*Official* Robert Griffin III Bandwagon (1 Viewer)

[Pipes]

He just made one of the bigger trades ever for the right to select RG3, and he loves him. His job also depends on RG3 succeeding.

Damn right he's going to do all he can for "his guy" to succeed.

I agree with this. Shanahan made a big mistake in trading for McNabb, then not wanting him all in the space of one season. Redskins fans and the owner know this. Shanahan's Redskin teams have gone 6-10 and 5-11, and have been rudderless at QB. Redskins fans and the owner know this. If Griffin fails, Shanahan will be out of a job --- not in one year, but in 2 or 3. The fans and owner know this, and Shanahan does as well. He'll do everything he can to get Griffin to succeed.

Shanahan's idea of RG3 success =/ fantasy owners idea of success though. I think it's important to remember this.

I don't know what that has to do with what ConnSKINS26 said?

This is a fantasy board. Many people think "succeed" means in a fantasy context. QBs can play very well in "real" football terms and be very underwhelming in fantasy. People seem to have awful high expectations for RG3. I think too high. A lot of that is based on the success Cam had last year and now people are transfering that success over to RG3 expectations because he too is an "athletic" QB. I think Shanny would be happy if his QB simply didtn' turn the ball over a lot in his rookie season and used a conservative game plan. After all, he is a rookie and he is coming from a spread offense. There will be a learning curve. Wash has a solid D that they should be able to lean on to win games if the offense can control a little bit of tempo and not turn the ball over.

Why do people keep saying this in regards to RGIII? I don't see anyone saying he will be a top 5 or even a top 10 fantasy QB next year and in fact most people have Luck ranked higher.

 

[Touchdown There]

He just made one of the bigger trades ever for the right to select RG3, and he loves him. His job also depends on RG3 succeeding. Damn right he's going to do all he can for "his guy" to succeed.

I agree with this. Shanahan made a big mistake in trading for McNabb, then not wanting him all in the space of one season. Redskins fans and the owner know this. Shanahan's Redskin teams have gone 6-10 and 5-11, and have been rudderless at QB. Redskins fans and the owner know this. If Griffin fails, Shanahan will be out of a job --- not in one year, but in 2 or 3. The fans and owner know this, and Shanahan does as well. He'll do everything he can to get Griffin to succeed.

Shanahan's idea of RG3 success =/ fantasy owners idea of success though. I think it's important to remember this.

I don't know what that has to do with what ConnSKINS26 said?

This is a fantasy board. Many people think "succeed" means in a fantasy context. QBs can play very well in "real" football terms and be very underwhelming in fantasy. People seem to have awful high expectations for RG3. I think too high. A lot of that is based on the success Cam had last year and now people are transfering that success over to RG3 expectations because he too is an "athletic" QB. I think Shanny would be happy if his QB simply didtn' turn the ball over a lot in his rookie season and used a conservative game plan. After all, he is a rookie and he is coming from a spread offense. There will be a learning curve. Wash has a solid D that they should be able to lean on to win games if the offense can control a little bit of tempo and not turn the ball over.

I really get tired of the "just because Cam did does not mean RGIII will" argument. There is no correlation between Cam Newton and RGIII. There is an RGIII bandwagon thread because we think that RGIII will stand on his own merits.

 

[Touchdown There]

He just made one of the bigger trades ever for the right to select RG3, and he loves him. His job also depends on RG3 succeeding.

Damn right he's going to do all he can for "his guy" to succeed.

I agree with this. Shanahan made a big mistake in trading for McNabb, then not wanting him all in the space of one season. Redskins fans and the owner know this. Shanahan's Redskin teams have gone 6-10 and 5-11, and have been rudderless at QB. Redskins fans and the owner know this. If Griffin fails, Shanahan will be out of a job --- not in one year, but in 2 or 3. The fans and owner know this, and Shanahan does as well. He'll do everything he can to get Griffin to succeed.

Shanahan's idea of RG3 success =/ fantasy owners idea of success though. I think it's important to remember this.

I don't know what that has to do with what ConnSKINS26 said?

This is a fantasy board. Many people think "succeed" means in a fantasy context. QBs can play very well in "real" football terms and be very underwhelming in fantasy. People seem to have awful high expectations for RG3. I think too high. A lot of that is based on the success Cam had last year and now people are transfering that success over to RG3 expectations because he too is an "athletic" QB. I think Shanny would be happy if his QB simply didtn' turn the ball over a lot in his rookie season and used a conservative game plan. After all, he is a rookie and he is coming from a spread offense. There will be a learning curve. Wash has a solid D that they should be able to lean on to win games if the offense can control a little bit of tempo and not turn the ball over.

Why do people keep saying this in regards to RGIII? I don't see anyone saying he will be a top 5 or even a top 10 fantasy QB next year and in fact most people have Luck ranked higher.

Looks like we were posting at the same time.

 

[jurb26]

He just made one of the bigger trades ever for the right to select RG3, and he loves him. His job also depends on RG3 succeeding. Damn right he's going to do all he can for "his guy" to succeed.

I agree with this. Shanahan made a big mistake in trading for McNabb, then not wanting him all in the space of one season. Redskins fans and the owner know this. Shanahan's Redskin teams have gone 6-10 and 5-11, and have been rudderless at QB. Redskins fans and the owner know this. If Griffin fails, Shanahan will be out of a job --- not in one year, but in 2 or 3. The fans and owner know this, and Shanahan does as well. He'll do everything he can to get Griffin to succeed.

Shanahan's idea of RG3 success =/ fantasy owners idea of success though. I think it's important to remember this.

I don't know what that has to do with what ConnSKINS26 said?

This is a fantasy board. Many people think "succeed" means in a fantasy context. QBs can play very well in "real" football terms and be very underwhelming in fantasy. People seem to have awful high expectations for RG3. I think too high. A lot of that is based on the success Cam had last year and now people are transfering that success over to RG3 expectations because he too is an "athletic" QB. I think Shanny would be happy if his QB simply didtn' turn the ball over a lot in his rookie season and used a conservative game plan. After all, he is a rookie and he is coming from a spread offense. There will be a learning curve. Wash has a solid D that they should be able to lean on to win games if the offense can control a little bit of tempo and not turn the ball over.

