Before
I get started, obviously, I’m a Washington Redskins fan. There shouldn’t be any
doubt about that. I’m not writing making guarantees—I can easily turn any of
the points I will write about into negatives for why RGIII can’t take the
Redskins to the playoffs—this is almost all strictly hypothetical. But
everything in sport is hypothetical and uncertain. Week 15 last season, the New
York Giants shouldn’t have even been in the playoffs. But they snuck their way
in and bowled through everyone on their way to the franchise’s 4th
Super Bowl win.
Robert
Griffin III brings potential at its maximum levels to the table, and these are
the things he can use to help propel the Redskins into their first playoff
berth of the Mike Shanahan era, and the first since Hall of Fame coach Joe
Gibbs final season with the team in 2007-08.
You’re
looking at quite possibly the most athletic quarterback in the league, if not
in the league’s history. That also means you could be looking at one of the
most gifted players in league history as well. RG3 brings a very unique set of
ability in with him, from his cannon of a right arm, to his [what he claims
are] Olympic-speed-capable legs. And with those two things alone, Griffin can
force defenses to do things they don’t want to do… he can revolutionize the
sport of American football.
Griffin’s
speed and footwork are exactly what Mike Shanahan is looking for in a
quarterback. It’s what every coach wants in a quarterback—someone who can avoid
pressure, and if he has to, outrun it—and Griffin can do exactly that.
Griffin’s speed allows Shanahan to utilize his entire playbook again, bring
back all the wrinkles he had before going with the immobility of guys like a
demotivated Donovan McNabb or the incapable Rex Grossman. The speed of craftier
QB’s like Montana, Young, Elway, Plummer, Cutler, Schaub… that’s the staple of
this offense as it allows the QB to utilize stretch plays, bootlegs, play
action, and the threat of taking off. Griffin is, without a doubt, the fastest
of that group. While that’s no guarantee he’ll be any better than any of those
guys, in this system and with this ability he has a chance to stake his claim.
Now
you throw in the big arm. Defensive backs will stay honest because of Griffin’s
speed. Nobody wants to let him take off, so corners and safeties will have
their heads on a swivel watching the kid to make sure he doesn’t take off and
use his sprinter’s speed to maim them. When a corner bites up against Griffin
on a [naked] bootleg, he’s got the arm strength to make virtually any throw and
leave very few DB’s with the chance to close the gap and break up the pass.
As
I mentioned, the playbook is open again. Shanahan can go back 20 years and find
plays he loved to utilize then, or he can grab a couple of those “slower” plays
he used the past two seasons (especially last year) for his change of pace.
Having that much at their disposal will allow Shanahan and RG3 to really keep
defenses on their heels.
Another
thing that is aided by the playbook being open, is that the stretch is now a
part of the offense again, meaning the zone blocking scheme this offensive line
was built for returns in full effect, allowing the linemen to play their game
and not just sit and get abused while trying to protect an immobile
quarterback. That alone should boost production in both the run and ground
game, and it’s a direct relation to Griffin’s mobility.
If
this team makes the playoffs, it will be, in large part, due to the physical
ability Griffin provides this team. The entire team will be responsible—and I’m
not glorifying Griffin as being more important than anyone outside of that fact
that he plays at the most important position on the team—but his ability to move
and throw accurately at every depth pass will be a major reason for this team’s
[possible] success.
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