What Really Went Wrong With Robert Griffin III?

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http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-t...hat-really-went-wrong-with-robert-griffin-iii

The offseason was filled with promises of Griffin's triumphant return, and while he managed to start the season opener, he was a shade of his former self. It wasn't just his running ability. Everything was off.

Coordinator Kyle Shanahan's offense hasn't done Griffin many favors. Last season, the Washington offense evolved into a dangerous hybrid of the West Coast, the Denver Broncos' stretch running game, the Nevada pistol read-option, and the Baylor spread. With Alfred Morris carrying the load on the ground and Griffin slinging strikes off play-action, Washington was tied for first in the NFL in yards per play. But Griffin's legs were the glue that held these pieces together. Defenses, while also trying to defend more traditional looks, faced the constant threat of Griffin keeping the ball on a read-option, running a bootleg pass, or simply scrambling for a key first down — or touchdown.

But while playing with a diminished Griffin this season, the Redskins seem to have junked most of the Baylor influence and instead alternated erratically between Shanahan's stretch run game, the pistol, and the "bunch" passing plays that NFL defenses have faced for years. The Redskins have been running three disparate offenses that don't add up to one coherent whole.

Washington's disjointed schemes don't entirely absolve Griffin, however. Game plan issues aside, Griffin still missed open receivers, throws, and blitzes this season. I don't remotely buy the notion that Griffin "can't read defenses" or is merely a "one-read quarterback" (whatever that's supposed to mean), as I've seen him locate secondary receivers and I know he understands defensive coverages. Still, one doesn't need to be Peyton Manning to know this isn't how it's supposed to work:

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That kind of stare-down throw into coverage wasn't Griffin's biggest issue this season. Griffin's footwork is what really got him off-kilter, though in fairness, this issue likely stemmed from his injuries and lost offseason. While much is rightfully made of a quarterback's vision, a quarterback's footwork is what tells him where his eyes should be in a well-designed passing attack. A quarterback's every step should be tied to his receivers' routes. "His feet are telling him when to move to no. 2 and no. 3” in his passing progression, explained current 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh some years back. Mastering that has been a recurring problem for Griffin since his surgery.

Griffin's footwork not only hurt his reads, it hurt his accuracy. "Body position is absolutely critical," Redskins quarterback coach Matt LaFleur recently told ESPN's John Keim. "If you don’t have good body position, your balance is off and your accuracy will be off. It’s absolutely critical you get your body in correct position to make the correct throw." LaFleur added that, for Griffin, this season has "been a constant work in progress."

It wasn't all bad, however. As you can see in this GIF, there were times this season when Griffin dropped back, manipulated the safeties with his eyes, and hit a secondary receiver.

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It's not a question of whether Griffin can do it. It's about consistency. Griffin's inconsistent footwork can't be dismissed, but it is fixable. As LaFleur observed to Keim, it's hard to focus on the fundamentals "when you have so much going on and [are] so focused on the game plan."
 

dunkman6

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he played hurt and should have sat the season.

also the redskins defense is pure ass.
 

SoulController

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awful footwork, throws off his backfoot way too much

sometimes his reads are just lazy, look at the last play of the 2nd Eagles game this year. 3rd down and he just chucks in into the middle of the end zone

Snyder needs to bring in a bonifide OC whose good at development, he likes to throw money around get someone good
 

duckbutta

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He's built very slight so he can't take the type of punishment people want him to take as a running quarterback

Moss is a step slow...Garcon is okay...who is their tight end and slot receiver again?

He stares down to many receivers for to long...dude has taken a ton of sacks just standing in the pocket waiting for one guy to get open, meanwhile Aldon Smith is coming over his left shoulder like :shaq::demonic:

Defense is trash so literally by the 2nd quarter he has to throw it pretty much every down

Special teams is trash so they always start with a long field

No matter how you feel about corn I don't think anyone can deny that the read option helped him tremendously last year in simplifying his reads and slowing down outside linebackers and defensive ends who just speed rush him now

Dude has the athleticism...dude has the arm...he was never a pure pocket passer to start with so i don't see why anyone thought he would make a flawless transition to it...

His inability to realize that schemed helped him and take it as "i made all that happen last year" didn't help

I think c00ney Mc.Corn corn is as c00nish as it gets...but as far as him being a quarterback...all he needs is some time...even with these average receivers and trash pass blocking line...Corny Mc c00n c00n will be much better next year regardless of what happens in c00nshington
 
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