Daniela Berson
WMAL.com
Jay Gruden, on Kirk Cousins as a starting quarterback:
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) Jay Gruden doesn’t want anyone to count out the Redskins before the season starts.
At today’s post-practice press conference, he said that the team is “fired up” and that they would defy the negative expectations placed on them for the upcoming season.
“I’ve seen the projections and I know where everybody has us ranked and that’s great motivation for our football team,” Gruden said. “We’re looking forward to it.”
Various sports news outlets rank the Redskins as the worst team in the NFL, and with Robert Griffin III’s status uncertain going into Week 1, there is cause for concern.
Replacing RG3 this week is Kirk Cousins, who hasn’t started a game since his college days.
Cousins told the media that the Redskins believe in him and that he wants to focus on passing the ball to other players instead of running it himself.
“It’s my job to get them the football, and then let them go do the jaw-dropping stuff,” Cousins said.
Both Gruden and Cousins noted that this weekend’s game against the Miami Dolphins would be tough.
Cousins said that he “didn’t see a real weakness” in the Dolphins’ defense.
Redskins’ offensive tackle Brandon Scherff is expected to face the Dolphin’s defensive powerhouse, Ndamukong Suh, one-on-one.
Suh is a constant threat to NFL teams because of his size and dominant play style.
But Gruden assured reporters that the Redskins would find a way to deal with the Dolphins’ defensive line.
He said that newly acquired Anthony McCoy “looked like a a true tight end.”
“Watching him on tape, he looked like he’s a good longstrider, gets down the field, but mainly we’re looking for him in the core,” Gruden said.
The Redskins play the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, September 13th at 1 p.m.
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