The brother of Washington coach Jay Gruden says quarterback Kirk Cousins had better learn to stop throwing so many interceptions.
“He’s just got to prove he can take better care of the football,” Jon Gruden said on an ESPN Monday Night Football conference call. “You saw it last year. When he was on, he was on. That performance, at Philadelphia, against Jacksonville was unbelievable at times. But he proved that the turnovers, the inconsistency weren’t good enough.”
No quarterback has turned the ball over more often than Cousins in the last two seasons, and Jon is right that his brother’s new starting quarterback simply has to improve.
But Jon, who has been a Cousins fan since before his brother was Washington’s coach, thinks Cousins will improve.
“I liked Cousins coming out of Michigan State for the same reason a lot of coaches did,” Jon Gruden said. “He was a three‑time captain. He had prototype size. I think now that he is the starter and is going to get the majority of the reps, he has a chance to tune‑up the offense to suit his strengths and the things that he likes. There will be more input and more opportunities to reverse things and get things right. I don’t care what anybody says, I think repetition is the mother of learning. You have to have that for your quarterback.”
Cousins hasn’t had many reps with the first-string offense in his NFL career. He’ll get those reps now. How long he lasts as the starter will depend largely on how often he throws interceptions.