Thoughts on 2012 and the Myth of RG3

[Dissident2]

OK, so as mentioned in another post awhile back, I've been rewatching entire Redskin seasons in "condensed game" formats thanks to the NFL Networks free deal on GamePass during this apocalypse. It's been, overall, enjoyable, as I've been watching as detached as I can manage from emotional connections to the games (most of them big fat L's) and more with the objective of analyzing what went wrong, what went right, etc. 

 

The 2011 season was just a horrendous watch, and yet bizarrely enjoyable when Jon Beck took center stage, as his ineptitude was so utterly complete that it made me question my agnosticism.

 

I was looking forward to washing that taste away with the 2012 season, the brief moment when we all had hope that things had finally changed, that we had our franchise QB, that we were a team to once again be reckoned with, possibly even feared. I wasn't looking forward to the ending, but the first two acts - especially the second - were pretty enjoyable. I'd even say special. But the nosedive collapse of RG3 has always been something I couldn't fully wrap my head around. How could someone go from such greatness to the sewers in such a short time span? Yeah, I understood the reasons on a surface level: the injury, the anomaly of the offense, but ... the emotional side of me never got it. After all, he had been truly great once ... right? 

 

Watching the 2012 season in quick succession made things much more clear.  

 

First, watching in this manner, you really get a sense for the patterns in play calling that emerge, and you especially get a sense for how great a job the Shanahans did in using Griffin's limited but explosive abilities (at the time) to mask his obvious weaknesses, weaknesses that a combination of his injury and the league starting to figure out this system made that much more apparent in 2013 and beyond. Here are my takeaways from 2012. Much of this is already known, but watching everything so closely and quickly really drove a lot of these points home. 

 

• 1. The playbook was ridiculously simplistic. This is hyperbole, but it seemed like there were 4 or 5 passing plays used all season. Most of them hitches or bubble screens. They threw SO MANY of those short routes designed to get Moss or Garcon or Banks out in space. And yet it worked for the most part (but only in that first year; it worked far less often in 2013-14). The other play used an insane amount of times was a play-action ending in a 15-20 yard strike right over the middle (usually to Garcon). That play just gashed defenses all year. It's absolutely amazing how often that worked. (Again, only for that year; I can see them trying it from time to time in '13, '14 with much less success.)
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• 2. RG3's athletic ability and speed were by FAR his best assets in the first 2/3 of that season. He was just so difficult to get to, and that running threat always had defenders unsure of where to be looking. I now firmly believe his confidence as a QB was completely rooted in that athletic ability, despite the fact that he seemed to hate having to rely on it so much, viewing himself as a classic pocket passer. That became laughable (sad laughter) in subsequent years.

 

3. Griffin had an amazingly strong arm. He was very inaccurate at times, though. He missed some easy throws (everyone does), but that deep ball he had was a thing of beauty when he connected with it.

 

4. Griffin also had very little field awareness. He forced a lot of throws at times that could've easily been picks. But the plays generally given to him were so safe that it kept his completion percentage fairly high at 65 percent. Most of those plays made things very easy on him and didn't ask him to do a whole lot. Don't get me wrong, he made some spectacular throws during the course of that season, but nowhere near as many as I thought when I was in the throes of my mania. Many bad reads and poor passes that he later made us forget with 30 yard runs. In short, he showed a lot of the same issues that would become painfully apparent in 2013 and 2014. It's just that the explosive running ability masked a lot of that stuff at the time for many of us, myself included. 

 

5. TANGENT ALERT: Brandon Banks was terrible. That is all. I know he had a couple big returns during his career, but it seemed like 90 percent of his returns ended up with him getting stuffed inside the 20, and he always took the kick out of the endzone, no matter how deep. Foolishly, I might add. In fact, we must've had the worst returners in the league during that stretch of time: Niles Paul (NILES PAUL???!), Andre Roberts, even Chris Thompson was returning some kicks for us at one point in 2013. But I digress ...