I really get tired of the "just because Cam did does not mean RGIII will" argument. There is no correlation between Cam Newton and RGIII. There is an RGIII bandwagon thread because we think that RGIII will stand on his own merits.

I agree with you. I don't think you are getting my point.

 

[Faust]

Mike Shanahan names Robert Griffin III Redskins starting quarterback

By Mike Jones, Published: May 6

The Washington Post

Washington Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan named rookie Robert Griffin III the team’s starting quarterback Sunday after an impressive showing by the Heisman Trophy winner at the Redskins’ three-day rookie minicamp.

With Washington plagued by inconsistent quarterback play for the better part of the last 20 years, Griffin’s official elevation doesn’t come as much of a surprise.

Until Sunday, however, Shanahan had remained noncommittal about how quickly the Baylor product would assume the most important role on the team. The Redskins selected Griffin with the second overall pick of the draft after giving up first-round picks in 2012, 2013 and 2014 as well as this year’s second-round pick.

But, the usually guarded Shanahan needed only five practices and three days of working with Griffin to proclaim him, ‘the guy.’

“He’s the starter. Period,” Shanahan said.

The coach later added, “Any time you pick a player with the second pick of the draft and you give up another two No. 1’s and No. 2 and you move up four spots, you’ve got a game plan in mind. We’re going to adjust our system to what he feels comfortable with, and we’ll watch him grow, and we’ll do what we feel like he does the best. . . . One thing the NFL is not used to his someone with his type of speed and his throwing ability, and I think that we can do some things that people haven’t done.”

Shanahan said the ‘game plan’ will consist of Griffin leading the Redskins’ first-team offense beginning with organized team activities, which start May 21 and run through mid-June. Nine-year veteran Rex Grossman, fourth-round pick Kirk Cousins and Jonathan Crompton, who spent last year on the Redskins’ practice squad, will battle for the second- and third-string jobs.

Fellow rookies and second-year pros said Sunday that Griffin spat out wordy play calls and set up teammates in formations as if he were already well accustomed to doing so.

“They’re throwing it right at him, but he’s picking it up nicely and every day his timing is getting better and he was making throws on time,” second-year pro Aldrick Robinson said.

Shanahan said that in the three days of practice, the quarterback never got a formation or play call wrong. “I’ve never had that in all the minicamps I’ve been involved with,” said the coach, now in his 28th year in the NFL.

Griffin played down his rapid start. Instead, he credited work with the playbook and in the film room for the success.

“Actually, the verbiage is a lot easier than you think. I’m not saying anybody could do it. But it’s different when you have 14 words on a page and you have no idea what those words mean,” Griffin said. “So when you get in the playbook and you get in the film room with the coaches, and you actually know what that means, it just makes it that much easier.”

Griffin also said that “even if you are supposed to be the starting quarterback, you’re still bottom of the barrel and you’ve got to prove yourself. I can’t come in flamboyantly. And I don’t plan to. Come in and earn the guys’ respect. Even if they say you’ve already got it, you still have to go out and earn it.”

Griffin and Cousins — taken three rounds later, with the seventh pick of the fourth round — were paired as roommates during the rookie minicamp and are expected to remain roommates in training camp and on the road this season.

Many draft analysts had projected that Cousins would come off the board late in the second round or some time in the third. But he fell to the fourth round, where Washington snatched him up, believing he would provide them a talented backup to Griffin. Some analysts and former league executives have since said the move could add needless pressure on Griffin and possibly spark a controversy if the No. 2 overall pick struggled.

Shanahan dismissed such notions, however.

“As you guys can tell, I’m not too worried about reactions,” the coach chuckled on Sunday. “We didn’t move up in the draft to make [Griffin] second or third-team. . . . But, if we lose a guy, if we lose one guy, that guy’s one play away from being the starter.”

Griffin also dismissed any perceptions of controversy, saying “there are no issues there. We ate a burrito together. Not the same burrito — just to clear that up — but it’s a good experience. . . . Having two rookie quarterbacks growing together is a good thing.”

Cousins also played down such talk and said he and Griffin are working toward the same goal.

“At the end of the day, they’re focusing on both of us and getting us ready to play in games this fall,” the Michigan State product said. “I think the focus is that whoever is going to go in as a backup, they’re expected to play as well as the previous guy that was in the game. Whether I’m in as a starter, backup or third string, when my opportunity comes, I’m expected to play at a high level.”

 

[Donsmith753]

I did a Shanahan to get him in one rookie draft so that's good to hear, thanks for posting.

 

[Sabertooth]

As the holder of the 1.1 pick in a start 2QB dynasty league where my team is a contender, I am agonizing over Griffin, Luck, and Richardson. I just don't know. I have my mind all made up and then change it the next news report.

Griffin is every bit the prospect Luck is. Luck has two big things in his favor. His name is Luck and he wears a horseshoe on the side of his helmet. Talk about looking for a sign to draft a guy, there you go.

 

[Donsmith753]

As the holder of the 1.1 pick in a start 2QB dynasty league where my team is a contender, I am agonizing over Griffin, Luck, and Richardson. I just don't know. I have my mind all made up and then change it the next news report. Griffin is every bit the prospect Luck is. Luck has two big things in his favor. His name is Luck and he wears a horseshoe on the side of his helmet. Talk about looking for a sign to draft a guy, there you go.

Why not see if someone will trade up and take whoever falls.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

Can't wait for him to bust. Hes a 1 year wonder who playef in the big 12. Vince Young is the Big 12s ALL-TIME leading passer in the NFL. 14 rushes per game. He is slightly bigger than Vick, but hell never survive a playoff run and I have my doubts he can even survive a season in the NFC. I foresee yet another 5-10 season of ineptitude, Shanny gets canned and the next coach changes everything yet again, then the next coaching regime trades him away because he wasnt their guy.

It's the Redskins, they missmanage everything.

