case other teams are interested in Jackson.  This team should have plenty of cap room to make moves even with Jackson’s 2016 cap number.  Unless they blow this Griffin $16 million.  If you let him walk is a true top guy here who can step in full time?  Maybe Crowder can but if they plan to look into free agency it may be tough since a lot of teams will have money to spend in the off season.