Grantland: What Really Went Wrong with Robert Griffin III

[PlayAction]

Nicely written article.  Just the facts ma'am, just the facts.  Seriously, after the last fifty articles trashing Kyle, trashing Mike, and/or trashing RG3 it's refreshing to have someone just report the facts.  What changed, what stayed the same and to dispel irrational concerns among the fan base. 

[darrelgreenie]

I can get with that.  I don't mean to look like I'm blaming RG3 totally, cuz there's plenty to go around.  I could go with a 34-33-33 % blame game between Mike, Kyle, Robert.  They all have their hands in this mess, but that's neither here nor there.  I just think this Shanahan offseason program has become stuff of legend.  And didn't Shanahan say RG3 was taking more reps in camp this year than the year before?  But missing two weeks of OTAs caused the whole season to go to hell?   There were certain things he couldn't work on, I respect that, but it's not like there weren't things he could work on.  And things that manifested as a problem during the season.

Yeah I remember hearing talk about Griffin getting more reps too.

[darrelgreenie]

Here's another really good article about the Griffin and this year's offense:

I'm surprised nobodys posted this yet:

http://mattwaldmanrsp.com/2013/10/30/the-degradation-of-a-young-stud-part-i-starring-robert-griffin/

http://mattwaldmanrsp.com/2013/11/04/robert-griffin-part-ii-reasons-for-hope-and-watching-grass-grow/

Highlights:

Griffin begins his drop and his three backs set a perimeter to assist the offensive line. If I didn’t know better, it would appear the coaches are so worried about Griffin’s knee that they’re adding a second layer of protection behind the offensive line to insure the quarterback earns a clean pocket to throw the deep ball without a hit to his legs. I think the coaches are worried more about the offensive line’s difficulty protecting Griffin while he guts through an ACL rehab in record time.

If Washington is going to max protect, shouldn’t they be expecting a heavy pass rush? Is Griffin not reading the safeties’ position or is he not allowed the change the play to something better? This is an ugly play that makes Griffin look like he’s a first-year player who lacks the intellectual sophistication to handle a pro offense. Again, I don’t think this is true nor is it the intent of the coaching staff, but this isn’t the only max protect-simplistic route play in this game. It’s just a disturbing blow-back of creating a simple offense predicated more on elite athleticism and less on spreading the field to manipulate and offense.

It may appear degrading to a player like Robert Griffin, a prospect known for his intellect, but name a young, technically proficient, healthy receiver in Washington’s lineup and you’ll come up empty. Garcon is the closest thing to player to fit this description, but his wheels aren’t back, either. If anything, Griffin’s injury is revealing just how valuable one player’s game-changing ability can be.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

If you're the Shanahan's, and LeFleur, that was a pretty darn damning indictment of what's lead us to this point. 

 

Godspeed Robert in the next stage of your development that you should, through no fault of your own, of passed already. 

 

Better teachers are on the way. 

 

Hail. 

[darrelgreenie]

^^Imho in and of itself the gameplan mistakes and development mistakes aren't imho worthy of firing either Shanahan.

The offense is far from the worst unit on the team. Imo its the best aspect of the team and Griffin's level of play doesn't even warrant benching; even in Griffin's 'bad' year he is still in fact having a good year. I think they could have worked through this season and chalk it up to a learning experience.

 

But Mike choosing to bench Griffin sends the tacit (or blatant) message that Griffin is at fault for the offense/team's lack of success.

And although imho its the wrong way to develop a QB it still does warrant being fired, its everything else that he deserves to get fired for.

[Koolblue13]

Here's another really good article about the Griffin and this year's offense:

 

That was a great read. Very true too. I'm pretty excited for what we can do next year.

[MumboSauce]

I liked the piece...a lot of truths there imo. If the young man is made of what I think he is...he'll be back to form next season and a better pocket passer. Footwork/your base/body position is huge. It has to be mechanical, repeated, consistent...The rehab/knee threw all of that off.  I think he has the determination, skills, work ethic, and smarts to do it.    Things like pocket awareness or taking hits I'm not sure can be taught, kinda just have to have a feel and knack for that...but the footwork and reading defenses and being on time can be helped and I believe he will, more wise, and humble.

