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What Can The Redskins Do Specifically To "Protect" RG3?


kleese

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The news today is relatively "good" in my eyes. Obviously had he never gotten hurt that would have been the best news, but I would be very surprised if RG isn't participating in camp and then starting week one.

So, assuming he is set for 2013, I keep hearing the team needs to "protect" him. But what I think people fail to realize is that there simply isn't much anyone can do. At some point RG has to play football again and every time he steps on the field he will be in extreme danger. Just a fact. It is a dangerous game... Even more so for someone that has undergone two major surgeries already.

The "haters" (just realists) were right. RG is a smaller, "stringier," guy than Luck. RG is built like an Olympic hurdler... Luck is built "like luggage" (as Colin Cowherd likes to say). Prior to the draft I said I'd absolutely take Luck over RG for this reason... The Colts absolutely made the right choice.

And I think the Redskins made the right choice as well. Luck was off the board, so even though it cost us picks, we made the move we had to make even knowing the risks. He was/is worth the risk. He has already delivered one great year and I suspect him will do so on several more occasions. I also think that he is likely to miss more time due to injury (hopefully not major injuries) and that ultimately he will not play as frequently or as long as Luck.

But I still think he can win championships in DC... His window just might be smaller.

So, RG is ready to go next year.... What can the team do to protect him?

1. I have no doubt he will be participating in camp at some level. No matter what, no matter how fast he is progressing, I would not play him in a preseason game until the last preseason game on the schedule. And then, I'd only put him out there for a few series to let him experience game speed and gain some confidence.

2. Limit designed runs. They were already doing this as the year progressed. I don't think you can scrap designed runs completely... It makes him dangerous and helps other areas of the offense. And especially around the goal line, a well timed sneak, etc is often a good call. But I would certainly scale back the read option plays and only allow him to run it enough to where defenses have to plan for it.

3. By far the most important... Don't play him after he shows signs of injury. I doubt this will be an issue considering the events of this year. Coaches can't listen to RG anymore...if he doesn't look right, keep him out. There is a danger here of course of over-correcting. Do you take him out for the day every time he is slow to get up or takes a hard shot? That is going to happen weekly. They will need to be tuned in to what is a real potential issues and what's just a typical football bump or bruise.

4. Take him out of non-critical situations. Err on the side of caution in blowouts, etc. again that rarely happens, but if a game is out of hand, they can remove him.

That is about all you can do.

RG will have to plant, cut, burst, get hit, jump, sprint, etc whenever he returns. And every time he does those things, he will be at risk.

There isn't a ton the Redskins can do. It will be more up to RG himself. Not only will he need to learn to slide and run out of bounds, but he will need to understand when a play isn't worth saving. But there will be times when RG HAS to run and HAS to get hit. If RG never scrambles and never uses his legs as a weapon, then he is no longer special. He doesn't need 76 yard TD runs, but a Houdini act on 3rd and 13 is what makes him special and so dangerous. He can't abandon that because that is who he is.

Bottom line, there are minor things RG and the coaches can do, but once he puts those pads on, he is instantly at risk. Just gotta cross our fingers that he has learned a few lessons and that luck is on his side.

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I think the two biggest things might be to limit the designed runs and be more conscious of not playing him when he shows signs of injury. I don't think we need to teach him to slide. He was already taking better care of himself after the concussion. I think people tend to forget that when he got hurt in Baltimore he was laying it on the line because he thought it would be the season. I don't fault him for that. If anything, I fault the team for putting ourselves in that position so early in the season.

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Throw the ball away (and this goes against how he is wired). The play against Atlanta, the second and goal on the second drive, the play before the bad snap where he took a sack, THROW THE BALL AWAY and live to fight another play. This will get ingrained in him this offseason.

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To really "protect" RGIII you'd have to change the offense not only from what RGIII is used to, but what Shanny has coached his entire career. And you'll have to coach his rare playmaking genius out of him - you trade 3 picks for RGIII because he believes he can make something out of nothing. The play against the Falcons and the play against the Ravens were examples of him attempting to make something out of nothing. But guess what? So was the play against the Giants on 4th and forever that led to the go-ahead score. That's what kept us in the Bengals game. That was the plays against Tampa Bay that gave us the chance to win that game too. So you have to take the good with the bad. As he matures, he will know better when to "hold" and when to "fold", so to speak.

If you look at what the QBs that don't get hurt have in common, they run quick strike offenses, and feature talented skill position players that get open easily. Getting the ball out quickly is prioritized. Brees can drop back 3 steps, and either sling it to Colston downfield on a slant or check down to Sproles, etc. Now, compare with offenses like what Aaron Rodgers runs, like Ben Rothlisberger ran with Arians, and what Shanny has always run - lots of deep drops, lots of attacking downfield. Shanahan QBs have always gotten hit and always missed games. Young missed games. Elway missed games. And so on. We need to prioritize fixing the last few remaining holes on our OL and making it better at pass blocking though. On both injuries by RGIII, Polumbus got beaten badly by his man which flushed RGIII from the pocket and forced him to run.

