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[Exe Gesis]

Washington’s offense made history on Sunday, but not in a good way
Posted by Michael David Smith on September 13, 2014, 2:09 PM EDT

AP
If all you knew about Washington’s Week One performance was what you saw with a quick glance at the box score, you might think they played pretty well.

Quarterback Robert Griffin III completed 29 of 37 of his passes, or 78.4 percent. And Washington gained 131 yards on the ground, on 23 carries. That looks like Washington was efficient through the air and effective on the ground.

The reality is different: Washington lost 17-6. How odd is that? According to FootballPerspective.com, Washington was the first team in NFL history to score fewer than 10 points while completing at least 75 percent of its passes and rushing for at least 125 yards. From 1940 until Sunday, there had been 615 teams in NFL history to rush for 125 yards with a 75 percent completion rate, and all 615 of them had scored at least 10 points in the game in which they reached those benchmarks.

The problem is that while Griffin was completing his passes, he wasn’t getting much yardage out of them. DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon, who are supposed to be able to stretch the field, averaged 7.8 and 7.7 yards per catch, respectively. Griffin’s first game of the season included four different completions of zero or negative yardage, plus a six-yard gain on a fourth-and-10, a nine-yard gain on third-and-16, a three-yard gain on second-and-19 and a three-yard gain on second-and 8, not to mention completions of one, two, three and four yards on four different first-and-10s.

Griffin currently ranks second in the NFL in completion percentage, but he ranks 16th in yards per pass. Jay Gruden isn’t going to see many big plays out of his passing game until he starts calling for Griffin to throw it downfield.

 

[Broken]

I'm only half way through the Eagles game, but it was good to see the long ball in play.

Cousins looked more solid under center especially compared to RG3 who looked very jittery in the pocket in the first game.
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000390995/Week-1-Redskins-vs-Texans-highlights

It was a shame to see RG3 get hurt like that, you don't want to see any long term injuries, but the non contact nature of that injury has me questioning if he is the long term answer, or a guy who is always going to be battling health issues.
Is Cousins the answer? I'm not sure, but if he gets us to the cusp, or in to, playoff contention it will be a very interesting offseason.

QB play aside, we still need to stop teams, we're not winning many games by giving up 30+ points. The defense needs to step up before we go anywhere.

 

[GeeCats07]

"Washington Redskins, Go * Yourself"

 

[Chadwiko]

Gonna be an interesting MNF game. I can't remember the last time the Redskins won against a good opponent in prime time

 

[Broken]

Frustrating viewing today (when isn't it lately? ) neither team played well and we looked good when we used our speed against the Cards D. That drive prior to the halftime field goal was nice and would have liked to have seen more of that and Reed also made a difference.

Ultimately Palmer and Fitzgerald were too good against Breeland, and we couldn't slow them down in the second half, mostly through us shooting ourselves in the foot again with missed tackles, dumb penalites and turnovers.

 

[Chadwiko]

We are not a good football team with Kirk Cousins under centre.

 

[Broken]

I was hoping he wouldn't suffer from what seems to plague a lot of QBs who look good in relief where, once he gets regular reps and more game footage of him is around, he gets found out. The Philly game looked promising as he threw some real nice balls, but he made some real poor throws today.

I'm not sure we'd fare much better with RG3 under center at the moment as a lot of it is poor O-line play, as Morris is also struggling to get past the line on a lot of carries.

 

[Lockyer24]

s**t, we won

 

[Broken]

s**t, we won

Looks like we trying our best not to Very unimpressive.

 

[Broken]

Just think, we were looking at one or two draft picks for a Cousins trade prior to this season. Now...

 

[Chadwiko]

Just think, we were looking at one or two draft picks for a Cousins trade prior to this season. Now...

He's garbage.

 

[Chadwiko]

Yewwww. Nothing better than beating Dallas.

This weeks RedskinsCapitalConnection.com podcast is going to be fun!

 

[Broken]

I know the Cowboys-Redskins series throws up some surprises, but I was not expecting this today. I thought they had us covered everywhere, but we showed improvement in all areas today and I hope this is a sign of things to come.