 

6. Alfred Morris. Wow, what a season. A great guy, and a joy to watch. Judging by the rest of his career, though, you have to come to the conclusion that he too benefitted mightily from the system and RG3's mystique that season. His downward trajectory was almost as big a nosedive as Griffin's. Huge drop in 2013, bigger drop in 2014, and that was his last 1,000 yard season in the NFL. He ran hard, he had incredible toughness and grit, but ... he just didn't pan out like we thought he might. 

 

7. What a horrible group of receivers in 2012. Garcon was great, and that was it. Josh Morgan? Mediocre personified, if that. Aldrick Robinson had tremendous speed, but that was about all he had going for him. Moss still had a bit left in the tank, but he'd seen better days. Hankerson? Stankerson. And what about tight end? Fred Davis and Logan Paulsen, ladies and gentlemen. When you think about it, there was very little top-tier talent on that offense. Virtually none, in fact. Who knows if that would've made a difference in getting further in the playoffs, but it once again underscores how much of the success that season was a mirage predicated on the "new" system Kyle put into place and RG3's initial ability to run it well. 

 

8. Mike Shanahan's decision to let Griffin play the second half of that playoff game still has to be one of the worst coaching decisions I've ever seen. I remember saying it at the time, too. Dude could barely WALK, and they still trotted him out there. The offense could do NOTHING. Watching Wilson do a far better version of what RG3 had been doing earlier in the season was tough to watch. After going down 14-0, Seattle really destroyed us the rest of that game. It shouldn't have even been that close, as they fumbled once on the one yard line. 

 

So, to sum up, I finally am, I think, at peace with the RG3 debacle. I'm finally ready to let it go. What I've realized watching the 2012 season like this is that he was NOT what we thought he was. He was indeed a mirage. What made him great during that short stretch of time could be summed up by his speed and athletic ability and the offense crafted around him. When he lost some of the former, he lost his confidence. It's like the old Bible story of Sampson losing his strength when his hair is chopped off. RG3 could not get away with the things he could once get away with after those injuries, and that made him start questioning himself. I'm going through 2013 and 14 right now, and you can really see it during those seasons. He was just terrible. Running around the pocket in fear, having no idea who to throw to, trying to run at times out of desperation and getting stuffed ... it was tough to watch. Would he have been great if he HADN'T been injured? I don't think so. It just may have taken a little longer for us to find that out. 

 

Anyway ... these are my random stay-at-home thoughts.

 

Except for one final thought: Reed ****ing Doughty. I loved that guy. He was not that great, obviously, but I just loved the way he played. He played so hard on every play, and in that playoff game against Seattle, he absolutely shined. He had some huge open-field plays on Wilson in that game. Dude would've fit in great with those Gibbs I units. 

 

Stay safe, everyone. 

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[bakedtater1]

Closest we've come to a super bowl appearance scince, well..the superbowl in 92

[Dissident2]

11 minutes ago, bakedtater1 said:

Closest we've come to a super bowl appearance scince, well..the superbowl in 92

 

I think the 2015 team was so much better in hindsight. 

[Warhead36]

42 minutes ago, Dissident2 said:

 

I think the 2015 team was so much better in hindsight. 

The 2005 team was the best Redskins team in the Snyder era. We had a 1500 yard RB, a 1500 yard WR, and a 700 yard up and coming TE with a top 10 if not top 5 OL featuring a Pro Bowl LT. The D was top 5-10 in the league with Pro Bowl caliber players at every layer.

 

If Brunell's arm doesn't fall off in the second half of the season we probably go to the Super Bowl that year.

[bakedtater1]

53 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

The 2005 team was the best Redskins team in the Snyder era. We had a 1500 yard RB, a 1500 yard WR, and a 700 yard up and coming TE with a top 10 if not top 5 OL featuring a Pro Bowl LT. The D was top 5-10 in the league with Pro Bowl caliber players at every layer.

 

If Brunell's arm doesn't fall off in the second half of the season we probably go to the Super Bowl that year.

Good call here man,..that's where we got ****ed over in Seattle..2012 and 05 definitely the best seasons scince 91/92

1 hour ago, Dissident2 said:

 

I think the 2015 team was so much better in hindsight. 

