Robert Griffin III is injured yet again and he should miss significant time with a dislocated ankle. If Kirk Cousins plays well during his absence, could he be the Redskins' new starting quarterback? Also, Arizona Cardinals QB Carson Palmer could miss a lot of time depending on the severity of his shoulder injury.
RG3 left yesterday's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first quarter after jumping to elude linebacker Paul Posluzny and landing awkwardly on his left ankle. He completed a 19-yard pass to DeSean Jackson on the same play, but wouldn't return for the rest of the afternoon and was diagnosed with a dislocated ankle. He's unsure of how much time he'll miss, but it doesn't look like he'll be back any time soon, which opens the door for backup quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Cousins was taken in the fourth round of same draft as Griffin, likely as an insurance policy, and it could be paying off depending on how long Griffin is out. In his relief performance on Sunday, Cousins was 22-of-33 passing for 250 yards and two touchdowns in the Redskins' 41-10 victory. The victory over the Jaguars, one of the worst teams in the NFL, wasn't all that impressive, but the fact that Cousins is a pocket passer and is likely better suited for Jay Gruden's offense could play a significant role moving forward. Gruden spent a lot of time trying to develop RG3 into a pocket passer this offseason and based on what we saw in the preseason and in Week 1, it looks like it didn't work out too well.
"The dirty little secret in Ashburn is that Coach Jay Gruden actually thought Kirk Cousins was better suited to his offense, that Robert Griffin III wasn't getting it and there was no way to delicately make a change at any point this season without causing major problems throughout the organization," writes Mike Wise, in this Washington Post article. "According to the person with knowledge of Gruden's thinking, he actually believed Cousins could succeed in the system better than Griffin but also acutely understood it was going to be near impossible to make a change."
But will it be impossible, if say, Griffin misses a month and Cousins can go at least 3-1 over that span? The Redskins will visit the Philadelphia Eagles next week, so his campaign will begin there.
Arizona is dealing with a vague timetable for the return of their quarterback as well. Carson Palmer was surprisingly inactive for Sunday's game against the New York Giants, but it didn't seem to matter because they won 25-14. But how much longer can they survive with Drew Stanton under center?
Palmer injured his throwing shoulder in Week 1 and was questionable for yesterday's game in the Meadowlands. Team doctors told Palmer his shoulder was stretched out and he landed on a nerve and it's been asleep ever since. Once the nerve "wakes up" Palmer will be able to play again, but there's no way to tell when that will happen. So, again, depending on the severity of the injury, Palmer could be out for an extended period of time, and they can't afford that with matchups against the San Francisco 49ers and Denver Broncos next.
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