 

[mcintyre1]

Can't wait for him to bust. Hes a 1 year wonder who playef in the big 12. Vince Young is the Big 12s ALL-TIME leading passer in the NFL. 14 rushes per game. He is slightly bigger than Vick, but hell never survive a playoff run and I have my doubts he can even survive a season in the NFC. I foresee yet another 5-10 season of ineptitude, Shanny gets canned and the next coach changes everything yet again, then the next coaching regime trades him away because he wasnt their guy.

It's the Redskins, they missmanage everything.

Haha. Ok.

 

[rizzler]

I foresee yet another 5-10 season of ineptitude

Speaking of inept...

 

[Buck Stop]

Can't wait for him to bust. Hes a 1 year wonder who playef in the big 12. Vince Young is the Big 12s ALL-TIME leading passer in the NFL. 14 rushes per game. He is slightly bigger than Vick, but hell never survive a playoff run and I have my doubts he can even survive a season in the NFC. I foresee yet another 5-10 season of ineptitude, Shanny gets canned and the next coach changes everything yet again, then the next coaching regime trades him away because he wasnt their guy.It's the Redskins, they missmanage everything.

Are you a Dolphins, Broncos, or Bills fan?

 

[thayman]

Can't wait for him to bust. Hes a 1 year wonder who playef in the big 12. Vince Young is the Big 12s ALL-TIME leading passer in the NFL. 14 rushes per game. He is slightly bigger than Vick, but hell never survive a playoff run and I have my doubts he can even survive a season in the NFC. I foresee yet another 5-10 season of ineptitude, Shanny gets canned and the next coach changes everything yet again, then the next coaching regime trades him away because he wasnt their guy.It's the Redskins, they missmanage everything.

Are you a Dolphins, Broncos, or Bills fan?

He's a longtime Cowgirl fan.

 

[Sabertooth]

As the holder of the 1.1 pick in a start 2QB dynasty league where my team is a contender, I am agonizing over Griffin, Luck, and Richardson. I just don't know. I have my mind all made up and then change it the next news report. Griffin is every bit the prospect Luck is. Luck has two big things in his favor. His name is Luck and he wears a horseshoe on the side of his helmet. Talk about looking for a sign to draft a guy, there you go.

Why not see if someone will trade up and take whoever falls.

Another owner has 2 and 3 and he ain't budging. If I can't move the pick for a great player, I'll take whoever is in first place when we draft.

 

[Faust]

NFC East pass rushes will present challenge to Griffin -- and vice versa

By Pat Kirwan | CBSSports.com NFL Insider

I had a great 20-minute football talk with Robert Griffin III the other day, and he's simply more impressive every time I talk with him.

His poise, maturity, and vision for the task at hand are right on point. He was announced as the starting quarterback of the Redskins without ever practicing with the veterans, but it's first on his mind to win the respect of his teammates with hard work and eventually production. RG3 understands the issues the NFC east presents, namely great pass pressure.

We talked about a quarterback's life in the pocket and the opportunities outside it. He is very proud of the progress he made in the pocket over his college career and made a point to say he never went into a game predicting how many times he would break contain or simply take off and run. He simply reacts to his situation and plays accordingly.

I can tell you NFC East defenses are thinking about how much he will attempt to run or create a passing play off the scramble. Keep in mind Griffin ran the ball 528 times in 41 college games and rushed for 33 touchdowns. NFC East defenses are all game-planning a phenomenal athlete who used his world-class speed 13 times a game in college.

The Cowboys, Giants and Eagles have to figure out how to contain that aspect of Griffin's game, and he knows what lies ahead, especially with those division teams, who get after quarterbacks better than any division in football.

The good news for Griffin is the success Michael Vick has had in the division using his feet to win games. As an Eagle, Vick is 18-2 as a starter against division opponents and has rushed 75 times for 425 yards, with six touchdowns and 29 first downs. The bad news for RG3 is he has to play against the Eagles wide-nine defense, and Vick of course did not.

Last year, the Eagles defense struggled early, but it wasn't because quarterbacks were making plays with their feet. Maybe it was the number of drop-back passers they faced or that they see Vick in practice every day, but opposing QBs rushed just 36 times for 97 yards, or 2.2 carries for 6 yards a game. Besides containing quarterbacks, they led an NFC East in sacks in a division that's as good as any in that department, and the numbers back it up.

The Eagles (tied for No. 1, 50 sacks), Giants (tied for third, 48 sacks) and Cowboys (tied for seventh, 42 sacks) combined for 140. They were the best three teams combined from any division -- by at least a dozen. Brandon Weeden of the Browns will face the next-biggest challenge vs. the AFC North, which produced 128 sacks from Baltimore, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, but Terrell Suggs is gone.

But it doesn't stop there when you look at what Griffin is up against regarding passes knocked down and QB hurries. Again the Eagles surface with the top tandem in this area, with Jason Babin and Trent Cole combining for 70. Dallas got 69 from DeMarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer, and the Giants' Jason Pierre Paul, Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tusk collected 72. The back end of NFC East defenses also produced 50 interceptions.

Two of the three division opponents also beefed up their pass rush during the draft. The Eagles added Fletcher Cox, Mychal Kendricks and Vinny Curry. The Cowboys added Tyronne Crawford and Kyle Wilbur. The Giants, of course, are loaded with pass-rushers as long as they keep Umenyiora.

The numbers seem stacked against RG3, but he is still a gigantic problem because he has the ability to break down a defense with his athletic ability. So I asked a former NFL defensive coordinator to help build a plan to play Griffin using NFC East teams. He was quick to point out the Giants and Eagles don't blitz very much and that may work to their benefit. The Cowboys blitz too much and may have to reduce the pressure calls to keep RG3 in front of the defense.

