Skip Bayless, 'First Take' have dumb RGIII Cousins debate - Washington Post (blog)

Well, this was inevitable. If we were going to have a debate about Robert Griffin III, Mike Shanahan and Kirk Cousins, the logical conclusion was a blog post involving Stephen A. Smith, Skip Bayless, “Chocolate City,” Tim Tebow, people interrupting each other, and blind guesses about the racial composition of the Redskins’ season-ticket base.

Bearing in mind that I’m making the world dumber by repeating any of this....

Bayless: “This just made me sick at my stomach. I have been obviously driving the RGIII bandwagon since about mid-season. And he didn’t deserve this kind of pressure heaped on top of the obvious pressure that he will already feel as the No. 2 overall pick....This was a grandstand move by Mike Shanahan....The problem is, Kirk Cousins is more NFL ready right now than RGIII, who was a late bloomer....If Kirk Cousins has four or five big quarters in the exhibition games, all of the sudden you create a quarterback controversy that RGIII doesn’t deserve....”

Smith: “We’re talking about the Washington Redskins here. I mean, you’re talking about an organization, I don’t care if they had seven different picks and all of them were quarterbacks. As awful as they have been at that position, excuse me, you need all the help you can get. You need all the insurance that you can get....I don’t want you as my starting quarterback if you are fazed by Kirk Cousins. No disrespect to him, but I don’t want you as my starting quarterback if you are fazed by Kirk Cousins.”

Bayless: “If you’re not going to bring this up, I’m going to bring this up. Obviously, Robert Griffin III is a black quarterback. And even though we’ve come a long long way, with black quarterbacks, and they have been consistently been taken high in the draft over the last 15 years, I’m not sure we’ve come all that far in protecting said black quarterback, publicly protecting. So now you’ve drafted another rookie who’s not a black quarterback, and it sets up wrong for RGIII on a racial component level. I’m sorry. It just does.”

Smith: “We’re talking about Chocolate City, baby! This is the nation’s capital, ok? And I’m telling you right now, something goes awry with RGIII, it’s gonna be Mike Shanahan’s head that rolls....Mike Shanahan will be gone before you could spell his last name. This is Chocolate City we’re talking about. If you were in Indianapolis, you would have a very valid point, Indianapolis, Jacksonville or some other place like that, maybe. But Chocolate City, trust me, it’s not a concern, it’s not a concern.”

Bayless: “I don’t know the racial breakdown of the Redskins season ticket holders, but I’m gonna suggest that it’s a majority white fans. Wouldn’t you agree with that? We’re not talking about the racial breakdown of the city; of the stadium. I’m just saying there are gonna be a lot of boo birds who are gonna be quicker to boo if the white quarterback is out-playing the quarterback in the preseason. And the black quarterback gets off to a rough start in his first two games? Watch what happens.”

Eric Mangini: “It’s about having another good, young quarterback that you felt strongly about there to develop along with RGIII, should RGIII get hurt. Mike Shanahan is married to RGIII. His future is tied to RGIII, not Kirk Cousins....RGIII and Mike Shanahan, they’re married. And if this doesn’t work out, somebody’s losing their house, and it’s not RGIII. It’s Mike Shanahan who’s gonna have to move on....If you can get a good young starting quarterback and be able to back him up with another good young starting quarterback that you develop in your system, that’s good business. That’s smart. And that’s forward thinking.”

Yes, Eric Mangini is the one making sense.

(Via Twitchy, sort of.)