Cousins, Reed Carve Up Eagles and Clinch Division

Crown them the Kings of Dirt Mountain. Before this season started, nobody gave the Washington Redskins a chance. The dysfunctional franchise had just benched its expensive investment for a rocks-or-diamonds backup, and the team was certain to finish a distant fourth in the league’s most volatile division.

But on the back of an inspired performance by quarterback Kirk Cousins and an unstoppable showing by tight end Jordan Reed, the Redskins find themselves headed to the playoffs.

After a slow start, Cousins connected with Reed for Washington’s first two touchdowns, and the Redskins refused to relinquish the lead from that point on. On the first score, Cousins made a pair of Eagles linebackers look foolish, taking the bait on a play-action pass and leaving Reed right open down the middle.

Philadelphia’s second attempt to repel the pair was better, but not by much. Matched up against LB Mychal Kendricks, the athletic Reed made short work of the coverage mismatch for another score. Reed finished the night with a whopping 9 catches for 129 yards and 2 TDs, contributing in no small part to Cousins’ 365-yard, 4-touchdown night.

In fact, ‘Skins fans should be thankful that Cousins’ strong showing continued into the second half, otherwise they never would have heard the end of his spectacular gaffe right before half time.

With the clock stopped in Philly’s red zone, Washington had the chance for a quick corner fade before sending on the field goal unit. Either there was a monumental breakdown in communication, Cousins suffered a critical brain snap, or it was a little bit of both, because Cousins instead took a knee to end the half and retreated to the locker room with no points to show for his offense’s promising drive.

But in the NFL, good and bad plays are always decided by context. Lose, and the Redskins are the embarrassment of the league a la Chuck Pagano and his laughable fake punt against the Patriots. But luckily for our nation’s capital, the huge win means this will only be a small feature on Sunday morning’s pre-game shows and nothing more.

Looking ahead, the Redskins will likely rest the bulk of their starters against the Cowboys next week. The team is locked into the #4 seed and will receive no discernable reward for a win next week.

Saturday’s win all but sets a date at home against the Seattle Seahawks in the wild card round. It’s a game the Redskins can’t win, just like they couldn’t win the NFC East.