So with Washingtonians and NFL observers alike wondering about the organization’s direction following consecutive blowout losses that ended the team’s playoff hopes, here comes quarterback Kirk Cousins with a pretty strong vote in favor of continuity.

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“I think the body of work, when you look at what’s taken place over the last several years, it would be foolish to try to look at a week or two weeks and try to make a decision on anybody in this organization,” Cousins said Monday morning on 106.7 The Fan’s Grant and Danny program, the day after the Redskins calmed the waters with a home win over the Cardinals.

“Continuity’s a big part of football,” Cousins went on. “And I think that trying to build continuity and create continuity’s important. You look at teams that are successful year in and year out — it’s kind of a chicken or the egg, which comes first — but the teams that are successful then have continuity. They have the same head coach, they have the same quarterback, they have a lot of the same star players year in and year out. And there are some key positions that aren’t changing over and over. And I think to get to that level and be a consistent winner, you also have to create that continuity, and that’s important.”

It is perhaps worth pointing out here that Redskins fans have no idea whether or not they will have continuity at the quarterback position, because the team has been unable to reach a long-term deal with the man who said those words, leading to consecutive franchise tags and rampant speculation about a possible third tag, or a trade, or a transition tag, or a hail-Mary long-term deal, or a team-wide alien abduction. But it’s pretty hard to have any sense of Washington’s future continuity until this particular dilemma is resolved.

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In any case, Cousins also recognizes that as much as he might prefer the big picture, that’s not how the NFL operates.

“So I’d like to think that a win can always calm down peoples’ overreactions, but it only usually buys you about six days,” Cousins told the radio show. “And then you’ve got another date at FedEx Field next Sunday, and people will be free to overreact in either direction based on the result. So we know that in this business it only buys you about six days, and that’s okay. And we’ll do all we can and try to put a good product on the field, and then at the end of the season that’s when you kind of look back and take stock of the whole picture and see where you are as an organization.”

As an overreacting member of the media, he isn’t wrong. I sometimes wish I had his patience and perspective, which he sticks with even in the moments immediately following very good wins and very bad losses. But it’s hard not to look ahead when we know how this season will finish (without a playoff berth), and when we don’t know which of the key actors will be back next fall.

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Cousins, by the way, has talked about such issues before, and has made clear his belief in the benefit of continuity amidst NFL churn.

“Turnover is a part of this league,” he said in July. ” I think about eight out of 32 head coaches get let go every year, and players are constantly changing, so you’re going to have a lot of attrition. We’ve been fortunate to have some continuity, but this year we do have some changes so we’re going to show, hopefully, that we’re a mature football team and that we handle those changes well and we’re able to keep moving forward in the right direction.”

And in October, he talked with San Francisco reporters about the link between stability and accomplishment.

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“There’s a familiarity there that’s really important,” Cousins said then. “I think in this league, continuity helps lead to success. When you look at quarterbacks around the league, the ones that have been really good year in and year out, it’s because they’ve been with the same team, or been with the same coaching staff. And they’ve been able to have that continuity. So that’s a real positive for me here in Washington.”

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Meanwhile, his resistance to snap judgments extends beyond the corner office or the quarterback’s nook. Cousins also emphasized on Monday how you can’t judge a young wide receiver by looking at his stat line from a particular game, after he was asked about the challenge of turning Washington’s pass catchers into third-down options.

“There’s no doubt that we’re definitely trying to get them more and more involved and give them opportunities to make plays for us,” Cousins said of Josh Doctson and Ryan Grant. “I think it’s such a team game, and Josh may very well be open on a third down but if the ball is thrown high to him, we don’t convert. That doesn’t have a lot to do with Josh. The ball was thrown high.

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“If Chandler Jones twists around into the A gap and we don’t pick him up and he’s coming free, then receivers can be doing their job down the field, getting open, but if I don’t have time to get them they ball, they’re not going to get the ball,” Cousins said. “Other times defenses, Patrick Peterson or a two-safety look is taking away Ryan Grant and Josh Doctson, they’re basically out of the read, but now I’ve got Samaje Perine wide open on a burst route … So there are a variety of reasons why maybe they aren’t showing up all the time, especially on third down, but because it’s such a team game, it becomes hard to point to any one reason as to why.

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“But when we protect well, when we can win our individual one-on-one matchups, when we can throw the ball accurately, that’s when you’re going to see production,” Cousins concluded. “And if we aren’t protecting or if the throw’s not accurate or if we didn’t win the one-on-one matchup, then you’re not going to see those guys have big days and help us on third down.”

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