RG3 Reminds Everyone of His Star Potential in Washington's Close Loss to Vikings
For the second time in his career, Robert Griffin III's ability to be an NFL quarterback came under scrutiny because of an injury.
After a historically impressive rookie season, Griffin was ultimately benched for backup Kirk Cousins during his second season as a starter. Griffin was benched because the team wasn't competitive, and he was returning from a torn ACL injury that hindered his effectiveness on the field.
That meant that Griffin entered this season with a lot to prove under new head coach Jay Gruden.
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Gruden didn't need to reinstate Griffin as the starter, because while the franchise benched Griffin to end the 2013 season, it always appeared to be invested in him for the long term. When Gruden was hired, the expectation was that he was hired to work with Griffin and build his offense around the quarterback.
After one unspectacular start under the new regime, Griffin suffered a dislocated ankle at the start of Washington's Week 2 matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Because Griffin only attempted three passes in that game, he essentially missed seven games because of that injury and only returned this week to face the Minnesota Vikings. Because of how poorly he played returning from his torn ACL, there was a viable reason to doubt Griffin before the game had begun.
Furthermore, reports suggested that Griffin had alienated himself from his teammates and that the general manager and owner of the team made the decision to start him rather than the head coach, per ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter (via ESPN.com). With Colt McCoy coming off consecutive victories as the starter, it would have been easy for Griffin to doubt his own ability in this situation.
If Griffin was doubting himself, it wasn't evident early on in the game.
The quarterback is known for his athleticism and ability to make plays out of the pocket. As a rookie, he was in Kyle Shanahan's scheme that rarely asked him to simply sit in the pocket and make coverage reads downfield. In this game, Griffin showed off some capability in that area to convert an early third down.
As the above image shows, it's 3rd-and-4 with the Vikings threatening a double A-Gap blitz. If Griffin is going to make a play from the pocket on this play, he needs to be aware of what those linebackers do at the snap.
In this situation, his most likely avenue for success comes from the stacked receivers in the slot close to the formation.
At the snap, both of those linebackers drop into zone coverage, so Griffin can comfortably hold onto the football and expect his pass blocking to account for the four-man pass rush. Griffin's first read appears to be Andre Roberts who is breaking into a crossing route at the first-down marker.
Based on the reactions of the defenders in coverage, Griffin takes his eyes off Roberts before pump-faking the football to the other receiver who is in a wider position. The defense reacted to his eyes initially, before the pump fake made them all aggressively step toward the receiver.
This created space for Roberts to run across the field.
After manipulating the coverage, Griffin needs to show off an ability to reset in the pocket and bring his eyes back to Roberts. Despite the collapsing pocket, Griffin subtly adjusts and evades the pressure to make a clean pass to Roberts for a first down.
This appears to be a relatively simple play, but it wasn't the degree of difficulty that made it stand out.
Instead, it was Griffin's comfort within the pocket and his speed of action that stood out. Griffin showed off the kind of mental acumen and subtle action that allowed him to be so effective throwing the ball from the pocket in the past.
He wasn't wary of bodies around his feet as he so often had been in 2013, while he wasn't being rolled out of the pocket to simplify the mental process of the play like he had been so often in 2012. Griffin made a professional read and executed it crisply.
Throughout the four quarters of this game, he wasn't able to be so comfortable in the pocket, but that lack of comfort wasn't about his individual ability but rather the quality of his offensive line against the Vikings' defensive line.
Griffin showed off an ability to both throw accurately under pressure and evade the pressure with his movement.
Soon after that first third-down conversion on the offense's first drive of the game, Griffin showed off that ability to escape pressure behind the line of scrimmage. On this occasion, the defense was showing pressure from different areas at the snap.
Ultimately, that pressure came off the left side of the offense, and while an assignment wasn't blown, the block attempt was missed to immediately put pressure on Griffin.
As the initial pressure arrived, Griffin attempted to escape toward the opposite flat, but he was quickly caught. He shrugged the tackle attempt off with his strength by getting lower than the defender before reversing back to the other side of the field to break another tackle attempt.
Griffin had escaped a certain sack and found his way into space in the left flat, but now he needed to create seven yards for a first down.