The plan for RG3 went like this: "First thing don't let him break contain on the bootleg and you do that multiple ways. Occasionally widen the ends [the Eagles already do this] and be very aware when the running back goes away to not close down on the run but play the bootleg. Next, occasionally blitz a corner away from the run threat and bring a player with equal speed to Griffin. This was a very effective tool early on in Michael Vick's career. Third, key blitz the linebackers. If the running back comes your way, fill and stop the run; if the run goes away, scrape outside away from the run and get after the QB. Finally, and the most emphasized point, be patient rushing him when he's in the pocket, don't trigger his feet because the pass rush was so aggressive."

Know his escape lanes and close the door on them. It all sounds good, but those are the kind of answers I heard for Steve Young and Michael Vick. Sometimes they work, and sometimes the QB beats the plan. The one philosophy against Vick as a Falcon that I did revisit was the Tampa Bay plan under Monte Kiffin. It was the glory days of the Tampa-2 defense, and Kiffin had a solid plan that teams will look at to build an RG3 plan.

Kiffin's defense held Vick to a 4-5 record and gave up just one rushing touchdown to Vick in those nine games. They also sacked him in one of nine passing attempts and only let him run for a first down 2.5 times a game. The plan was simple, with an occasional "cat" blitz from a corner and solid execution.

In 2012, RG3 will play nine games against 2011 top 10 sacking defenses, and that does not include the Steelers, who had an off year due to injuries. The good news is most of the great pass-rush teams he will face are in the second half of the season, which gives him and Mike Shanahan time to build up his arsenal of quarterback weapons.

Finally, after sitting down with Robert Griffin for the fourth time since his college season ended, I get the feeling he is more than up for the challenge and he will combat the mighty NFC East four different ways:

1) The Redskins will run the ball well against teams that hold the back-side defender to pull up the bootleg; 2) Griffin will find his second and third reads from the pocket; 3) He will build a strong relationship with tight end Fred Davis as Vick did in Atlanta with Alge Crumpler; 4) He is under the guidance of Mike Shanahan, who figured out how to get Jake Plummer on the edge whenever he needed to and limited his sacks to one in 24 attempts after he was sacked once in every 14 attempts as a Cardinal. And RG3 is a much more elusive athlete than Jake Plummer was in his playing days.

It's a big challenge for RG3 and the Redskins, but I know the young QB is ready, and from what I can gather, NFC East defenses will be, too.

 

[candymanvandyfan]

Looked pretty good tonight.

 

[RGIII HTTR]

Yes sir!!!

 

[Raider Nation]

Looked pretty good tonight.

He did. The most important thing to me is that he looked completely calm and poised. The rest is all God-given ability.

 

[candymanvandyfan]

It strikes me that he still looks skinny out there.

Wondering when in his career he will flesh out and carry the weight of a football player instead of the weight of a hurdler.

Kid's going to be something.

 

[VikingFrog]

Anyone got a guess on a stat line for Sunday? Might be playing catchup with the saints, but that could mean TDs or INTs.

 

[candymanvandyfan]

Looks crisp throwing the ball. Was worried the kicker was going to lose that one for him.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

Can't wait for him to bust. Hes a 1 year wonder who played in the big 12. Vince Young is the Big 12s ALL-TIME leading passer in the NFL. 14 rushes per game. He is slightly bigger than Vick, but hell never survive a playoff run and I have my doubts he can even survive a season in the NFC. I foresee yet another 5-10 season of ineptitude, Shanny gets canned and the next coach changes everything yet again, then the next coaching regime trades him away because he wasn't their guy.It's the Redskins, they mismanage everything.

 

[Donsmith753]

Rare to see someone bump a post when they're wrong.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

Rare to see someone bump a post when they're wrong.

Time will tell.....

 

[Underachievers]

Rare to see someone bump a post when they're wrong.

Unfortunately, he is actually correct. 1 NFL season and one major surgery thus far.

 

[Donsmith753]

I'd give him 3/10. Wrong on his ability, wrong on the Redskins, right on the injuries.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

I'd give him 3/10. Wrong on his ability, wrong on the Redskins, right on the injuries.

You'll see. He will come back and one of three things will happen:A: He will be just as or almost as explosive and Im wrong.B: He will come back and they will run the same option read stuff and he will inevitably get hurt again, rinse and repeat.C: They abandon the read option and turn him into a pocket passer running a traditional pro offense where he fails miserably.

 

[cstu]

I'd give him 3/10. Wrong on his ability, wrong on the Redskins, right on the injuries.

You'll see. He will come back and one of three things will happen:

A: He will be just as or almost as explosive and Im wrong.

B: He will come back and they will run the same option read stuff and he will inevitably get hurt again, rinse and repeat.

C: They abandon the read option and turn him into a pocket passer running a traditional pro offense where he fails miserably.

I've been saying all along that he has to learn how to slide and avoid hits - not change the way he plays. He's not built to take a lot of hits and if he doesn't change he's going keep getting injured.

 

[jacobo_moses]

IF some of you actually watched the games he was doing that more after the ATL game. I saw him slide and go out of bounds way more then he use to in the 1st half of the season.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

IF any of you actually watched the games he was doing that more after the ATL game. I saw him slide and go out of bounds way more then he use to.

 

[Donsmith753]

I'd give him 3/10. Wrong on his ability, wrong on the Redskins, right on the injuries.

You'll see. He will come back and one of three things will happen:A: He will be just as or almost as explosive and Im wrong.B: He will come back and they will run the same option read stuff and he will inevitably get hurt again, rinse and repeat.C: They abandon the read option and turn him into a pocket passer running a traditional pro offense where he fails miserably.

I just don't understand your point C. Unlike Vick RG3 had already shown he's a great pure passer, what attribute do you think he's lacking that would stop him running a traditional offense?

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

I'd give him 3/10. Wrong on his ability, wrong on the Redskins, right on the injuries.

You'll see. He will come back and one of three things will happen:

A: He will be just as or almost as explosive and Im wrong.

B: He will come back and they will run the same option read stuff and he will inevitably get hurt again, rinse and repeat.

C: They abandon the read option and turn him into a pocket passer running a traditional pro offense where he fails miserably.

I just don't understand your point C. Unlike Vick RG3 had already shown he's a great pure passer, what attribute do you think he's lacking that would stop him running a traditional offense?