 

[Paul Kersey]

Washington certainly prepared and executed well.

Great to see McCoy up and about.

 

[Chadwiko]

Thing that excites me (and I spoke about it in the podcast this week so listen!) is that this win takes the pressure off rushing RGIII back now. He can spend the next week or two getting in reps, getting back to well and truly 100%, and come in after the bye.

 

[Paul Kersey]

I hope McCoy gets some more games.

 

[Broken]

Thing that excites me (and I spoke about it in the podcast this week so listen!) is that this win takes the pressure off rushing RGIII back now. He can spend the next week or two getting in reps, getting back to well and truly 100%, and come in after the bye.

With Vikings and Bucs being 'winnable' games we could stick with McCoy, who was solid yesterday, meaning RG3 could still prepare and get stronger in time for a return start against the 49ers.

 

[Chadwiko]

With Vikings and Bucs being 'winnable' games we could stick with McCoy, who was solid yesterday, meaning RG3 could still prepare and get stronger in time for a return start against the 49ers.

He'll be back for the Buccs, which is the first game after the bye.

With my podcast I actually have "sources" now lol. This is what everyone is saying.

 

[Chadwiko]

I've lined up a cool interview for my Redskins podcast tomorrow. Stay tuned Redskins fans

 

[Chadwiko]

The Redskins Capital Connection breaks new ground this episode; for the first time in this shows young history we are joined by a Washington Redskin player, the very talented (and very under-rated) Fullback Darrel Young!

Have a listen either on iTunes, Stitcher, or at www.redskinscapitalconnection.com!

 

[Chris25]

A fullback? Was the punter busy?

 

[Broken]

Coming off a bye against facing a team with a 1-8 record and ... *sigh*

 

[Broken]

Gruden speaking about RG3 after yesterdays loss.

"Robert had some fundamental flaws,"
"His footwork was below average. He took three-step drops when he should have taken five. He took a one-step drop when he should have taken three, on a couple occasions, and that can't happen. He stepped up when he didn't have to step up and stepped into pressure. He read the wrong side of the field a couple times. So from his basic performance just critiquing Robert it was not even close to being good enough to what we expect from the quarterback position"

I'm certain Griffin, at least in Grudens team, is not the QB to lead us to the promised land and while we attempt to build the offense around him it's going to be more pain ahead.

 

[Exe Gesis]

RG3: It's Over

Posted: 11/18/2014 5:22 pm EST

Few people can boast the kind of resume that Robert Griffin III has compiled. He's won the Heisman, rocks a fierce sock game, and even made having Subway for lunch seem like a reasonable option. Above and beyond that though, he put up one of the most dynamic rookie seasons ever seen in the NFL - and just as quickly, his time in Washington, and perhaps as a starter in the league, are likely over just a year and a half later.

Let's start in 2012, and let's begin with the numbers: 3,200 passing yards, 815 rushing yards, a 20-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio, and about 100 different ridiculous highlight plays. His NEP - or Net Expected Points, a Moneyball-ish stat that truly compares players apples to apples - had him an absurd +162.92, meaning that if you replaced RG3 with an average quarterback, they'd have scored 23 fewer touchdowns.

For a franchise that hasn't had a flagship QB since Mark Rypien - and even that is stretching the definition - things were looking quite good in Washington.

And then, in Week 14, Griffin sprained his LCL, a ligament in his knee. Despite some protestation from Dr. James Andrews - the pre-eminent sports doctor of his generation - Griffin came back just two weeks later, and then re-injured the same knee in the playoffs, tearing his ACL in the process.

What happened after that? In 2013, he scored a NEP of +28.48, which was about three touchdowns worse than Alex Smith. It was worse than Andy Dalton, Jay Cutler and Josh McCown. The biggest hit was to his rushing-specific NEP, which in 2012 accounted for 47 percent of his overall NEP, compared to only 26 percent in 2013.

And now, in 2014, he was benched for Kirk Cousins when he suffered another injury, and yesterday, a final indignity to it all, lost 27-7 to the NFL's most inefficient defense (Tampa Bay), throwing his team under the bus during the post-game interviews in the process. It's probably clear from the tone of the article so far where I'm going with this, but I may as well make it concise: it's over for Robert Griffin III.

