ncr2h

Jordan Reed would have been a HOFer if he could have stayed healthy. Probably the most talented player we've had at an offensive skill position since I started watching the skins in the early 2000s. Probably the most talented player we've had on the team during that time other than Sean Taylor. He was simply uncoverable in 2015 - I've never seen defenders falling all over themselves trying to guard a TE. And that 2015 comeback against Tampa Bay is one of my favorite skins games - we put that last play all on him, and the defender was so scared of covering him that he basically just walked right into the endzone. He will be missed, and I wish him all the best.

As I mentioned in the other RG3 thread, he had a big decision to make this offseason and he royally messed it up. He had the choice to either go to a team where he would have a chance to start right away (Browns, Rams, 49ers type teams), or to go to a team where he could become the heir apparent to a currently good QB on the brink of retirement (Saints, Cardinals type teams). In my opinion, going to a team that needed a starter immediately was risky for two reasons: (1) there was a good chance that he would not even win the starting job in the preseason, which would essentially kill his reputation, and (2) even if he did win the starting job, it would just accelerate the moment when everyone would see that the emperor has no clothes. He would have been better off sitting on the bench for a year or two, where he could continue to benefit from the reputation built on his 2012 season without ever having to expose his poor play in games that mattered. I predicted that he would get beat out by McCown for the starting job in Cleveland, which was wrong. In my defense, he has turned out to be the worst of Cleveland's 3 QBs by a pretty wide margin - in his 2 games as a starter, he has posted an abysmal 2.72 ANY/A, compared to McCown's terrible 4.50 and Kessler's not-all-that-bad 6.0. If Griffin had started all 16 games this season, throwing 25 attempts and achieving just 2.72 ANY/A, he would be the first QB in NFL history to post such abysmal numbers (granted, that's a lot of "if"s, and lasting 16 games while posting such awful stats would be quite an accomplishment). Griffin will likely stick around the league for at least a few more years, following in the footsteps of Blaine Gabbert and Jimmy Clausen. If he wants to save his career, he should seek a team with a good front office where he can be kept on the bench for 2-3 seasons (working with a private QB coach every day after practice and every day of the offseason) and pray for a late career resurgence (which is an extreme long shot).

Honestly I don't think the interception was a bad throw. I have no idea what the tight end was thinking - you have to bend your route toward the middle of the field once you clear the LB, otherwise the QB has no hope of getting you the ball. Also I confess that I'm a little bitter that Barnidge made the Pro Bowl over Jordan Reed - cmon, that's gotta be a joke. The real cause for concern with RG3's performance, IMO, was the fumble. RG3 is a fumble machine. And you'd expect that from a guy who gets sacked a ton like he does. But the unforced errors like botched snaps and botched fumbles (the latter of which seemed to magically disappear last year) just make things that much worse.

I'm proud of RG3. Going 4/8 for 67 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT, and 1 fumble was arguably his best preseason performance since 2012, capping it off with his team taking a 2 point lead on the interception he threw. He's really coming back strong. It's an unconventional way to score points but I admire Griffin's desire to put points on the board no matter what it does to his own personal stat sheet. In the preseason since 2012, Griffin has thrown 3 INTs, fumbled 5 times, and scored 0 TDs. He is averaging fewer than 1.6 adjusted net yards per attempt since 2012, and if we were to penalize fumbles at the same rate as INTs, his career ANY/A in preseason would actually be negative. Among QBs who were penciled in as their team's day 1 starter, RG3 could potentially have the worst preseason stat line in NFL history. I haven't done the research, but I can't imagine there are many guys out there who were crowned as day 1 starters on 5 separate occasions whose career preseason stat line is worse than this: 43/72 (59%) for 445 yards (6.2 y/a), 2 TDs, 3 INTs, 10 sacks, and 7 fumbles.