He did that by recapturing his poise before surveying the sideline. Although there was space to run into and a blocker in front, Griffin didn't immediately look to run when there wasn't a receiving option downfield. Instead he brought his head back infield to locate a free receiver underneath and in position to turn downfield.
Griffin reset his feet before throwing a simple, accurate pass to the receiver who ran downfield for a relatively simple first down.
Once again, this wasn't a spectacular throw or even a spectacular play outside of the pocket. Instead, it was a smart play that best served the situation and allowed the offense around him to be effective without stressing one individual.
That is what good quarterback play is about.
On that play, Griffin never really had an opportunity to release the ball down the field. Even though the coverage numbers suggest he would have had a receiver in space somewhere, the pressure arrived too quickly for him to even make a quick read and quick release.
Toward the end of the first quarter, a similar situation emerged but with the caveat of Griffin having that moment of time at the top of his drop to look downfield.
On this occasion, Griffin is lined up under center with the Washington offense in a run-heavy look. It's important to note that the Vikings have responded with their base defense but by also bringing down one of their safeties into a position to play the run.
A deep drop from Griffin and a play-fake creates a wide pocket for the quarterback to step up into. As the above image shows, the defense is reacting naturally to the run fake by biting up with eight defenders still in the box.
Meanwhile, both of the offense's receivers have escaped deep into their routes down the field.
Griffin holds the ball for as long as he needs to locate a receiver. He releases the ball just as the pressure arrives in the pocket, but it doesn't affect his accuracy. Griffin fits the ball in between two defenders down the field for a huge gain to wide receiver DeSean Jackson.
During his rookie season, Griffin's deep ball was a staple of his success.
Now with Jackson as one of his receivers, it's no surprise that an effective Griffin is making connections down the field again. This was the more impressive play for the quarterback, but they also connected on a 56-yard reception later when Griffin threw another accurate pass.
The deep accuracy for Griffin fell off last season because of his footwork. After his knee injury, he never appeared to be comfortable stepping into throws. That is obviously something that is always important for accuracy, but it becomes more important the further the ball travels in the air.
Despite taking a rough shot on his lower body during the first half of this game and despite coming back after another significant injury, Griffin showed none of that hesitation in this game.
That allowed him to be effective throwing the ball down the field, but it also allowed him to be in sync with the rest of his offense for most of the game. There were still rough stretches, but his overall timing with his receivers was impressive.
Timing is what stood out on his touchdown pass to Jackson later in the game.
Before the ball is snapped on this play, it's important to note the positioning of the defense's safeties. One safety is playing as a single-high, with the other dropped into the slot on the right side of the offense. On that side of the offense, Jackson is lined up wide of the numbers.
It's also important to note that Jackson is on the shorter side of the field, and there is no slot receiver with him.
Griffin immediately looks to Jackson at the snap, with the slot safety in his eye line. The quarterback takes a three-step drop in order to set himself up for a quick throw, while Jackson runs a precise route to get inside position on the defensive back.
When Griffin sees the slot safety move outside with the tight end, he knows he can comfortably throw the ball to Jackson.
He slightly overthrows the ball, but because of his arm strength and the time of his release, the defensive back has no chance of touching the ball, while Jackson only needs to make a slight adjustment to catch it. It wasn't a perfect throw from Griffin, but it wasn't far from a perfect play as a whole.
Although Griffin was an outstanding athlete in college and during his rookie season, he wasn't drafted second overall because of his athleticism.
Griffin was drafted that high because he showed off the ability of an NFL pocket passer with outstanding athleticism. Even if he doesn't have the same level of athleticism now because of his injuries, he is still capable of being a high-quality NFL starter.
This game highlighted the potential, even if the consistency is still somewhat lacking.
In this game, consistency on a snap-to-snap basis wasn't a major concern; he did throw one interception that was most certainly his fault. Instead, the consistency that needs to be established is a week-to-week one that can allow the Washington front office and coaching staff to be confident about his potential moving forward.
For as many issues as Griffin has had in recent times, this display was as good as anyone could have realistically expected it to be.
It may still be muted optimism, but at least now it's optimism.
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