[KCClybun]

Most frustrating about the diamond pistol formation and motion a wide receiver into the backfield is that they have rarely worked all season, and yet we KEEP RUNNING it, right greenie?

[DieHardSkinsfanNJ]

Just want next season to be here

[darrelgreenie]

Most frustrating about the diamond pistol formation and motion a wide receiver into the backfield is that they have rarely worked all season, and yet we KEEP RUNNING it, right greenie?

I think Kyle never accepted that he couldn't find a way to 'rekindle' the magic so to speak. And I'm not even that mad at him about it. Some of the read option concepts and more importantly the play action off those plays were devastingly effective. But you can't blame your QB (by benching him) because of failed concepts/gameplan on the OC's part. I fully believe that if Kyle came into the season running more spread (zone-read to maintain an element of Griff's run threat) and more traditional under center Denver/Houston WCO and divest from the pistol read option the offense would have been much better and Griffin would have been much better.

 

What bothers me more is that all any talks about now is Griffin, Cousin's and the offense. 3 aspects of the team that I would rate as strengths. Yet the dialogue has drifted away from the true issues with the team: personnel, special teams and defense.

Mike Shanahan is a fuggin prick, but he's putting on a matter class in how to mold the national perception of his regime here in Ashburn.

Griffin being a celevrity QB, Griffin's relationship with Dan, Dan meddling,Griffin's dad, Salary cap hit. But I digress...I do agree though that not only did the diamond not work well the read option 2-man route pistol read-option play action was ineffective as well. And those 2 concepts were a big part in the offenses struggles. But when Tom Clements is running the show Griffin will be developed by one of the best.

[RandyHolt]

I am still pissed that RG3 got benched when Kyle was more deserving.

 

It became critical that we do not fumble RG3s development. This wasn't developing a 4th rounder. We pushed all in.

 

I have been irked at Kyle's unimaginative play calls all year long when I thought he would open more dynamic than ever. Hurry up pulled out, only as desperation in yet another embarrassing start in Oakland. Sheepishly admitting, we don't practice it much, yet was the only way we could score to start games. Even after seeing hurry up shred our defense to start the year, he held firm. I don't need it.

 

Great posts and links above. I love the blurb that asks if Robert is allowed to change the call at the line based on the safety's etc. I think we all saw plain as day the answer is no. The second OL in the backfield was not discussed enough. Talk about easy for defenses. Yes is was an ugly play/formation yet was a staple for Kyle. It did appear as degrading to RG3 and I have thought it was rude and short sighted of Kyle to stick to the ugly plays the entire year. He was as static as could be.Yet all reports said RG3 had the intellect to take it all in.

 

Cousins comes in and gets to throw from 3 and 4 wide more than RG3, yet some can't seem to figure out how Cousins passes for more yards. RG3 is stuck in the backfield bunched up with the 2nd OL, facing a swarm of defenders with no where else to go.

 

You want Mike to stay?

 

Then Kyle and his greenhorn assistants HAVE to go.

[Darrell Green Fan]

Things I am not worried about:

 

Accuracy.  It has been obvioius that footwork due to the injury has been the problem.   That's why I was OK with him sitting down before more bad habits continue.  A full  offseason will correct this problem, he has always been a very accurate passer and this will return.

 

An offense that includes a QB blocking on a reverse.  It's happened exactly once to my knowledge.  I've seen every QB in the league do this now and then.  Nothing to see here folks

 

Griff has lost his explosiveness.  I firmly believe 9 more months and the removal of the brace, AKA ball and chain, and most of it will return. 

 

Things I am concerned about:

 

His lack of pocket presence is obvious.  Is this something that can be learned or is it natural, like open field moves for a RB

 

Reading defenses:  I'm on the fence here.  He showed a great ability to do it last year, the first big one to Pierre in the opener last year was a grwat adjustment under fire.  But he regressed this year.  Still don't see it as a long term problem but he needs work, like nearly every young QB.