No, he has shown proficiency passing in a read option offense, when he's a threat to run on every single play.

 

[Donsmith753]

I'd give him 3/10. Wrong on his ability, wrong on the Redskins, right on the injuries.

You'll see. He will come back and one of three things will happen:

A: He will be just as or almost as explosive and Im wrong.

B: He will come back and they will run the same option read stuff and he will inevitably get hurt again, rinse and repeat.

C: They abandon the read option and turn him into a pocket passer running a traditional pro offense where he fails miserably.

I just don't understand your point C. Unlike Vick RG3 had already shown he's a great pure passer, what attribute do you think he's lacking that would stop him running a traditional offense?

No, he has shown proficiency passing in a read option offense, when he's a threat to run on every single play.

RG3's accuracy and passer rating are already higher than any year in Michael Vicks career. Actually they're closer to the sort of numbers that Peyton Manning has put up in his career.Sure an element of the overall passer rating comes from his threat to run but...

1. RG3 has great accuracy, it was in a number of the scouting reports and nothing this year has disproven that.

2. He has great arm strength and can make all the throws.

3. He's already one of the leaders of the team depsite his young age.

4. He's a high character guy with a great work ethic.

I'll ask again. What attribute is he lacking that is going to stop him running a traditional offense well?

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

I'd give him 3/10. Wrong on his ability, wrong on the Redskins, right on the injuries.

You'll see. He will come back and one of three things will happen:

A: He will be just as or almost as explosive and Im wrong.

B: He will come back and they will run the same option read stuff and he will inevitably get hurt again, rinse and repeat.

C: They abandon the read option and turn him into a pocket passer running a traditional pro offense where he fails miserably.

I just don't understand your point C. Unlike Vick RG3 had already shown he's a great pure passer, what attribute do you think he's lacking that would stop him running a traditional offense?

No, he has shown proficiency passing in a read option offense, when he's a threat to run on every single play.

RG3's accuracy and passer rating are already higher than any year in Michael Vicks career. Actually they're closer to the sort of numbers that Peyton Manning has put up in his career.Sure an element of the overall passer rating comes from his threat to run but...

1. RG3 has great accuracy, it was in a number of the scouting reports and nothing this year has disproven that.

2. He has great arm strength and can make all the throws.

3. He's already one of the leaders of the team depsite his young age.

4. He's a high character guy with a great work ethic.

I'll ask again. What attribute is he lacking that is going to stop him running a traditional offense well?

Because when he runs a traditional pass offense he hasn't been effective. I'm on the road now but ill see what data I can find when I get home tonight.

 

[MikeApf]

I'd give him 3/10. Wrong on his ability, wrong on the Redskins, right on the injuries.

You'll see. He will come back and one of three things will happen:

A: He will be just as or almost as explosive and Im wrong.

B: He will come back and they will run the same option read stuff and he will inevitably get hurt again, rinse and repeat.

C: They abandon the read option and turn him into a pocket passer running a traditional pro offense where he fails miserably.

I just don't understand your point C. Unlike Vick RG3 had already shown he's a great pure passer, what attribute do you think he's lacking that would stop him running a traditional offense?

No, he has shown proficiency passing in a read option offense, when he's a threat to run on every single play.

RG3's accuracy and passer rating are already higher than any year in Michael Vicks career. Actually they're closer to the sort of numbers that Peyton Manning has put up in his career.Sure an element of the overall passer rating comes from his threat to run but...

1. RG3 has great accuracy, it was in a number of the scouting reports and nothing this year has disproven that.

2. He has great arm strength and can make all the throws.

3. He's already one of the leaders of the team depsite his young age.

4. He's a high character guy with a great work ethic.

I'll ask again. What attribute is he lacking that is going to stop him running a traditional offense well?

Because when he runs a traditional pass offense he hasn't been effective. I'm on the road now but ill see what data I can find when I get home tonight.

The game vs. Philadelphia, when he was still quite injured was where he only ran 1 time. In that game, his stats were:16/24 (67% completion)

198 yards

8.3 yards per completion

2 TDs

1 INTs

102.4 Quarterback rating

Keep in mind that these were his numbers not simply playing a traditional offense but playing a traditional offense when he was so injured that he couldn't even run to avoid the rush. Even if he scales back his running next year, he'll still be able to roll out, scramble in the pocket, take off for 10 yards then slide or go out of bounds, etc. -- NONE of which he could do in this game. And yet, he still managed 67% completion percentage and 100 + QB rating. Based on just being healthy, he's likely to be able to do AT LEAST this level but most likely BETTER being healthy playing a traditional offense. He'll obviously need to be able to average more than 200 yards passing but like I said, he'll definitely be more mobile as well. The bottom line is that it wasn't an unmitigated disaster when RGIII had to do without running. He was effective in managing the game. I think the hope would be with more mobility he could move from managing the game to making a few more plays with his legs and arm -- that's really not a stretch as we've seen him do that all year -- and you can do that without playing the pistol or taking off on designed runs multiple times per game...

 

[candymanvandyfan]

McNabb should shut his piehole and jump on the Bandwagon.

 

[cstu]

The first step in rebuilding RG3 was to mend a broken heart.

For all the flash and dazzle and public bravado, Robert Griffin III is a sensitive young man barely two years removed from the protective cocoon of Baylor, his nearby Texas hometown of Copperas Cove and the Sunday night hair-braiding sessions with his mother Jackie they called “mommy time.” He longs to be liked. And last fall’s divorce from Redskins coach Mike Shanahan tore a hole inside him far more damaging than the shredded knee in the 2012 playoffs that seemed to ignite their breakup.

He grew up admiring Shanahan, then the ruddy, taciturn general of his beloved Denver Broncos, and the coach’s sudden disapproval was devastating. “Robert thought Mike hated him,” says a former Redskins teammate who did not want to speak on the record in part because he believes Griffin needs to get past Shanahan.

As Shanahan pushed him away with icy glares in the waning weeks of a ruined 2013 season and stories appeared saying the team’s coaches couldn’t work with him, Griffin struggled to understand why.

