Sunday might be the day that Washington finally found its quarterback. The years after Robert Griffin III’s torn ACL in the 2012 playoffs have been difficult ones. Griffin has either never been healthy or adapted enough to becoming a pocket passer. Colt McCoy didn’t seem like the answer and Kirk Cousins, once the obvious heir, made too many bad decisions.
But against the Philadelphia Eagles, with his team about to fall to 1-3, Cousins led Washington on a 15-play, 80-yard drive that ended with him firing a four-yard touchdown pass to Pierre Garcon to give Washington a 23-20 victory. More important than the five passes Cousins completed in the drive was the fact he was not intercepted once and was 31-46 for 290 yards. His one fumble he actually picked back up and ran in for a touchdown.
“He’s managing the football game, and putting us in a position to win in the fourth quarter and we finally did that,” Washington coach Jay Gruden said about Cousins.
This was also a day that saw one star quarterback (Jay Cutler) return from injury while another (Andrew Luck) had to sit out with a shoulder injury.
Cutler had a solid day in his return to the Chicago Bears from a hamstring pull. He threw for 281 yards and two touchdowns in a 22-20 victory over the Oakland Raiders. His best performance might have been at the end, when he took over on his own 20 with 2:05 left in the game and Chicago trailing by one. He took the Bears to Oakland’s 32, setting up Robbie Gould’s game-winning field goal.
Without Luck the Indianapolis Colts struggled for four quarters at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Then, after the Jaguars missed two game-winning field goals, Luck’s replacement, Matt Hasselbeck, ran a final, winning drive like so many he had in Seattle. Adam Vinatieri kicked a 27-yard field goal to give Indianapolis a 16-13 victory and put it at 2-2.
Luck was supposed to start the game. Colts coach Chuck Pagano had said so all week. But after testing his shoulder on the weekend, Luck realized he couldn’t play, giving Hasselbeck his first real action in more than two seasons.
The Atlanta Falcons are going to be formidable this year. Once again they ran over an opponent, this time, the Houston Texans, in a 48-21 win that wasn’t as close as the score sounds. Terron Ward and Devonta Freeman combined for 140 yards rushing and four touchdowns. Texans quarterback Ryan Mallett was so ineffective he was pulled after Atlanta built a 42-0 lead and replaced by Brian Hoyer setting up yet another quarterback controversy in Houston.
Once again, the New York Giants crushed a team defensively. This time it was the Buffalo Bills, who had just 77 yards and two first downs in their first nine possessions. The Giants who started 0-2 are now 2-2 after their 24-10 victory over the Bills.
No1 pick Jameis Winston was intercepted four times – once for a touchdown – in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 37-23 loss to the Carolina Panthers. The Cincinnati Bengals’ Andy Dalton had 321 yards passing in a 36-21 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs that pushed the Bengals to 4-0. Kansas City, a tipped by some to win the AFC West, is now a surprising 1-3.
