There was one play on Sunday involving Kirk Cousins and Rob Kelley that had us quite literally laughing, with real tears and everything.
The Washington Redskins had the ball on offense. Cousins was in the pistol with Kelley slightly behind him to the left. Then the snap came, way too hot and high, and bounced off Cousins’ outstretched fingers way up into the air. By the time it came down, Seattle’s vaunted defensive front was all over the play and about to crush Cousins.
That’s when Cousins handed the ball to Kelley, almost as if to say, “Hey, buddy, I’m not taking this ball. YOU take it!”
You can watch the exchange and some hilarious Twitter reactions here.
On Monday, Cousins told a slightly different version of the story, saying Kelley actually offered to be that sacrificial lamb.
“This is why I love Rob Kelley,” Cousins told Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier when asked about his handoff on 106.7 The Fan’s Grant and Danny show. “Because if the ball is seemingly 10 stories high and I’m just waiting for it to come down hoping I don’t get sandwiched in the process, I hear Rob yelling — I don’t remember exactly what he said — but I remember hearing something like, ‘Kirk give it to me.’ He was basically like, let me be the sacrificial lamb. I could feel him next to me and I could hear him saying, like, ‘Let me take it, let me take it.’ The minute I got it, I could feel him there and I just handed it to him, both of us recognizing that he’ll take the hit for both of us. That’s why you love Rob. He’s a teammate in every sense of the word and wants to win and is willing to put it on the line for the group.”
That’s an amazing teammate, right there.
If Kelley hadn’t taken the ball from Cousins, he was about to get sandwiched by about four different Seahawks defenders. The running back, knowing the value of his quarterback, took the hits, instead.
Bravo, Rob Kelley. Bravo.