I'm not just saying that because of what I see on the field though; I'm saying that because of what the numbers say. numberFire is a sports analytics platform that uses mathematical modeling to analyze and predict sports performance for everything from fantasy football projections to March Madness bracket help. Using the platform, I found five QBs who fit the profile of Griffin: first-time starting QBs with extremely high efficiency scores who suddenly and precipitously fell off over the span of just two years:

Steve Beuerlein, 1999. Elvis Grbac, 2000. Jay Fiedler, 2001. Tommy Maddox, 2002. Derek Anderson, 2007. David Garrard, 2007.

Do you see another passer on that list who you would say was a career starter in the NFL, or even someone who you would say delivered on the kind of promise that RG3 once showed in abundance?

Sadly, no. None of the comparable QBs ever reached even the top 20 in the league ever again; most were out of the league completely within four years. Heck, Elvis Grbac went from +61.08 to -55.12 NEP in just one year!

To take it even further, when RG3 was done with his rookie season, his statistical comparables included Michael Vick, Cam Newton, and Rich Gannon - all long-time starters in the league, each with multiple top-10 seasons. Now? His comparables are Tony Banks, a washed up Chris Chandler, Tim Hasselbeck, and Chad Henne.

It's fair, however, to note that no comparison is going to be apples to apples. Elvis Grbac didn't have anywhere near the kind of raw athleticism of RG3, and certainly a 34 year-old Steve Beuerlein isn't at the same career trajectory as a still young Griffin. Still, the numbers are quite clear: no quarterback who suffered that bad of a precipitous fall in performance ever recovered.

Does that make it impossible? No. It's just extremely unlikely.

While I can sit here and show you the mathematical likelihood of RG3's continued troubles, one thing I won't do is speculate specifically as to why. Blame - to the extent that it could be laid on any one thing - can be attached to a lot of different things, from the removal of Mike/Kyle Shanahan and their RG3-friendly offense to the lingering effects of the knee injury to the karmic difficulty inherent in playing for the worst owner in sports.

It's likely all of these things, but for the sake of this article, it's moot. Regardless of what the cause was, the effect is obvious and it's rather tragic. It's likely over for Robert Griffin III, and it's a shame because the promise he showed was so bright and so radiant. But as Eagle Eye Cherry, Dontrelle Willis, or Cuba Gooding Jr. might tell you, it's better to have one hit than no hits at all.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Steve Young: Coaches have told me RG3 doesn’t put in the time
Posted by Michael David Smith on November 18, 2014, 12:50 PM EST

AP
Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young says he knows the problem with Robert Griffin III: He doesn’t work hard enough.

Young said on the Michael Kay Show that he has spoken with coaches who have worked with Griffin, and those coaches told him that Griffin simply doesn’t spend the long hours studying film that an NFL quarterback needs.

“I’ve talked to his previous coaches, people I really trust and admire, that know quarterbacks. He doesn’t put the time in,” Young said.

Young didn’t mention any of those “previous coaches” by name, but it’s not a leap to infer that he’s referring to Mike Shanahan, who was Washington’s head coach for Griffin’s first two seasons. Shanahan was the 49ers’ offensive coordinator from 1992 to 1994, when Young was having his three best seasons as the 49ers’ starting quarterback. Shanahan and Young have been close for years.

According to Young, it’s the mental side of the game that makes a good quarterback in the NFL, and Young believes that Griffin needs to spend more time developing the mental side of the game during the offseason.

“Success is really about expertise,” Young said. “May, June, July work, and going to school.”

Much like Griffin, Young was once an athletic quarterback who needed time to learn how to be a pocket passer. Young thinks it’s harder for great runners like Griffin to develop as passers because they always assume they can fall back on running if they need to.

“Guys that can use their legs, it’s like they’re not desperate. Guys who can’t use their legs are more desperate so they’ll put more time in,” Young said.

And according to Young, Griffin isn’t putting the time in. That’s what’s holding him back.