I have no problem with the zone read runs. Oftentimes on those runs he is so wide open that he has ample time to slide or get out of bounds.

RGIII didn't blow his ACL because he took too many hits - he blew his ACL because he needs to run out of bounds when there's clearly no more yards to be gained (he should have folded there), because we have a hole at RT and mediocre WRs that forces him to make something out of nothing more often, and because Shanny made an awful, awful decision in the heat of the moment.

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To me it's got nothing to do with the scheme or designed runs and everything to do with him needing to play smarter. All the nasty hits he took this year were stationary in the pocket or on desperate scrambles and, while the pocket ones are going to happen it's incumbent on him to protect himself on broken plays in the same manner he was learning to do on the designed runs. If he can learn to sacrifice the last 3 yards and just slide he'll be fine. Time will tell if he is capable of making the adjustment.

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To really "protect" RGIII you'd have to change the offense not only from what RGIII is used to, but what Shanny has coached his entire career. And you'll have to coach his rare playmaking genius out of him - you trade 3 picks for RGIII because he believes he can make something out of nothing. The play against the Falcons and the play against the Ravens were examples of him attempting to make something out of nothing. But guess what? So was the play against the Giants on 4th and forever that led to the go-ahead score. That's what kept us in the Bengals game. That was the plays against Tampa Bay that gave us the chance to win that game too. So you have to take the good with the bad. As he matures, he will know better when to "hold" and when to "fold", so to speak.

If you look at what the QBs that don't get hurt have in common, they run quick strike offenses, and feature talented skill position players that get open easily. Getting the ball out quickly is prioritized. Brees can drop back 3 steps, and either sling it to Colston downfield on a slant or check down to Sproles, etc. Now, compare with offenses like what Aaron Rodgers runs, like Ben Rothlisberger ran with Arians, and what Shanny has always run - lots of deep drops, lots of attacking downfield. Shanahan QBs have always gotten hit and always missed games. Young missed games. Elway missed games. And so on. We need to prioritize fixing the last few remaining holes on our OL and making it better at pass blocking though. On both injuries by RGIII, Polumbus got beaten badly by his man which flushed RGIII from the pocket and forced him to run.

I have no problem with the zone read runs. Oftentimes on those runs he is so wide open that he has ample time to slide or get out of bounds.

RGIII didn't blow his ACL because he took too many hits - he blew his ACL because he needs to run out of bounds when there's clearly no more yards to be gained (he should have folded there), because we have a hole at RT and mediocre WRs that forces him to make something out of nothing more often, and because Shanny made an awful, awful decision in the heat of the moment.

Couldn't have said it better. Ultimately, no matter what the team does, though, it will be RG3's own tendencies that will be the biggest risk to his body.

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To me it's got nothing to do with the scheme or designed runs and everything to do with him needing to play smarter. All the nasty hits he took this year were stationary in the pocket or on desperate scrambles and, while the pocket ones are going to happen it's incumbent on him to protect himself on broken plays in the same manner he was learning to do on the designed runs. If he can learn to sacrifice the last 3 yards and just slide he'll be fine. Time will tell if he is capable of making the adjustment.

bingo. limiting the designed runs is taking away his best weapon. why draft him if you're not going to let him run?

this is all on the man himself. i thought after the concussion, he would play smarter. then after the lcl injury, i thought the same thing. dude just doesnt know when to quit. sometimes you dont need an 18 yard run, when a 15 yarder will do. he needs to slide way earlier, and PROTECT HIMSELF. this isnt about the redskins trying to protect him, its about him not being so careless with his body.

on that final play, with a bad knee, he should have just fallen on the ball. take the loss, live to play another down.

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When I saw him running options in Sept against Cincy, I just thought, WTF is this. Absolutely outrageous. I said it in Sept, if we have division on line in Dec against Dal/NYG, than I could see it. But staff needs to wake up.

If they never scheduled one read option, RG3 still gonna run the ball 6-7 times a game. It's who he is. Why heap on extra risk .

How to protect him. Simple. Call 0 designed runs unless it's palyoffs or late Dec.

If we're not good enough with him as pocket designed passer, than keep building.

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Designed runs aren’t the issue here. Most of them I’ve seen in the second half of the season have been RG3 hitting a huge hole, running for 10-20 yards in the open field, and sliding to safety.

The ONE exception was the Ravens game when the game was on the line and he was trying to make a play with his feet. Even then though, he WAS diving to the ground to get out of harms way. It was just a fluky hit that got him. If his knee was angled slightly in either direction when Ngata hit it he would be 100% healthy right now and we’d be getting ready to play Atlanta.