“It’s like he had an ex-girlfriend he loved or wanted to love and he can’t,” the former teammate adds.

Some of those who know Griffin from his college days say he is a uniquely honest man, incapable of the little lies people tell to get through social situations. They say his sincerity is one of his most endearing traits.

But it also means he does not mask his emotions well. Friends wish he would stop talking about Shanahan. That time has passed. And yet there festers inside him an urge to explain something. To make people understand. To let them know what it was like.

“For me it was just heartbreaking,” Griffin says. “You know with everything that happened—came into the league with—I was a huge Bronco fan, everybody knew that, and I had the coach of my dreams pick me in the draft.”

He stops. He repeats himself.

“Heartbreaking,” he says.

Griffin sits now on a leather couch inside a foyer that leads from the practice fields to the locker room at the Redskins headquarters. This should be a happy time for him. His right knee, the one with the torn ACL and LCL, is healed. He runs again with almost as much ease as during his rookie year. He has a head coach he adores in Jay Gruden in an environment as nurturing for a quarterback as perhaps any in the NFL.

He is slowly transitioning from being an option passer to a pocket passer—a move that will minimize his risk of a future knee injury. He is learning an offense that should favor his skills.

But the rejection by his football hero lingers. Vague references to it sprinkle in his words as if doing so will bring a sudden clarity. Earlier in the day, someone had asked him what he would say to Shanahan’s son, Kyle, the Redskins' old offensive coordinator—a man he was supposed to see at a preseason game—and Griffin fumbled for an answer. What do you say to the son of a coach you no longer trust?

As he sits on the couch, 2013 still seems like such a tangled mass of darkness: the blown-up knee, the frenetic sprint through rehab to make that first game, the implosion of a relationship with a coach that was supposed to last for years.

“I think if anyone had gone through that situation and not been hurt, then I don’t know if they would be human,” he says.

He is asked if he understands last year.

He shakes his head.

“No,” he says. “But right now I don’t need to try, you know? I don’t need to try and understand what happened last year. I need to continue to grow as a football player, as a man, as a person for this team. That’s been the goal this entire offseason. It’s not to try and understand what happened last year.

“Yeah, I put last year into perspective and have used it as fuel to move me forward, but I don’t need to try to understand why it happened because it’s kind of like trying to understand why there are so many planets out there, or is anyone else out there, or how did God build the human body. How did all this stuff happen? It can drive you crazy.”

Recovery came 368 days after the knee blew up. That was when the Redskins hired Gruden to replace Shanahan. In his time as an assistant in Tampa and Cincinnati and as a head coach in the Arena Football League and the defunct United Football League, the younger brother of Jon Gruden has became known around the NFL as a clever game-planner who found creative ways to use his players’ strengths.

One of the first things Gruden did was name Sean McVay offensive coordinator. The former Redskins' tight ends coach had a good relationship with RG3 and worked with Gruden in the past. McVay was so thrilled, he contacted Griffin the moment he found out.

“I thought it important that I reach out and say how excited I was to be able to work with him and continue to build the relationship that we previously had and let him know how excited I was to have the chance to get it on the right track here,” McVay says.

Griffin immediately liked his new coaches. More than some players, RG3 needs to trust the people who coach him, friends say. With Gruden that trust came quickly.

The new coach has a warmth about him and a quick sense of humor that Griffin enjoys. In their first several meetings, they didn’t even discuss specifics of the new quarterback-friendly offense Gruden was installing. Instead, they simply talked. Griffin liked that.

“Jay’s one of those guys, if you get around him, he has such a great way about himself that if you don’t like Jay Gruden you’re probably a messed-up guy, you know?” McVay says. “He’s hard not to like.”

Gruden did not hire a quarterbacks coach, essentially taking that role himself. He runs most of the quarterbacks meetings, making the connection with his passers a direct one and not funneled through a hierarchy of a coordinator and position coach.

Those who have been in them say the meetings are a free-flowing democracy—a vast change from Shanahan’s more dictatorial approach. Everybody is encouraged to give ideas. It reminded Griffin of the meetings he used to have at Baylor in which head coach Art Briles sat in all the quarterbacks conferences along with offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery.

“Anytime you get into a group you can kind of have groupthink—no one’s saying no, or no one’s saying yes and everyone’s saying no,” Griffin says, an obvious reference to Shanahan, whose employees feared him so much that even long after they have stopped working with him, their words quiver when his name is raised.

“There’s no groupthink going on with this staff,” Griffin says.

The new coaches loved the joy with which RG3 approached their first months here. Griffin bubbled with questions about the offense. They admired his energy. They appreciated the way he volunteered to help recruit free agents like DeSean Jackson, Jason Hatcher and Andre Roberts. And they were pleased to discover he is something of a football junkie with a deep understanding of other teams’ players and schemes.

“I think he’s done a good job of embracing Jay’s approach, of what we do philosophically, and that’s exciting to see,” McVay says.

In turn, Gruden has been authentic in his assessments of Griffin’s transition to a pocket passer. He notes publicly his quarterback’s successes in mastering new fundamentals while simultaneously grasping a different offense. And he freely acknowledges the things Griffin does that frustrate him, like an occasional insistence on trying to make every play in training camp a touchdown or challenging tacklers rather than avoiding contact.

Nothing is hidden. Everything is clear.

“I think (RG3) feels a fresh start with a new staff,” backup quarterback Kirk Cousins had said a few days before. “He likes this staff.”

On the couch, Griffin nods.

“To have them is a blessing,” he says.

Early in the spring, Griffin flew to Phoenix to work with Terry Shea, a former college head coach and NFL quarterback coach who spent several weeks preparing him for the 2012 draft. He needed to work on his passing, and he brought with him a handful of teammates, including receivers Andre Roberts, Pierre Garcon and Santana Moss, along with tight end Jordan Reed and running backs Chris Thompson and Evan Royster.