Close..but especially leaving November(2012)the skins were unstoppable..till the ****ty ass turf screwed us.

[dyst]

Great post @Dissident2! I don't know why but I still love looking at RG3 highlights even 8 years later. He had the kind of fire, excitement and swag about his game that gets a fanbase excited, especially one who desperately needs something to cheer for and in 2012 RG3 was the right person for this city.

 

That preseason, I vaguely remember he barely got enough playing time. We didn't know what to expect for game one against the Saints. Then it hit us like a ton of bricks. I was in shock, this guy looked exactly like what we hoped. He was everything and then some really. A rookie, playing like that? Get out of here. Our record still sucked, but as you stated, we had awful personnel and yet RG3 was damn good, unstoppable really. 

 

For a huge portion of the early season we were out of the playoff picture, but hey, RG3 was dropping bombs, running for TDs and the league was on watch. It was his rookie year, I didn't need playoffs just yet. Not sure what happened after that early struggle, but that 7 game win streak, the back to back 4 TD games by RG3 and the 73 yard run against the Vikings was something new for this fanbase. Stuff like that doesn't happen for us.

 

The Baltimore game and his injury ended everything. Mind you, the league would have probably still figured him out (the following year) and his defecinecies as QB would have inevitably still made their presence known, but if not for that injury, at least in 2012, I think we had a legitimate chance to make noise. RG3 was just too deadly and the opposing defense was scared of him. 

 

He never had Vick/Lamar shifty speed, it was always straight line (shifty is better suited for the NFL), but his speed stroked fear into teams. You could see it on coaches and defenders faces. Guys around the league were praising him on national tv. It was a magical ride, that ended abruptly. Us Redskin fans are use to it (Lavar, Taylor, RG3). I don't even want to think about the draft this year.

[bakedtater1]

I'll never forget that touchdown he threw to Santana Moss in the back of the end zone against the Giants in New York or New Jersey or whatever you call it...one hell of a cannon

[Dissident2]

5 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

The 2005 team was the best Redskins team in the Snyder era. We had a 1500 yard RB, a 1500 yard WR, and a 700 yard up and coming TE with a top 10 if not top 5 OL featuring a Pro Bowl LT. The D was top 5-10 in the league with Pro Bowl caliber players at every layer.

 

If Brunell's arm doesn't fall off in the second half of the season we probably go to the Super Bowl that year.

 

I don't know about Super Bowl, but I agree with most of that. Brunell's arm at the end of 2005 was the equivalent of RG3's knee at the end of 2012. 

 

The biggest shame about 2005 was Gibbs' bad decision to bring in an offensive coordinator in 2006 and change the dynamic of everything. 2004-2005 was a clear building period, and they were on the cusp of something at the end of '05. Unfortunately, Brunell was done by 2006 and Saunders was a flop. 

[dyst]

2 minutes ago, bakedtater1 said:

I'll never forget that touchdown he threw to Santana Moss in the back of the end zone against the Giants in New York or New Jersey or whatever you call it...one hell of a cannon

Yep, and our defense gave it right back, so frustrating. 

[bakedtater1]

2 minutes ago, dyst said:

Great post @Dissident2! I don't know why but I still love looking at RG3 highlights even 8 years later. He had the kind of fire, excitement and swag about his game that gets a fanbase excited, especially one who desperately needs something to cheer for and in 2012 RG3 was the right person for this city.

 

That preseason, I vaguely remember he barely got enough playing time. We didn't know what to expect for game one against the Saints. Then it hit us like a ton of bricks. I was in shock, this guy looked exactly like what we hoped. He was everything and then some really. A rookie, playing like that? Get out of here. Our record still sucked, but as you stated, we had awful personnel and yet RG3 was damn good, unstoppable really. 

 

For a huge portion of the early season we were out of the playoff picture, but hey, RG3 was dropping bombs, running for TDs and the league was on watch. It was his rookie year, I didn't need playoffs just yet. Not sure what happened after that early struggle, but that 7 game win streak, the back to back 4 TD games by RG3 and the 73 yard run against the Vikings was something new for this fanbase. Stuff like that doesn't happen for us.

