True/False: Kirk Cousins should be benched if he doesn't play well vs. Eagles

We asked the Paste BN NFL staff this question: "If Kirk Cousins can’t beat what has been a porous Eagles defense, then Jay Gruden must make a change. True or false?" Their responses:

TOM PELISSERO

False – unless Redskins owner Dan Snyder tells Gruden otherwise. To this point, that hasn’t happened. But if Cousins tosses a couple more interceptions and Washington falls to 1-3 (and 0-2 against the NFC East), would Snyder be able to help himself with Robert Griffin III sitting on the bench? That’s a better question than whether Gruden feels compelled to do anything, since he committed himself before the season to sticking with Cousins and has given no indications he intends to do anything other than ride out the growing pains.

ERIC PRISBELL

False. It all comes down to interceptions for Kirk Cousins, not a win or a loss. That’s been his biggest issue. The gap between Cousins and Colt McCoy was not and is not especially large, if it has existed at all. In terms of keeping his starting job, the most important thing for Cousins today is that he is not an interception machine. The surprising announcement wasn’t that Redskins coach Jay Gruden declared Kirk Cousins the starting quarterback for the opener. It was that he said Cousins would be the starter for the entire 2015 season. And now he seems to be doubling down on that for some reason. A case could be made that Washington has at least as good a chance to win games this season with McCoy under center. Today, Cousins can’t be the one who figures out a way to lose the game with self-inflicted errors. Given the Redskins history, though, there’s little doubt that they will figure out a way to turn the quarterback situation into a season-long soap opera even with Robert Griffin III relegated to third string at the moment.

LORENZO REYES

True. The only way Kirk Cousins should keep his job is if he shows marked improvement and – above all else – takes care of the football. He has thrown far too many interceptions (four in 2015, 23 in 17 career games) to give Washington’s offense consistency. The big problem for Gruden is that there’s not much else on his roster.