Jeff Roberson/Associated Press

Every day for a week Shea took Griffin through a series of drills. They started at 8 a.m. on a private turf field—just coach and passer—focusing for an hour on RG3’s lower body. In the months after his knee injury, Griffin stopped setting his feet correctly, forcing his throws to sail too high.

Shea showed Griffin where to plant his feet, how to move them as he waited in the pocket and what way to move his hips. Eventually they worked on Griffin’s shoulders, locking in the right angle for throwing.

“We didn’t even need a football,” Shea said.

Later in the day, when the Redskins players joined Griffin, Shea put the quarterback in a variety of different positions, having him throw passes while on one knee and then both knees. Sometimes RG3 had to stand perfectly still while flinging throws to his teammates.

When simulating routes Washington might use in the season, Shea demanded that Griffin move his feet on every third pass.

“I couldn’t believe how hard he threw while on his knees,” Thompson says.

But Shea pushed RG3 to do more than throw hard. If anything, the quarterback had been too reliant on his fastball. A big part of being a great passer in the NFL is an ability to change speeds—lobbing some balls while firing others—Shea told him.

Even in the ruins of last year, Griffin’s throws were rockets. But not every situation calls for a bullet. Shea forced him to lighten some of his passes.

At first RG3 struggled, yet as the days went by he improved. Shea has always marveled at Griffin's ability to grasp concepts quickly, often understanding them completely the first time they were introduced. This was no different.

Shea could see Griffin committing the new passing motions to his muscle memory until they became almost natural. After a second session in July, held at a high school near the Redskins' facility, Shea was confident RG3 could make any of the new throws with accuracy.

Or as tight end Logan Paulsen, who did the July workouts with Griffin, said one day this training camp: “He’s matured in how he throws the ball. Not every (pass) is so freaking hard.”

As much as the week in Phoenix was designed to rebuild Griffin the passer, those who were there sensed it was about something more for him. It was almost like he needed them—not as pass-catchers, but as teammates. In the chaos that followed his knee injury, some of those connections were not as tight.

His rehabilitation in the winter of 2013 kept him away from the team facility at a time when he might normally be there. The losing and his struggles and the public squabble with Shanahan left everybody uncomfortable. Phoenix brought a chance to hang out as friends.

“I think he just wanted some guys around him,” Roberts says.

Griffin planned Phoenix carefully. He wanted he and his teammates to do something as a group after each day’s workout, but he fretted about coming off too heavy-handed by dictating the schedule. He asked a woman at his agency, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), for help in preparing a list of potential activities, then let the players pick what they wanted to do.

They chose things like bowling, an exhibition baseball game and a trip to Dave & Buster's. The most memorable might have been the afternoon they spent playing paintball, if for no other reason than Griffin showed up in the blazing Arizona heat clad in Army fatigues and then stalked his teammates through the bushes like a special ops soldier.

“To me (Phoenix) was an important moment,” Griffin says, sitting on the couch. Across the entryway players burst through the swinging doors to the weight room, letting blasts of music leak through the opening. His eyes follow them.

“I think more so it was just stuff I like to do,” he continues. “I like to do that with the guys. I like to go out and have fun with them when we get a chance to go out there to a different city and be there for a week to focus on football, then in the afternoon we get to focus on different events, that’s stuff I like to do. And for all of them to show up, it lets me know they respect me as a quarterback, as a leader, but that they also like to be around the guy who is throwing them the ball.”

He talks in long paragraphs, with sentences that bounce from fragments to rambling. They dance in a Texas twang. To spend a day with Griffin is to understand he is a man who thinks…a lot. Those who have been around him rave about his mind. He laughs. He plays jokes. He works hard at trying to be one of the guys.

But he is also a man who keeps an account of his slights. He still remembers the elementary school administrator who told him in first grade that he would never amount to anything. And he remembers, too, how years later she asked him to speak at her retirement.

He has never forgotten that 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh once recruited he and Andrew Luck to Stanford with the idea of playing both, and he makes sure to leave the implication that he would have been the one who would have ultimately won the job.

Recently Griffin posted the following on his Twitter account:

This came on a day RG3 had been besieged with questions about his failure to slide on several occasions during the Redskins' second preseason game. These were legitimate queries given Griffin’s inability to avoid contact in his brief NFL career.

And his digital response ignited another outcry from a public already weary from the deluge of cryptic innuendo that filled his and Shanahan’s comments the previous year.

“People say: ‘Why is this guy always tweeting?’” one NFL personnel executive said the following morning. “He’s giving all these answers. Who asked the questions?”

Because he is an instant celebrity, having gone from anonymous to the Heisman Trophy to the top of the NFL draft to Offensive Rookie of the Year to the pandemonium of last season in 33 months, he seems uncomfortable with the public judgment that haunts the famous.

Some embrace it. Some learn to tolerate it. Some shut themselves away from the glare. Griffin isn’t really in any of these places; he's eager to explain himself but wary of the churn that comes with the very mention of his name.

“I just think I’m the easy guy, the easy target,” he says. “I’m the one that gets the clicks when you’re on ESPN and you’re watching it. ‘Hey, let's talk bad about RG3.’ That’s just the way it is now.”

Unlike Luck, to whom he forever will be linked as the first two picks in 2012, Griffin likes showing his personality. He enjoys doing interviews. He likes being on Twitter. And while he will not directly blame Shanahan for controlling his access to the media his first two seasons, he suggests as much by saying: “That’s not how things were done the first two years.”

This summer he asked to be more visible, working out an arrangement with the team's Senior Vice President Tony Wyllie to casually meet the media every day at his locker. A part of Griffin’s rebuilding is controlling the message of his career. “If I could sit here and have a conversation and not have anything twisted or turned or pinned against me or pinned against anyone else, I think that’s a good thing,” he says.

There's so much he wants you to understand. He wants you to know he didn’t start his first high school football game but how he worked to be sure he started the second. He wants you to realize how certain he was that he would be in this position back when he was a freshman at Baylor and far better known for track than football. He wants you to learn what his coaches have already discovered: That he grasps exactly what every other NFL team wants to do with its defense.

