First things first: Let's just get this out of the way.

The Redskins franchised Kirk Cousins in the offseason, which often happens when the player and the team can't come to terms on a long-term deal. In Cousins' case, there were also concerns about whether he could be Washington's long-term answer at quarterback or if his maddening inconsistency was something that he would never outgrow.

In the season opener, the Redskins hosted the Steelers on Monday Night Football and we saw the old Cousins -- indecisive, inaccurate and more burden than benefit to the offense. But in the weeks since, he has been every bit a franchise quarterback, and that was only reinforced with his near-flawless performance in tough conditions against the Packers on Sunday night.

When it was over, Cousins was 21 of 30 for 375 yards, three touchdowns and no turnovers. For the season, he has 17 touchdowns against seven interceptions and a passer rating north of 95. There's more: According to Football Outsiders' metrics, Cousins came into Week 11 as the No. 6 quarterback, ahead of Russell Wilson, Matthew Stafford and Ben Roethlisberger -- three quarterbacks who are due a combined $228 million in salary over the next several years.

Cousins was clinical against the Packers, so much so that he seemed more accurate the further downfield he threw the ball. Compounding matters: 30-mph wind gusts that appeared to affect everyone but Cousins. His first touchdown "only" went for 17 yards, but the biggest takeaway from the play was Cousins' decisiveness; DeSean Jackson appeared to be his third read, and he calmly went through his progressions before hitting Jackson in stride.

And then there were the back-to-back bombs, first a 46-yarder to Jamison Crowder late in the third quarter that gave the Skins a 22-10 lead.

Then, following a quick Packers score, Cousins found Pierre Garcon on a 70-yard hookup -- into the wind, mind you -- to all but put the game out of reach at 29-17.

Of course, the Redskins would go on to score 42 points, which brings us to the train wreck that is the Packers' defense as we look at five more things to know about the Washington rout.

1. The Packers defense is a train wreck

Here's a not-so-fun fact: The Packers have now lost four straight, and in each of those losses, they've allowed at least 30 points -- 33 to the Falcons, 31 to the Colts, 47 to the Titans and now 42 to the Redskins. For those of you too lazy to ask Siri to add that up, it works out to 153 points in 240 minutes worth of football.

Look, the Packers have injuries in the secondary and that has a lot to do with what we saw in Washington. But guess what? This is the NFL, where injuries are as much a part of the game as blocking, tackling and, you know, covering would-be pass catchers. And it's worth pointing out that the Packers aren't blameless in their current situation.

There's more: These sobering stats are through the early fourth quarter.

2. Jay Gruden deserves our praise

Way too often we see coaches turtle up in big moments and play not to lose. Inevitably, that leads to the exact result they were trying to avoid. Well, to borrow a phrase from Mike Tomlin, Gruden did not live in his fears Sunday night. With six minutes to go and the Redskins leading 29-24, they faced a fourth-and-1 from their own 42-yard line. Most coaches not named Bill Belichick are punting. Instead, Cousins ran a quarterback sneak and got the first down easily.

Turns out, fortune favors the bold; three plays later, this happened, which set up a Robert Kelley touchdown:

How 'bout them hogs?

Robert Kelley has one of the NFL's best nicknames -- Fat Rob -- and he also happens to run behind a group once famously known as the Hogs. This graphic tells you all you need to know about the Hogs -- and NFL offensive linemen in general:

Kelley finished the evening with 24 carries for 137 yards and three touchdowns.

3. Stop us if you've heard this before ...

It's 2016 and no one knows what a catch is. If this sounds familiar, it should; we say it every season, several times a season. This is the byproduct of an arcane rulebook complicated by either officials who inconsistently enforce those rules -- or worse, the rules are correctly enforced but don't pass the laugh test because of the sheer ridiculousness of the real-world application.

Which brings us to this play from early in the second quarter, the highlight of which is Aaron Rodgers' ability to keep his head -- it was almost removed from his body -- and throw a laser to Jordy Nelson in the back of the end zone. Except that it sure looked like Nelson didn't have possession long enough to get the touchdown call. Naturally, the call on the field was a touchdown, which inexplicably remained that way after review.

So yeah.

Part of us wonders if the low ratings this season are due, in part, to the random nature of the officiating and the weekly, seemingly avoidable controversies that follow. Either way, Twitter's reaction was as swift as it was predictable.

There's also this:

Of course, this presumes that Nelson caught the ball.

Which brings us back to our original point:

4. Playoff Picture

Here's the deal: Green Bay drops from No. 11 to No. 14 in the NFC -- New Orleans, Carolina, Los Angeles all move up a spot -- while Washington remains the No. 6 seed.

week11-playoff-pic-rw.jpg

5. No rest for the weary

You know how, just about every week, players who take part in the Thursday night game invariably complain about the ridiculousness of being forced play four days after throwing their bodies around for three hours Sunday?

It's a fair criticism, particularly when the quality of Thursday Night Football is something less than we see on Sunday or Monday. And it also seems reasonable that the quick turnaround would lead to more injuries. It's a fair concern, one players mention often. Oh, by the way...

The Redskins will face the Cowboys, who wrapped up their game against the Ravens on Sunday at around 4 p.m. ET. Seven-and-a-half extra hours doesn't seem like a big advantage ... when your next game is seven days away. But when you're playing on a Thursday afternoon in Dallas and have to travel 1,300 miles to get there then, yeah, that's problematic.