Santana Moss believes Redskins are setting Kirk Cousins up for failure

Veteran wide receiver Santana Moss thinks the timing is wrong for a switch at quarterback.

by James Dator

Dec 13, 2013, 12:56 AM UTC

Patrick McDermott

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James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.

Washington Redskins wide receiver Santana Moss believes the organization is putting second-year quarterback Kirk Cousins in a difficult position, and “setting him up for failure” by turning to him with three games remaining in the season.

Moss spoke to the media on Thursday and Mark Maske of the Washington Post reported the veteran wide receiver thinks the timing is wrong.

“It’s kind of tough to put him into this situation right now and hope for him to be excellent,” Moss said at Redskins Park. “It’s almost like setting a guy up for failure. But you just want him to go out there and be at ease and just take his time, be as efficient as he can because it’s one of those situations that’s like, you know, Catch[-22]. He don’t play as well, then you’re gonna say, ‘Well, should he have been in there?’ But you can’t do that to him because he hasn’t had all this season to go out there and jell with us. But he has been ready enough to go out there and be able to run this offense. So we’re just hoping for the best.”

Head coach Mike Shanahan indicated that starting quarterback Robert Griffin III was benched in order to protect the team’s franchise quarterback, capping off a difficult season where the Redskins will not return to the playoffs following a strong run in 2012.

The front office turned heads in the 2012 draft when it elected to spend a fourth round pick on Cousins after selecting Griffin III in the first, but Cousins has been reliable when turned to. Early-season rumors indicated the team could try to trade him, but now the remainder of the season could set up a quarterback controversy in 2014, depending on his performance in the coming weeks.

Cousins has appeared twice in a relief role this season. His performance has been a far cry from his preseason reliability, completing 48-percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 26.6.