“Yes, I’m obsessed with football,” he says. “People don’t look at it that way. They think ‘Oh man, let's look at the commercials, let's look at the endorsement deals.’ All that stuff is a means to an end. God blessed me with that so I could take care of my family. That’s how I look at that.”

On the couch, outside the locker room, Griffin pauses.

“There’s such a negative connotation when people say ‘building your brand,’ but it’s not about building your brand. It’s just about having people relate to who you are,” he says. “I’m not going to say: ‘I like Cheetos’ if I don’t like Cheetos. I’m not going to say things because I want the money.

“You know why I signed with Subway? Because I ate Subway every day before I went to practice with my teammates. That’s why I signed with Subway. People say: ‘Oh, it’s because of the money,’ but like I said that’s a means to the end. I created that relationship because it was a real relationship.”

Rebuilding is slow. Finding himself as a pocket passer has been as challenging as finding his public voice. A languid preseason has brought doubts. Joe Theismann, who won a Super Bowl as Redskins quarterback, said on television that if Gruden were running an open competition for the job Cousins would be winning it. A few days later, ESPN analyst, Ron Jaworski, himself a Super Bowl quarterback, said RG3's "mechanics have regressed."

“Some of these route combinations are new to him,” Jay Gruden says. “He’s got to trust the fact that he’s got to believe what he sees, but he’s got to see it first. In order to see it, he’s got to have some protection, he’s got to keep his eyes on the right spot, and go through his progressions and make his decisions and get the ball out of his hands.

“It will come. He’s got the ability to do it, he’s got the smarts to do it, he’s got the wants to do it, he’s just got to do it.”

One team’s executive said RG3 looked cautious, as if still concerned for his knee. A professional scout suggested Griffin is going through the normal adjustment a quarterback faces with a new coach and new offense. He likened him to San Diego’s Philip Rivers, who struggled early last season to master a similarly quarterback-friendly offense brought by new coach Mike McCoy. By season’s end, Rivers led the NFL, having completed 69.5 percent of his passes.

Of course, Rivers wasn’t also learning to be a pocket passer while getting over the first great heartbreak of his career.

Griffin shifts on the couch.

“At the end of the day it’s just football,” he says. “I like to think that with everything that I’ve had to go through that me, personally, I have become a better man, a better husband, and I think that also translates onto the football field.”

He stands. Soon he is gone, away from the memory of a season lost and into the locker room, where he can begin again.

 

[TartanLion]

Nice article, thanks for posting. I'm on the RG3 train this year, let's do this

 

[fatness]

Rare to see someone bump a post when they're wrong.

You have to forgive him. He's mad his team (Dallas) didn't draft Johnny Football and hasn't gotten over it yet.

 

[bushdocda]

Hadn't heard a positive thing about Bob in weeks.

 

[VaTerp]

I have found myself tripled down with RG3 this year owning him in 2 leagues. I have my concerns as a Skins fan and I didn't intend to double up on him in FF leagues but that's how it worked out.

I believe in the kid. It's a process and he's only 24. There will be some bumps on the road but I think he takes a step forward and FF wise will put up very competitive numbers this year.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

Rare to see someone bump a post when they're wrong.

You have to forgive him. He's mad his team (Dallas) didn't draft Johnny Football and hasn't gotten over it yet.

I'm sorry, what? Irony? Wrong about what?

 

[cvnpoka]

hes falling like a rock in drafts. often available in the 13th round. its nuts.

 

[anguskahn]

hes falling like a rock in drafts. often available in the 13th round. its nuts.

Yep. I got him as the 17th qb drafted.

 

[tombonneau]

Just to give insight to RG3 owners, I waited on QB and got him in a 14-teamer and failed to draft a good backup (EJ, already cut) and am now desperately trying to move him in package for QB upgrade. I'm panicky and probably am going to accept a deal for bad value for a guy I love (Luck) but I fear that a few games into the season if he isn't looking good he'll be untradeable.

So if you are a believer in RG3 you can probably get him pretty cheap in a pre-season trade.

 

[RGIII HTTR]

Toot Toot.....I think I can I think I can...toot toot....

 

[VikingFrog]

Didn't get to watch any of the game. Obviously a very poor fantasy outing, but I was surprised by how many completions he had after seeing such a low score. Decent completion percentage as well.

Was expecting some second half make up fantasy points like last year, but it never happened.

For the people that watched, how'd he look?

They had him throwing a lot. Were they just short routes?

 

[tombonneau]

Didn't get to watch any of the game. Obviously a very poor fantasy outing, but I was surprised by how many completions he had after seeing such a low score. Decent completion percentage as well.

Was expecting some second half make up fantasy points like last year, but it never happened.

For the people that watched, how'd he look?

They had him throwing a lot. Were they just short routes?

It was really tough to watch. I'm not sure more than 2-3 passes went beyond 10 yards. And seems they intentionally are forcing him into pocket passer role which mitigates injury risk but makes him less effective overall.

Granted Houston D was playing very well, so I want to see him stink it up vs average D before hitting eject button.

 

[VaTerp]

It was a weird game. Watt really manhandled the Skins O-line. Offense and Griffin started off very slowly but overall he played decently.

Just missed on a big play, potentially a TD to Roberts, that was ruled incomplete but I thought was a catch. Skins also fumbled twice inside of Houston 10 yard line. One where Griffin tripped and fumbled the exchange with Morris. Another on a nice 48 yard play to the 3rd string TE who was stripped.

He still has a lot of work to do in terms of moving in the pocket, the coached need to do a better job of using his legs, and the offensive line is not good, particularly the right side. But he could have easily had a decent FF day if just a couple plays went differently. Thats football.

 

[fatness]

Skins also fumbled twice inside of Houston 10 yard line. One where Griffin tripped and fumbled the exchange with Morris. Another on a nice 48 yard play to the 3rd string TE who was stripped.

On the exchange with Morris, Griffin was tripped by the foot of the center (Lichtensteiger) getting pushed backwards towards him, a popular Redskin play last year as well. Last year O-linemen repeatedly ran backward into both Griffin and Morris.