Miami Dolphins opponent Kirk Cousins

The Miami Dolphins will finally play their first regular season game in a short six days. It’s been a long but interesting off-season. While the Dolphins off-season has been one full of excitement that has given way to high expectations and hopes, the Washington Redskins, the Dolphins first opponent have been going through an all too familiar quarterback controversy.

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It’s still hard to put all those frustrating years behind. So many quarterbacks, so many what-if’s. It’s pretty sad when you look back and relish the years of Jay Fiedler but at the same time it makes you realize that he wasn’t all that bad after all. Dolphins fans have been through a lot and that is one reason why fans are so excited about the development of Ryan Tannehill. The 2012 draft will be brought up a lot this week.

Heading into the 2012 draft the Dolphins had a new head coach and a new offensive system and an offensive coordinator. While fans loathe the Mike Sherman years he was the one catalyst to Ryan Tannehill. Would Jeff Ireland have drafted the quarterback 8th overall if not for the push by Philbin and Sherman? What makes this draft more interesting and the reason it will be mentioned is not Tannehill but Robert Griffin, III who was taken ahead of Tannehill with the 2nd overall pick.

On Sunday, Griffin may not even be dressed. The first quarterback that Miami will face is Kirk Cousins.

Cousins won the Redskins quarterback job not over Griffin but over Colt McCoy. The entire Washington organization has been at odd all off-season about the quarterback. Griffin is concussion protocols and rumor circulated late last week that he would be released if he couldn’t be traded. They did neither but he is benched. McCoy had a good pre-season but Redskins head coach Jay Gruden believes Cousins gives them the best chance to win.

Cousins was drafted in the 4th round of the same 2012 draft that brought Griffin to Washington. The selection immediately brought controversy to the team as Griffin was supposed to be their franchise quarterback long term. Injuries and inconsistencies changed that. Washington however has not been able to alleviate that controversy.

Cousins was a second team All-Big 10 quarterback in 2011 and was on the Big 10 Champion Michigan State Spartans in 2010. Over his three years in the NFL he has 18 touchdowns to 19 interceptions throwing over 400 times for just over 3,000 yards. He has a QB rating of just under 60%.

Through three seasons Cousins has appeared in 14 games starting nine. Last year he started five of the six games he appeared in. Injuries to Griffin forced the Redskins to play Cousins.

Cousins has a strong arm but he battle inconsistency and even through pre-season was erratic at times. He completed 40 of 53 attempts and two touchdowns through the pre-season this year.

In 2013 it was Cousins who started after Griffin was benched due to injury concerns and in 2014 he told the media that he was open to a trade. The Redskins either didn’t find a suitable trade partner or opted to keep him. Griffin would go down with an ankle injury and Cousins would start but it wouldn’t last but about five games. After being ineffective Gruden benched Cousins in favor of McCoy.

Cousins is not a bad quarterback but he has serious issues in his game. He can get flustered when under pressure and will make ill advised throws that can often lead to interceptions and he doesn’t hold the ball well while under pressure. Something the Dolphins hope to exploit on Sunday.

While Cousins can be inconsistent he can also hit the deep ball easily. He has DeSean Jackson who is still effective as a deep threat receiver but those plays need time to develop and the Dolphins are hoping he won’t have much time to let the play develop in front of him.

Cousins doesn’t pose a threat to the Dolphins with his accuracy or his scrambling ability. Still he can be dangerous if he gets into a rhythm. The Redskins have a decent offensive line and a good running back but the Redskins can’t win by running the ball alone and they are going to rely on Cousins to lead the team. Cousins is a quarterback the Dolphins can and should be able to beat.

This week is important for the Dolphins as they need to get off to a good start and beating a quarterback that is far from elite is imperative. It will be a constant the first five weeks of the season where they will face varying defenses and questionable quarterbacks.