 

The Baltimore game and his injury ended everything. Mind you, the league would have probably still figured him out (the following year) and his defecinecies as QB would have inevitably still made their presence known, but if not for that injury, at least in 2012, I think we had a legitimate chance to make noise. RG3 was just too deadly and the opposing defense was scared of him. 

 

He never had Vick/Lamar shifty speed, it was always straight line (shifty is better suited for the NFL), but his speed stroked fear into teams. You could see it on coaches and defenders faces. Guys around the league were praising him on national tv. It was a magical ride, that ended abruptly. Us Redskin fans are use to it (Lavar, Taylor, RG3). I don't even want to think about the draft this year.

I remember the rams and saints game where the first 6 plays were play action quick throw to the side

[Dissident2]

7 minutes ago, bakedtater1 said:

Good call here man,..that's where we got ****ed over in Seattle..2012 and 05 definitely the best seasons scince 91/92

Close..but especially leaving November(2012)the skins were unstoppable..till the ****ty ass turf screwed us.

 

Oh, man, I forgot to mention that and meant to!!! That field for the playoff game was an utter disgrace. How Snyder could allow that is beyond me. It was Skid Mark Field that day ... a long, brown line running from end zone to end zone. Everyone was slipping all over the place. Absolutely disgusting we'd host a playoff game, first in more than 10 years, on a field like that piece of garbage. I'd imagine that contributed to that final injury. 

[volsmet]

 

[skinfan2k]

1 hour ago, Warhead36 said:

The 2005 team was the best Redskins team in the Snyder era. We had a 1500 yard RB, a 1500 yard WR, and a 700 yard up and coming TE with a top 10 if not top 5 OL featuring a Pro Bowl LT. The D was top 5-10 in the league with Pro Bowl caliber players at every layer.

 

If Brunell's arm doesn't fall off in the second half of the season we probably go to the Super Bowl that year.

i can't believe everyone has forgotten that Rogers drops a pick 6 and we go up 14-0 on seattle that year.  

[bakedtater1]

53 minutes ago, Dissident2 said:

 

Oh, man, I forgot to mention that and meant to!!! That field for the playoff game was an utter disgrace. How Snyder could allow that is beyond me. It was Skid Mark Field that day ... a long, brown line running from end zone to end zone. Everyone was slipping all over the place. Absolutely disgusting we'd host a playoff game, first in more than 10 years, on a field like that piece of garbage. I'd imagine that contributed to that final injury. 

Couldn't agree more..so help me if it's the same on the next go around I'll personally **** on snyder

9 minutes ago, skinfan2k said:

i can't believe everyone has forgotten that Rogers drops a pick 6 and we go up 14-0 on seattle that year.  

Good old Carlos stone hands Rogers.

[NYSkins21]

6 hours ago, bakedtater1 said:

Good call here man,..that's where we got ****ed over in Seattle..2012 and 05 definitely the best seasons scince 91/92

Close..but especially leaving November(2012)the skins were unstoppable..till the ****ty ass turf screwed us.

I'm going to say Norv's '99 team was just as close. Brad Johnson, Stephen Davis, Albert Connell. We were a field goal snap away from an NFC Championship game against the Greatest Show on Turf!

 

Not sure if this is supposed to be I nb the Synder era or after our last Superbowl win?

[Warhead36]

17 hours ago, Dissident2 said:

 

I don't know about Super Bowl, but I agree with most of that. Brunell's arm at the end of 2005 was the equivalent of RG3's knee at the end of 2012. 

 

The biggest shame about 2005 was Gibbs' bad decision to bring in an offensive coordinator in 2006 and change the dynamic of everything. 2004-2005 was a clear building period, and they were on the cusp of something at the end of '05. Unfortunately, Brunell was done by 2006 and Saunders was a flop. 

