Terry McLaurin and Sam Howell make some franchise history in Week 6

McLaurin and Howell each make Washington history in Week 6 vs. Falcons.

Terry McLaurin is in his fifth NFL season with the Washington Commanders. In his first four years, McLaurin had already established himself as one of the better receivers in franchise history, even though he had a way to go to be called one of the best.

In Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Falcons, McLaurin caught six passes for 81 yards and entered the top 10 in Washington’s record books in the process.

Early in the first quarter, McLaurin moved past Pierre Garcon for 10th place in Washington’s rich franchise history in receiving yards, courtesy of Washington’s PR team.

Shortly after that, McLaurin made more history, moving past Jordan Reed for 10th place in career receptions in the burgundy and gold.

It’s safe to say McLaurin will only continue to climb in Washington’s record books.

Quarterback Sam Howell made his seventh career start in Sunday’s game, and he, too, also made Washington history. When he reached 1,602 passing yards, it was the most in franchise history from a quarterback in his first seven career games.

Of course, it’s important to note the game has changed over the years, and Howell has more passing attempts, but it’s still noteworthy.

In addition, Howell also passed for three touchdowns in a game for the first time. For the season, Howell now has nine touchdowns and six interceptions. Outside of that miserable Buffalo start, Howell has two interceptions in Washington’s other five games.

Not a bad start to Howell’s career, but he still has a lot to prove in his hopes of being the team’s franchise quarterback.

Kirk Cousins’ top 10 performances with Washington

Kirk Cousins returns to FedEx Field this weekend. We look back at the top 10 performances from his six seasons in Washington.

Kirk Cousins is a divisive figure in Washington. A fourth-round pick in the 2012 NFL draft, Cousins immediately began his career in the shadow of the No. 2 overall pick from the same draft, Robert Griffin III.

While Griffin had an electric rookie year, it was all downhill for him after injuring his knee in a home playoff game in Jan. 2013. His career in Washington β€” or the NFL β€” would never be the same.

Enter Cousins.

After bouncing in and out of the lineup throughout his first three seasons, head coach Jay Gruden named Cousins the permanent starter ahead of the 2015 season, and his career took off.

Cousins returns to FedEx Field this weekend for the first time since leaving as a free agent after the 2017 season, signing with the Minnesota Vikings.

We aren’t going to get into why Cousins left. Instead, we look back at Cousins’ top 10 performances in the burgundy and gold.

Terry McLaurin goes over 1,000 yards receiving for the season

Terry McLaurin goes over 1,000 yards for the second consecutive season.

Terry McLaurin needed 40 yards to reach 1,000 yards receiving for the second consecutive season. McLaurin entered Washington’s Week 18 game with 73 receptions for 960 yards.

It didn’t take long for McLaurin to hit the 1,000-yard mark. Washington quarterback Taylor Heinicke found McLaurin for his first completion of the game, an 11-yard pickup on the WFT’s first drive.

After a couple of runs, Heinicke drops back to pass, avoids the sack and rolls to his left, finding McLaurin for a 30-yard gain and a first down deep in Giants’ territory. Just like that, McLaurin goes over 1,000 yards on Washington’s first drive.

Here’s the play:

Surprisingly, McLaurin is the first Washington receiver to go over 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons since Henry Ellard accomplished the feat in three straight years (1994-96).

That’s a bit of a surprise considering how good Pierre Garcon and DeSean Jackson were for Washington under Jay Gruden. Garcon and Jackson each had a pair of 1,000-yard seasons but not consecutively.

Washington should do everything in its power to have McLaurin extended as soon as possible.