The Redskins Starters Aren't Playing Tonight...But Neither Is Kirk Cousins. Colt McCoy Is Playing All 4 Quarters

CSN - We already knew that Robert Griffin III wouldn’t play in tonight’s preseason finale against the Bucs. Now it looks like his backup will take the night of as well. ESPN 980 is reporting that Kirk Cousins will get the night off in Tampa and that third-string QB Colt McCoy will handle the quarterback duties for all four quarters. Cousins has seen most of the action at quarterback this preseason. He has attempted 54 passes compared to 20 for Griffin and 15 for McCoy. The decision to bench Cousins is probably a combination of a desire to get McCoy some more work and to prevent injury to the backup.

I get it, but it’s still kind of weird. Robert Griffin is the starter for this football team. Scream it from a mountain top, write it in your diary, chisel it in stone, mold it into clay, eat some hay, I just may. So it’s an interesting move to bench not only the starter, but his backup as well. I’m one of the few who actually want to see RG3 play the 4th game. I hate that they have 4, but I figure if it’s there, let him play a series or 2, he needs the reps. But benching Cousins is basically protecting RG3 from having to hear about any QB controversy leading up to the first game of the season. It SUCKS they have to sacrifice Cousins’ progression and development as a QB to protect RG3’s feelings, but it is what it is. Can’t very well have Cousins go out there and go 20/20 for 500 yards and make my head explode. So I thank them for that. Which means tonight we should see a ton of running plays, a lot of swing passes, and a lot of RBs shuffling in and out of protections to see which of the backups make the cut. That’s what I’ll be looking for. Most other positions are pretty much accounted for, give or take a few backup jobs. But the 3rd running back (assuming Helu is the number 2, even though he hasn’t majorly impressed anyone this preseason) is up for grabs.