We should have committed to Jason Campbell as the starter from the beginning of the 06 offseason. Obviously looking back we know Campbell didn't amount to much, but we did just invest two 1sts in the kid and it was obvious Brunell was dunzo. But this organization in the Snyder era has never had foresight or vision and that was true even in the Gibbs era.

[NeverSurrender]

14 hours ago, skinfan2k said:

i can't believe everyone has forgotten that Rogers drops a pick 6 and we go up 14-0 on seattle that year.  

I remember that.  Also... Taylor Jacobs was on that team.  If we had taken more deep shots to him instead of Brunell's "Green 40" Play, I think we win the super bowl!

[drowland]

2 hours ago, Warhead36 said:

We should have committed to Jason Campbell as the starter from the beginning of the 06 offseason. Obviously looking back we know Campbell didn't amount to much, but we did just invest two 1sts in the kid and it was obvious Brunell was dunzo. But this organization in the Snyder era has never had foresight or vision and that was true even in the Gibbs era.

The Skins went all in on the '06 season.  Hiring Saunders and then signing Carter, Randle El, Archuleta and trading for Lloyd and Duckett.  I don't think Gibbs ever wanted to play Campbell.  He was drafted for the next HC.  When the season was going down the tubes and they finally benched Brunell I remember Gibbs being irritable with the media like "fine you all get what you want."  I think Gibbs' plan was that team would make a deep playoff run and he'd flip the keys back to Dan and retire back to NASCAR.  

[The Rook]

Some other things I remember from the 2012:

 

When the team was 3-6, Shanahan started talking about the 2013 season.

Kirk Cousins won the Baltimore and Cleveland games.

London Fletcher and the rest of the defense stepped up and played real good in the last 7 games.

 

 

 

 

 

The Rook

 

[max21]

20 hours ago, skinfan2k said:

i can't believe everyone has forgotten that Rogers drops a pick 6 and we go up 14-0 on seattle that year.  

Damn I completely forgot about that and was jumping up and down when that happened. But weren’t we up 14-0 on Seattle in 2012 and they came back? 

[skinfan2k]

19 minutes ago, max21 said:

Damn I completely forgot about that and was jumping up and down when that happened. But weren’t we up 14-0 on Seattle in 2012 and they came back? 

We were up and then the RG3 injury happened 

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Great thread. 

 

I agree that the majority of the credit for the 2012 season should go to the coaching staff for designing an innovative system around the talent they had. That pass play you mentioned was deadly and it was so difficult to defend because the read-option left the middle undefended. The linebackers had to respect the Griffin-Morris possibility and that put Garcon in man-to-man coverage running away from a DB with no help in the middle. Brilliant (at the time). 

 

I was off the Griffin bandwagon early on, but I don't want to be too negative. The kid thrived in the system that was built to his strengths. I can't take that away from him because we've seen plenty of perfectly designed plays not translate to on-field success. But, by the time the division-clinching Dallas game ended, I knew that Kyle, Mike, and Alfred Morris were the true MVPs of 2012 despite the NFC East champs running off the field that night to cheers of "RG3!"

[Conn]

3 hours ago, The Rook said:

Some other things I remember from the 2012:

 

When the team was 3-6, Shanahan started talking about the 2013 season.

 

The Rook

 

I was at that game, home game against the Panthers and there was nothing fun about it. You could hear Shanahan's post-game presser in the bathrooms at FedEx talking about evaluating talent for next year and it was...an ugly scene. 

[Burgold]

Yeah, one thing I really didn't like about Shanahan and Gruden shared this quality, too. They threw in the towel not just on games, but on entire seasons. There just wasn't a lot of fight in them when they were here. I can't stand quitters in sports.

[Cooleyfan1993]

9 hours ago, Burgold said:

Yeah, one thing I really didn't like about Shanahan and Gruden shared this quality, too. They threw in the towel not just on games, but on entire seasons. There just wasn't a lot of fight in them when they were here. I can't stand quitters in sports.

Hmm...2015 under Gruden we were fighting for a playoff spot and Gruden never threw in the towel, did he? 2016 as well. Come to think of it, same for 2018...