If pressured, will Redskins QB Kirk Cousins 'eat it' or get rid of it?

Redskins QB Kirk Cousins throws a lot of passes to the other team.
Kathy Willens/AP

A week ago against the Jets, the Eagles only had one sack on Ryan Fitzpatrick. However, the Eagles generated all kinds of pressure on him, which led to other mistakes.

ProFootballFocus.com credited the Eagles with 16 pressures. Here were their pressure stats:

Player Pressures Hits on QB Batted passes 
 Brandon Graham 2
 Fletcher Cox 0
 Vinny Curry 1
 Connor Barwin 1
 Brandon Bair 03* 
DeMeco Ryans1


On two of Fitzpatrick's interceptions, he faced pressure from the Eagles' pass rush. The Eagles rush each passer they face differently, according to defensive coordinator Bill Davis, who talked about how his pass rushers are coming along.

"It's looking solid and sound," said Davis. "The guys are doing a great job of executing the plan for the quarterback. What kind of quarterback are we dealing with? We knew Fitzpatrick had the shortest drop, a six‑yard launch point, and we also knew he got the ball out of his hands quicker than anybody in the NFL over the beginning of the season. So we were going to rush different than you would rush a deeper dropper.

"One of the things, and I say this over and over again, sacks and interceptions are attached, and it's the quarterback's choice. We are pressuring the quarterback and he either chooses to eat it and take the sack or he gets rid of it. Fitzpatrick was getting rid of it, and they were turning into interceptions. It won't be long until we have a five‑ or six‑sack game because the quarterback chooses to eat it instead of force it."

Looking ahead, Davis gave his thoughts on the Eagles' Week 4 opponent, Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins.

"Cousins is solid," said Davis. "Cousins is a great decision maker. I know he's thrown a lot of interceptions so far -- and some of those, I think there were just some individual breakdowns -- but as far as running and executing the offense, he efficiently gets his drop, gets his reads and makes his decision."

The only thing that's definitive fact about that last statement is that Cousins has thrown a lot of interceptions. In fact, he has the worst career INT percentage of any Week 1 starter in the NFL. Here's a snapshot of the entire league (with first year starters Tyrod Taylor, Jameis Winston, and Marcus Mariota omitted), listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average number of pass attempts per interception:

 RankPlayer Career attempts INT Avg attempt per INT 
 1Aaron Rodgers 3566 57 62.6 
 2Nick Foles 980 18 54.4 
 3Derek Carr 689 13 53.0 
 4Tom Brady 7301 143 51.1 
 5Russell Wilson 1353 28 48.3 
 6Colin Kaepernick 1208 25 48.3 
 7Sam Bradford 1877 42 44.7 
 8Matt Ryan 4032 93 43.4 
 9Alex Smith3247 79 41.1 
 10Joe Flacco 3816 95 40.2 
 11Ryan Tannehill 1789 45 39.8 
 12Peyton Manning 9176 237 38.7 
 13Andrew Luck 1929 50 38.6 
 14Drew Brees 7544 196 38.5 
 15Tony Romo 4282 112 38.2 
 16Ben Roethlisberger 5043 133 37.9 
 17Philip Rivers 4780 126 37.9 
 18Cam Newton 2022 56 36.1 
 19Matthew Stafford 3227 90 35.9 
 20Teddy Bridgewater 476 14 34.0 
 21Brian Hoyer 664 20 33.2 
 22Andy Dalton 2203 67 32.9 
 23Carson Palmer 4994 157 31.8 
 24Eli Manning 5717 185 30.9 
 25Jay Cutler 3916 132 29.7 
 26Blake Bortles 581 20 29.1 
 27Josh McCown 1721 60 28.7 
 28Ryan Fitzpatrick 3027 106 28.6 
 29Kirk Cousins51423 22.3 


To be clear, Cousins throws an interception, on average, every 22.3 pass attempts. That is awful. It's 6.3 fewer attempts than the next-closest quarterback on the list, which happens to be Fitzpatrick.

Meanwhile, Cousins is very difficult is sack. He has the third-best career sack percentage of any Week 1 starter in the NFL:

Rank Player Career attempts Sacks Avg attempt per sack 
 1Peyton Manning 9176 295 31.1 
 2Derek Carr 689 25 27.6 
 3Kirk Cousins 514 20 25.7 
 4Drew Brees 7544 306 24.7 
 5Matt Ryan 4032 192 21.0 
 6Eli Manning 5717 283 20.2 
 7Tom Brady 7301 370 19.7 
 8Carson Palmer 4994 254 19.7 
 9Matthew Stafford 3227 167 19.3 
 10Andrew Luck 1929 105 18.4 
 11Andy Dalton 2203 122 18.1 
 12Tony Romo 4282 245 17.5 
 13Brian Hoyer 664 40 16.6 
 14Philip Rivers 4780 295 16.2 
 15Ryan Fitzpatrick 3027 188 16.1 
 16Nick Foles 980 62 15.8 
 17Sam Bradford 1877 122 15.4 
 18Joe Flacco 3816 248 15.4 
 19Jay Cutler 3916 258 15.2 
 20Aaron Rodgers 3566 263 13.6 
 21Cam Newton 2022 157 12.9 
 22Ryan Tannehill 1789 146 12.3 
 23Ben Roethlisberger 5043 424 11.9 
 24Josh McCown 1721 153 11.2 
 25Alex Smith 3247 293 11.1 
 26Teddy Bridgewater 476 45 10.6 
 27Colin Kaepernick 1208 115 10.5 
 28Russell Wilson 1353 131 10.3 
 29Blake Bortles 581 62 9.4 


In other words, Cousins is far more apt to get rid of it and have bad things happen on the back end than he is to 'eat it.' Get some extra work in on the JUGS machine this week, defensive backs.

Follow Jimmy on Twitter: @JimmyKempski

*ProFootballFocus credited Brandon Bair with 2 batted passes, but he had 3, so I fixed their error.