[Spear]

Regarding Robert's uncanny ability to explode when contacted by an opposing player, I think he needs some pro-wrestling training to learn how to take a bump. It's like his center of gravity must be in his Adam's Apple or something and every player hitting him is the irresistible force and every player he runs into is the immovable object.

 

I love Robert, but I would never bet on him in a fight.

[Lavarleap56]

Most frustrating about the diamond pistol formation and motion a wide receiver into the backfield is that they have rarely worked all season, and yet we KEEP RUNNING it, right greenie?

 

Last year I was a fan of the offense and I couldn't wait to see it expanded this season.. Then September came and that part of the offense was actually simplified and stripped of anything exciting. 

 

I think Kyle never accepted that he couldn't find a way to 'rekindle' the magic so to speak. And I'm not even that mad at him about it. Some of the read option concepts and more importantly the play action off those plays were devastingly effective. But you can't blame your QB (by benching him) because of failed concepts/gameplan on the OC's part. I fully believe that if Kyle came into the season running more spread (zone-read to maintain an element of Griff's run threat) and more traditional under center Denver/Houston WCO and divest from the pistol read option the offense would have been much better and Griffin would have been much better.

 

 

I have been yelling about this all season and we have posted about it before.It was pretty obvious that defenses defended and reacted better vs the 50 series (read option sets) than it did vs the traditional schemes. I think the Minnesota game is a great example of this.. Kyle just couldn't stay away from using the 50 series, even when it got away from the offense that was working. Drives me nuts. 

[The Robert Griffin Experience]

Last year I was a fan of the offense and I couldn't wait to see it expanded this season.. Then September came and that part of the offense was actually simplified and stripped of anything exciting. 

 

 

I have been yelling about this all season and we have posted about it before.It was pretty obvious that defenses defended and reacted better vs the 50 series (read option sets) than it did vs the traditional schemes. I think the Minnesota game is a great example of this.. Kyle just couldn't stay away from using the 50 series, even when it got away from the offense that was working. Drives me nuts. 

 

That's why I'm very convinced that the Shanahans intentionally mailed the season in because of spite.

 

I mean, 2 notebooks and an IPad?

Going from a revolutionary offense adapted for the pros to the same offense except stripped of everything that made it good?

Running 2 WRs out every play despite knowing RGIII plays better in spread sets?

 

Can we really rule out Shanahan going into the season wanting to be fired, while being able to blame it on "RGDiva" and "Meddling Shanny"?

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I haven't been huge on blaming the coaches much. As others have mentioned, despite average players making up most of our WR and OL units, we have been a top-10 offense overall. It's difficult to ignore that fact even though I've grown tired of this regime. 

 

My consistent gripe has centered around the lack of continuing to use the turbo offense. Griffin has seemed very comfortable running it and I would have expected to build upon that success. By now, I would have assumed that we'd be running some variation of a spread/hurry-up more often than not. I don't know how much control Griffin had, but generally coaches want to keep piling things on when a QB proves he can handle something. We have seen the opposite (from my untrained eye). 

 

The Giants game was a great example. We came out firing and built a lead. Now, I realize we ran turbo a few more times and didn't score (it wasn't abandoned completely right after our second touchdown), but why swing all the way back to eating 35 seconds between plays, etc? I could see changing the pace for a drive and maybe trying to establish Morris, but come back to it and see if we can get in a groove again!

 

Griffin deserves plenty of blame for his performance this year because he's ultimately not playing as well as he was last year. But, it's complicated. Some things were out of his control (he DID miss an off-season, he IS recovering from injury, etc.). Despite not being the main culprit, I don't think the play-calling has helped him out all that often this year. 

Can we really rule out Shanahan going into the season wanting to be fired, while being able to blame it on "RGDiva" and "Meddling Shanny"?

 

I don't think we can rule anything out. But I think a conspiracy theory like that is probably one of the least likely answers. More likely, he started tiring of this place as our season went further and further down hill. I'm sure Shanahan was pretty excited about this year and probably thought (like we all did) that we had a legitimate chance to improve on last year's playoff run. 

