“I think I’ll always be,” Cousins said. “I don’t think that Year 16, if you’re fortunate enough to play that long, I don’t think you feel like you’ve had it figured out. When I asked Tom Brady after the game last year, ‘When did it click for you?’ In a sense, I asked him, ‘When were you no longer a work in progress?’ His answer was what I would echo here, and that it’s still clicking. You’ve never figured it out. You’ve never arrived. The minute you think you have is probably when you’re going to be gone. I’m going to keep working, keep going, and I understand that. I think I’ll always view myself as a work in progress, and I think that’s how other people can view it too.”

Cousins was 30 for 43 for 329 yards and two interceptions with a quarterback passer rating of 72.7, but the Redskins’ offense was ineffective for much of the game against Pittsburgh’s zone defense. He missed a few key opportunities on third down to convert drives that resulted in either punts or field goals. Washington was 3 of 10 on third down and 0 of 2 on fourth down. The offense finished 1 of 4 in the red zone with its only touchdown occurring when it went no-huddle.

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“When we aren’t as productive on third down and aren’t as productive in the red zone, it’s going to come back and haunt you in the final score and the final result,” Cousins said. “We understand that, and we have to make it a point of emphasis that when we get in the red zone, we’ve gotta come away with touchdowns 50-60 percent of the time to be a top 10 team in the league in that area and we weren’t doing that.”

The Redskins also had some pre-snap issues with Cousins and the rest of the offense. They were called for five false start penalties — four on the offensive line and one on running back Matt Jones. Those unforced errors were costly on certain drives as well.

“Whatever they are, whatever caused them, they need to be fixed,” Cousins said. “And so, the point is whatever caused it, let’s talk about it. ‘How can I make it easier on you? How can I help, and you let me know. Let’s communicate, and let’s make sure it doesn’t happen again.’ That’s been the topic of conversation the last couple of days, and we’ve got a great chance on Sunday to be more sharper in that area.”