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Midway through the second quarter of Sunday’s game in Washington, Kirk Cousins looked like he could be heading toward a benching. Instead, he was heading toward an NFC offensive player of the week award.

Cousins bounced back from a fumble that the Buccaneers returned for a touchdown to take a 24-0 lead and led Washington to a dramatic 31-30 win.

It’s the first player of the week award for Cousins, who completed 33 of 40 passes for 317 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Questions remain about whether Cousins is the long-term answer on a team that has seen coach Jay Gruden flip-flop from Robert Griffin III to Cousins to Colt McCoy, back to RGIII and then to Cousins again. But there’s no question that after Washington dug a big hole on Sunday, Cousins played a great game to dig his team out of it. That should buy him some time as the starter.