People will say it was only one game, but for anyone who watched
Robert Griffin III’s regular season debut today in New Orleans, it was hard not
to get excited.
RG3 went 19 for 26 with 320 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions. He easily out-performed the other four rookie
quarterbacks also making their first starts.
Andrew Luck, Brandon Weeden, RyanTannehill, and Russell Wilson all lost
and threw for a combined two touchdowns and 11 interceptions. RG3 was the lone winner and the only one who
did not turn the ball over.
I’ll admit, I was skeptical coming out of preseason. I liked Luck’s skill-set better and would
have preferred him in the draft, but I was still happy with RG3’s selection. I liked his accuracy, his arm strength, and
his mobility. He had the potential to be a franchise QB, but we did not see a
whole lot of that ability in the preseason.
Granted, Mike Shanahan did not want to show a whole lot in the preseason,
but the preseason is a time for rookies to adjust to the pro level. The game is faster, players hit harder, and mistakes
are more costly. RG3 attempted only 31
passes in the entire preseason. While he
did not throw an interception, he seemed to struggle at times against
pressure. It was not until the third
preseason game against Indianapolis where we began to see his potential and
even then it was only briefly.
I am skeptical no more.
I am all in. Barring any injury setbacks, I think RG3 can be exactly
what everyone has thought he would be for months now based on what I saw Sunday.
The initial game plan became obvious after the first few plays;
give RG3 easy passes and short runs to make him comfortable. It worked.
The Redskins marched down the field in the opening drive allowing for a
Billy Cundiff field goal and a three point lead. On the very next drive, RG3 delivered a pass
to Pierre Garcon that went 88 yards for a touchdown.
His struggles against pressure? Gone.
RG3scrambled away from pressure, finishing with 42 rushing yards and was
only sacked once. Perhaps one of the
most impressive plays of the game was a broken play in which RG3 was forced to
scramble to his left, turned, and threw to the other side of the field where he
found Fred Davis for a 26 yard gain.
Throwing across the field is not an easy thing for any QB to do, and he
made it look easy.
The speed is there, the accuracy is there, the throwing strength
is there, and the quick decision-making is there. He showed great poise and understanding for a
rookie. Even a QB dripping with talent
will not be successful if he cannot make smart decisions with the football (see
Vince Young) and it takes some QBs years to adjust the NFL game (see Mark
Sanchez). RG3 looked like a veteran QB
today and he did it against one of the most hostile crowds in the NFL at the
Superdome.
Again, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Even Donovan McNabb won in his Redskins’
debut. RG3 will have bad games this
season just like every other QB. He has not proven himself yet. What he did
show is that the skill and the potential that we have been hearing about for
months are there. You can’t always tell
if a player’s skills will translate to the NFL level. It looks like we won’t have to worry about
that. More importantly, he showed that
there’s a chance, a hope, that FINALLY the Redskins may have gotten it right.
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