Rocky is like a lot of Redskins fans of a certain generation. The 30-year old from Orange, Virginia, was introduced to the team by his grandfather; for years they got together every Sunday to watch the team. He was born during the glory years, but hardly remembers when the team was a juggernaut. He was jolted into hope and happiness by Robert Griffin III in 2012, and thought Griffin’s arrival signaled the beginning of a new era. And he’s been so deflated by recent events that he asked a friend who roots for the Dolphins whether he could borrow a Dan Marino jersey on Sunday.

Yes, that’s right. Rocky, a lifelong Redskins fan, is rooting for Miami.

“I won’t miss any of the games, but any time Kirk [Cousins] drops back and throws an interception, or someone does something stupid, I’ll probably celebrate a little bit,” he told me this week. “I hope they’re interesting. I hope they keep it relatively close. I don’t want anyone to get hurt or anything like that. But long term, if it’s going to be they win by two points or lose by one, just give me the loss.”

This is a strange time for at least some Redskins fans. A new season typically encourages every NFL fan base to activate its most optimistic impulses. Early September is all about unrealistic expectations and best-case scenarios. But at least some portion of the Redskins base feels differently this year.

Some fans told me they want the team to fail to spite owner Daniel Snyder. Some said they don’t want mismanagement to be rewarded. And others were more specific: they are loyal to Griffin. They were hopeful about his last chance to resurrect his career in Washington. And they’re uncomfortable that the plug was pulled after less than a half of preseason action.

“I don’t think it’s a small number of people who feel that way,” said Ayodele Okeowo, 26, of Woodbridge, Virginia. “To see [Cousins] have any modicum of success would just prolong the ineptitude that we have right now. And the more I’ve thought about it, I just don’t think that would be a benefit to the organization. And then there’s also that sense of resentment toward the organization for how they’ve handled the RGIII situation: how he’s been treated, how they’ve flip-flopped so much, how no one’s on the same page. You kind of just want to see them pay for it on the field, so they understand this is not the right way to handle a football club.”

And so what happens if the Redskins get the ball back late in Sunday’s game, trailing by a few points, with a chance to drive for a game-winning score?

“I would be rooting for a Kirk Cousins pick-six from the 5-yard line,” said Justin Wilder, 27, of northern Virginia. “There would be so much vindication from that.”

His is obviously a minority opinion. A great number of Redskins fans supported the switch to Cousins. And most fans who thought it was the wrong move will still be rooting for the home team on Sunday. But talking with fans in recent days brought me back to what Clinton Portis said last week, that “the city is torn apart between Redskins fans and RGIII fans.” It isn’t hard to find those who feel conflicted about the entire situation, who are having trouble rallying behind Jay Gruden after the past few weeks, even when they acknowledge that Griffin isn’t blameless.

“Deep down, I would want a win, but I kind of struggled to get to that point,” said Sheri Bangura, 31, of Raleigh. “Because I know a win for Kirk Cousins means a win for this coaching staff, and that’s where my struggle is. . ..A lot of people were overly emotionally invested in Robert Griffin III, and I think that’s where this anger and frustration and sadness comes from. It was like a love affair. There was a level of hope that we had. And it’s like, what happened? Why can’t we get it back? Why did it end so quickly?”

“Honestly, I’m trying to bring myself to say new season, new quarterback, let’s do this, but I don’t want to because it’s so upsetting what they’ve done to [Griffin] and how they’ve treated him,” said Nithin Kuchibhotla, 26, of Chicago. “Maybe from a football sense I have blinders on and he’s just not the guy for the job anymore, but I just don’t think they would have gotten to this point had they managed this kid a lot better.”

“It’s tough to keep explaining to these people why [Cousins] is not the answer,” Barry Cohen, 26, wrote in an email. “And that’s what makes me feel like I’m rooting against Kirk. I want to prove them wrong.”

There’s a different subset of fans, of course, who want the team to do poorly to allow for a reboot in 2016: new coach, new quarterback. They aren’t acting out of lingering loyalty to Griffin, but out of a belief that this team needs a new leader and a high draft pick, that the best Cousins and Gruden have to offer isn’t close to a Super Bowl. Such sentiments aren’t unusual in November or December, but they’re awfully strange to hear when the team is still 0-0.

“If you told me right now that the Skins went 1-15, I would be happy with that,” said Harry Fox, 36, of Baltimore, who is already focused on next year’s class of rookie quarterbacks. “The Redskins haven’t been relevant since 1993. I’ve become numb to this. And I know the only way this can get fixed is to crash and burn.”

“I’ve been watching for 25 seasons; one more season of losing is not going to make a difference in the grand scheme of things,” said Ankit Mittal, who like Fox is already dreaming about the top pick in next year’s draft. “To win a football game you need a quarterback, and Kirk Cousins is not the solution. . ..This team was not built to win more than five or six games, so I’d rather them lose at the end [on Sunday] than win.”

All these sentiments are baffling to another group of fans, who believe you should always want your team to win. Many also can’t understand why fans like Bangura have promised to support Griffin in the future, even if he leaves the Redskins.

“I want him to succeed wherever he goes, even if that means beating the Redskins,” she said. “I will openly admit that I am overly invested emotionally, and it got to the point where I don’t ever want to root for another individual that hard again.”

And of course these fans are conflicted. They aren’t used to feeling this way about their NFL team, certainly not before the season’s even started. But the past few weeks have not exactly been typical — “just so many things where you look at it and say this is rotten, this is bad to the core,” Wilder said. And so neither are the aftershocks.

“If Kirk takes us to a 7-9 season or, God forbid, an 8-8 season, it’s just going to prolong this ride, and I don’t want to see that,” Okeowo said. “I’m still going to be a Redskins fan. I still love D.C. sports. That’s not going to change. But a big part of me wants to see them lose just to confirm the ineptitude, to confirm that no one really knows what they’re doing.”

Happy opening weekend.