[The Robert Griffin Experience]

It's not unheard of for a coach to flip out and do crazy things while trying to be canned, and Shanahan has a history of being a petulant child with his owners (no matter how crazy Al Davis is, having your QB fling a ball at his head is very unprofessional), and he's also a control freak who's had issues with almost every QB he's had, even Elway.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

It's not unheard of for a coach to flip out and do crazy things while trying to be canned, and Shanahan has a history of being a petulant child with his owners (no matter how crazy Al Davis is, having your QB fling a ball at his head is very unprofessional), and he's also a control freak who's had issues with almost every QB he's had, even Elway.

 

I'm not ruling out that it might have started happening at some point. I just don't believe he went into the season attempting to be fired. After we started 1-4 or 3-7? Maybe. 

[Koolblue13]

If you run the speed, your QB runs a high risk of getting creamed. When your not very large QB is coming off major injury, I doubt putting him in position to get hit is a great idea.

[KCClybun]

I think Shanny and Kyle have just misevaluated where RG3 is in his development as a QB. I think Mike is bad at handling adversity, and his only way of dealing with a player who is struggling is to bench them and not have to worry about them. Kirk is easier, and Kirk will do as he's told.

Rob couldn't drill footwork at minicamp and early in training camp. I mean literally couldn't. He couldn't receive coaching of any kind; it's against CBA rules. So even if he tried to learn on his own, without someone telling him what to correct and how, it becomes kind of useless. And when he got cleared, they threw him back into a simplified version of last years offense, hoping defenses would still play him scared. Even John Kiem was talking about Rob's footwork in camp. It wasn't a secret. But did he ever really get coached to improve it? Who knows.

[Lavarleap56]

If you run the speed, your QB runs a high risk of getting creamed. When your not very large QB is coming off major injury, I doubt putting him in position to get hit is a great idea.

 

Compact formations running the read option bring the same risk... 

[RandyHolt]

I don't buy into that Koolblue.

 

Too many other teams with shoddy lines run spread and the QB survives as good as any other. Short of being blind sided, QB's largely control how often they get hit.

 

Dare I think spreading out the WRs would do the opposite. He wouldn't be stuck holding the bumpkin when the single option he has on a play is covered, get sacked or risk a grounding confined to the pocket so much. 

 

Also, I bet having 4 WRs in routes that may get the ball, actually leads to them trying to get open. Versus, the call is to Garcon, I will take a few steps and stop and watch.

 

Clearly going with a 2nd OL (the anti spread concept) has not worked at all.

[Koolblue13]

Our QB looked slow, scared and confused all season. I don't think he did well controlling how much he got hit.

 

He certainly should of had more plays to get him out of the pocket, what with not really having a pocket and all.

[RandyHolt]

The Shans hung him out to dry with lame play calling.

 

And then bashed him to the media

 

And then benched him.

 

The year may be a total write off from a development stand point.

 

Almost everything they did, was literally backwards of what I would do. Including, dressing him for KC in the snow, and then benching him in the dome vs a pancake opponent.

 

If RG3 was not physically ready to start the year, so be it, but Mike has to be smarter with these things. Basic things. RG3 couldn't turn a corner on a defensive linemen. It was bad.

 

As KCC notes, we don't know if they coached anything to improve his game. We certainly never read nor heard about or saw it.  What local media guy would not report, Kyle was working with Griffin after practice on footwork. It should not be a secret, we often hear the top QBs are working on footwork throughout their careers.

[Tyron Biggums]

I don't buy into that Koolblue.

 

Too many other teams with shoddy lines run spread and the QB survives as good as any other. Short of being blind sided, QB's largely control how often they get hit.

 

Dare I think spreading out the WRs would do the opposite. He wouldn't be stuck holding the bumpkin when the single option he has on a play is covered, get sacked or risk a grounding confined to the pocket so much. 

 

Also, I bet having 4 WRs in routes that may get the ball, actually leads to them trying to get open. Versus, the call is to Garcon, I will take a few steps and stop and watch.

 

Clearly going with a 2nd OL (the anti spread concept) has not worked at all.

Agreed. The inability to adapt, has been the most frustrating part of the offense all season. To see RG3 not be allowed to run any spread formations, then have Kirk come in and get spread formation packages are a slap to the face of logic. It's a disturbing issue to say the least.

 

Hail