Wow. The Monday night season ended with a thud. After having a couple of decent matchups, ESPN was stuck with the Titans and the Jets last night and, though I didn’t watch a play, the highlights make it look like it lived up to its lack of billing.

How can the Jets keep tossing Mark Sanchez out there to watch him get destroyed week after week? The team still has at least a passable defense, but the offense is a mess. NFL Network has been running a poll asking if the blame should lay more with Sanchez or coach Rex Ryan. I would argue that it’s difficult to answer that question: Sanchez has been brutal but Ryan has stuck with him … not that I’m a huge believer in Tim Tebow or Greg McElroy at this point either.

I’m guessing Ryan is firmly on the hot seat (he was my number two coach likely to get fired in the preseason). It’s not as much a given that he’ll be fired as it is with Norv Turner and Andy Reid, but I’d say it’s a better than 50/50 proposition at this point.

That’s why the Redskins drafted Cousins: Speaking of quarterback play, we here at Zoneblitz.com defended the Washington Redskins from criticism after the draft when people were questioning why they took Michigan State signal caller Kirk Cousins after trading a number of picks to acquire Robert Griffin III.

The answer became quite clear on Sunday. While teams like Kansas City, Arizona and the Jets are rolling out Brady Quinn, Ryan Lindley, Kevin Kolb, John Skelton and Sanchez, Washington rolled the dice on adding a second reasonably highly-touted rookie quarterback in the draft and it paid off big time.

Cousins was able to step in against Cleveland to throw for 329 yards and a couple touchdowns, more than keeping the proverbial wheels on the bus while Griffin rested his knee. Without a competent backup, the Redskins may have had to rush Griffin back in an effort to stay in the division title race.

Furthermore, with the solid performance, Cousins likely enhanced his value to other teams. Washington is either set at quarterback for 2013 or it can recoup one or two of the picks it traded to St. Louis for the rights to take Griffin in the first place.

I’ve said for years that if I was running a team I’d take a quarterback at some point in the draft almost every season. At worst, you are always pushing the guys you have and you are generally going to keep yourself set at one of the toughest and most important positions in sports. If you end up with more quarterbacks than you can use, you’ve got a trade chip. And in the best case scenario, you might end find the next Tom Brady.

So in my mind, this was a brilliant move by the Redskins, well before Cousins had to be pressed into duty.

Flacco fails in Caldwell debut: Another team facing quarterback controversy is Baltimore, where Joe Flacco continues to be wildly inconsistent. We commented last week that it seemed like a weird time to change offensive coordinators. Sunday’s performance didn’t put those comments to rest.

Analyst Dan Dierdorf, during the early stages of the CBS broadcast of the Ravens’ game against Denver on Sunday, indicated that there are no more excuses for Flacco now that Cam Cameron is gone. In the first game of the post-Cameron era, Baltimore promptly fell behind 34-3, with one of the touchdowns coming on a red zone interception thrown by Flacco.

The team rebounded in the fourth quarter to score a couple garbage time touchdowns, but this performance is going to raise more questions than calm the situation. (And for those who were saying Cameron was fired due to Ray Rice not getting enough touches, he got 12 carries and three catches on Sunday. Not much of an improvement, eh?)

Jim Caldwell is a credible offensive mind, but I still question the timing of this change for a team that is still solidly in the playoff race despite a three-game losing streak.

Peterson, Johnson amazing seasons continue:

I’m far from the first person to say this, but I would like to take a minute to talk about how much fun it’s been watching Calvin Johnson and Adrian Peterson this season as they each approach yardage records.

Both have been unstoppable, particularly in recent weeks. Peterson is still 293 yards away from Eric Dickerson’s record of 2105 with two games to play against Houston and Green Bay. I’d say that one is a long-shot, but I wouldn’t bet against him.

Johnson is at 1667 yards, 181 shy of the mark Jerry Rice set in 1995. He already has two of the top 1o receiving seasons ever, even if he doesn’t catch another pass. Detroit finishes with Chicago and Atlanta. I predict this record goes down, possibly by as much as 100 yards.

Either way, these guys are having fantastic seasons and they are, by all appearances, class individuals who are easy to root for. I hope both records are broken.

ESPN deserves criticism for Parker comments too: ESPN has suspended Rob Parker for making some luddite-like comments criticizing RGIII for not being black enough.

I think Parker’s comments were ridiculous, but I’m glad the network isn’t getting off unquestioned on this as well. Nothing drives me to the mute button faster than when this network’s incompetent shouters start proclaiming their latest drivel. Stephen A. Smith, Woody Paige and especially Skip Bayless are one-trick-pony shock columnists who seem to be paid based on the decibel level of their voices.

ProFootballTalk.com has had a number of posts on Parker’s comments, including one link to reporting by Sports Illustrated indicating that ESPN talent is distancing itself from these crappy shows, as well.

That’s great. But the network itself loses credibility, in my eyes, when it does things like include Parker’s comments in a “Best of First Take” episode in the days before the criticism surrounding those comments caused it to suspend Parker. Those actions are as silly and uneducated as Parker says claims are his critics.