Washington’s second-year quarterback Kirk Cousins, who made his NFL debut last season against the Falcons, will be the X-Factor when the two 3-10 teams meet at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Georgia Dome.
Washington coach Mike Shanahan elected to bench Robert Griffin III after the Redskins were blown out 45-10 by Kansas City last week.
“I’ve got a big job ahead of me,” Cousins said. “I will better be ready.”
Cousins, who was taken in the fourth-round (102nd overall) of the 2012 draft from Michigan State, played in three games last season and made one start.
Griffin was knocked out of the Falcons game last year on a hit by linebacker Sean Weatherspoon. Cousins came in and completed 5-of-9 passes for 111 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He was also sacked and finished with a passer rating of 97.2.
“It’s a great opportunity to see where I am as a quarterback and see where I still need to develop,” Cousins said. “It’s something that I’ve been working for and trying to prepare for.”
Cousins finally got to take reps with the first-team in practice this week.
“It will be the first time that I’ve had successive weeks where I know that I’m going to be playing,” Cousins said.
The Redskins and Cousins both made it a point to mention that when Griffin is healthy, he’ll return as the starter next season.
“Who knows what is going to happen?” Cousins said. “I have a four-year contract with the Redskins. If my football career goes the way I would like it to, I’d like to play longer than four years. We’ll see what happens. As for right now, I’m a Redskin and I want to help this team win and finish this season on a better note.”
Shanahan believes Cousins is ready for the start.
“He had a great (touchdown) pass on a nice read (against the Falcons last season), but he also had a couple of misreads,” Shanahan said. “You learn from them and hope you don’t make the same mistakes again.”
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