Kirk Cousins' first start of the 2013 season included a lot of great plays, and plenty of head-scratching throws. There were more passes from the pocket, especially going down the field.
That led to some conspiracy theorists wondering if Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan changed the offense for Cousins, setting him up to succeed where Robert Griffin III did not.
"First off, I'm not really sure what people mean. I think the obvious things are you don't run the zone read as much," Shanahan said Monday. "You've got Robert (Griffin III) who has that speed and the ability to make some plays running the football and can do some things off the play-action pass, but other than that we have the same offense.
"You have the same dropback, you have the same ability to run quarterback keeps or half-rolls or bootlegs, waggles, different types of screens depending what the defense is giving you, so that's part of our offensive scheme."
Wide receiver Pierre Garconechoed the sentiments.
"There wasn't really no difference," Garcon told WTEM-AM. "We called the same plays ... It was the same offense. We didn't do anything special."
Shanahan took pains to say that Griffin is still the team's starting quarterback next season and that people shouldn't overreact to Cousins' play.
"Again, let's not get carried away with one game, OK? It's one game. That's all it is," Shanahan said.
After a confusing week of statements from Shanahan, this is one comment that makes a lot of sense.
The latest "Around The League Podcast" broke down the Redskins loss and every other Week 15 game.