So as long as Griffin continues to show improvement in his decision making (which he has, by a ton this year), I have no problems continuing to have to do designed runs. He’s taken worse hits in the pocket this year, to be honest.

This entire concept that the coaching has NOT taken good care of Griffin is overblown and reactionary in my opinion (with the obvious exception of the management of his injury, again hindsight is 20/20). I saw tremendous growth in Griffin this year in terms of how he takes care of himself on the field. It was one of the more miraculous growth areas he demonstrated. But one weird, fluky hit in the Ravens completely changed the conversation.

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hopefully we continue to build better depth along the OL ... we need a blue chip RT! Also, I think RG3 needs to put on some more muscle mass all around. he doesn't need to run a 4.2-- 40 ... he needs to be able to take a hit and not have his leg bend back the other way because of it. HTTR!

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The news today is relatively "good" in my eyes. Obviously had he never gotten hurt that would have been the best news, but I would be very surprised if RG isn't participating in camp and then starting week one.

RG will have to plant, cut, burst, get hit, jump, sprint, etc whenever he returns. And every time he does those things, he will be at risk.

There isn't a ton the Redskins can do. It will be more up to RG himself. Not only will he need to learn to slide and run out of bounds, but he will need to understand when a play isn't worth saving. But there will be times when RG HAS to run and HAS to get hit. If RG never scrambles and never uses his legs as a weapon, then he is no longer special. He doesn't need 76 yard TD runs, but a Houdini act on 3rd and 13 is what makes him special and so dangerous. He can't abandon that because that is who he is.

Bottom line, there are minor things RG and the coaches can do, but once he puts those pads on, he is instantly at risk. Just gotta cross our fingers that he has learned a few lessons and that luck is on his side.

Good post and thread Kleese. I agree with all that you said. Hopefully he'll learn to protect himself in different situations, but this is football and players are going to get hurt.

To really "protect" RGIII you'd have to change the offense not only from what RGIII is used to, but what Shanny has coached his entire career. And you'll have to coach his rare playmaking genius out of him - you trade 3 picks for RGIII because he believes he can make something out of nothing. The play against the Falcons and the play against the Ravens were examples of him attempting to make something out of nothing. But guess what? So was the play against the Giants on 4th and forever that led to the go-ahead score. That's what kept us in the Bengals game. That was the plays against Tampa Bay that gave us the chance to win that game too. So you have to take the good with the bad. As he matures, he will know better when to "hold" and when to "fold", so to speak.

RGIII didn't blow his ACL because he took too many hits - he blew his ACL because he needs to run out of bounds when there's clearly no more yards to be gained (he should have folded there), because we have a hole at RT and mediocre WRs that forces him to make something out of nothing more often, and because Shanny made an awful, awful decision in the heat of the moment.

I think you had a very good follow up to Kleese's OP. Better decisions on his part will prolong his career.

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1. Emphasize to RG3 that he needs to slide or get out of bounds. He seemed to be learning this over the course of the season.

2. If he shows any signs of limping, have him evaluated by the training staff thoroughly before putting him back in the game.

3. Fix the turf at FedEx Field.

I wouldn't change anything about the gameplan just for the sake of avoiding injury. Injuries can happen on even simple plays, and you can't control everything. Just call the best plays that we have to win the game. If that includes some designed runs, then we just need to practice them and execute them well.

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Honestly, RG3 frustrates me a little with this. If you look at the hit he took against ATL and the hit against the Ravens he gained nothing by not sliding or getting out of bounds. I feel it is on RG3. He needs to learn to slide or get out of bounds. He reported he learned his lesson yet against Seattle he still went directly into a tackle rather than just stepping out of bounds when he had already picked up the first down. I love RG3 he is the man but I feel a lot of this is on him and he is taking completely unnecessary hits. He needs to protect himself and he claims he has learned that but I fear he has not learned that at all. Russell Wilson runs a good ammount but never takes a big hit because he gets down or gets out of bounds. He needs to take a page out of Russells book and protect himself.

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It's football. Players get injured. Tom Brady missed an entire season due to an injury he sustained standing in the pocket. Yes, be smart, but don't game plan to avoid injury. Game plan to win.

In the English Rugby League Grand Final (superbowl equivalent) my team's captain got knocked out in the first half, played on, and won man of the match. A player from the other team injured his testicle during the game. He played on. He later lost it in hospital.

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Bottom line, there are minor things RG and the coaches can do, but once he puts those pads on, he is instantly at risk. Just gotta cross our fingers that he has learned a few lessons and that luck is on his side.
I don't see the read-option as the cause of Griffin's injuries.

Atlanta game: scramble

Baltimore game: scramble

Seahawks game: scramble

The bottom line for me is that Griffin needs to improve his awareness and being smarter about protecting himself when he runs.

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