Kirk Cousins was able to get back into a game tempo Thursday evening, completing all five of his pass attempts before being pulled in the first quarter.
Kirk Cousins' night didn't last long in the preseason opener against the Atlanta Falcons, but the coaching staff saw all they needed to see out of the starting quarterback.
While the ground game struggled to get going with Matt Jones in the backfield, Cousins was able to move the first-team offense through the air, connecting on all five of his pass attempts for 39 yards.
"It was good to get in a rhythm, find some completions, and convert a first down or two," Cousins said. "That was about it. It was a quick few plays."
On the first offensive play of the game, Cousins completed an 11-yard pass to third-year wide receiver Ryan Grant and then once again found him two plays later on a 2nd-and-13 play that netted nine more yards.
Grant – who was starting in place of Jamison Crowder – took advantage of the opportunity to roll with Cousins and the first-team offense.
"Yeah, you remember last year he had some big catches I remember against the Eagles," Cousins said. "In both games we played against the Eagles he had some big catches and made some plays. Obviously, when DeSean Jackson went down he was a big part of keeping the offense rolling. So we need depth there and he did a great job tonight. He's playing a different position playing inside more than outside the numbers and it gets him a little closer to the football and sometimes you get a few more touches that way. He did a really good job tonight and we really do have confidence in him as a player."
"I'm not one to really argue with the head coach no matter what it is, but I certainly wasn't fighting for more reps in game number one of the preseason," Cousins said. "I was pretty comfortable getting in there, getting a good feel of the flow of the game, and then allowing Colt McCoy and Nate and the rest of the offense take it from there."
McCoy took over the offense for the remainder of the first half with Sudfeld taking all of the snaps from under center in the second half.
"I wanted to give him a good series and get his feet under him," Gruden said of Cousins. "I wanted him to go through his pre-game warm-up, get a good drive whether it was five or 10 plays I was going to pull him after the first series."
While Cousins will likely have a similar workload in next week's preseason Week 2 game against the New York Jets, what the offense was able to show nearly nine months to the day of their last game appearance could lay the foundation to another strong season for the unit.
"It was a good first step,"
