Washington Redskins Should Admit Defeat with Robert Griffin III
Nobody likes admitting they're wrong. Least of all an NFL franchise that was so sure it had a franchise quarterback it gave away three first-round picks and a second-rounder to get him.
But it's time for the Washington Redskins to admit it. The Robert Griffin III experiment failed. It hasn't worked. It won't ever work.
For the sake of the team and its fans, stop dragging things out. Don't delay the inevitable. Please, call time on RG3's career in Washington.
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It's the only sensible decision left. The Redskins cannot let pride and fear prevent them from making it.
Keeping Griffin around is dysfunctional. That might be among the least favorite words of Washington fans, but there's simply no other way to describe this mess. As Grantland.com's Andrew Sharp put it: "This is what the most dysfunctional team in the league looks like. Drink it in."
How else do you explain the bizarre dynamic that has an owner who refuses to give up on a failing quarterback and a head coach who doesn't rate said quarterback being forced to make it work?
Worst still, stuck in the middle is the man tasked with rebuilding more than one position. He has to improve every area of the roster.
But new general manager Scot McCloughan's job will be that much harder as long as he stays stuck in the middle of owner Dan Snyder and head coach Jay Gruden, just one more member of a tangled, Griffin-centric web.
Keeping Griffin around maintains a whole culture McCloughan must change before the Redskins can win. It's a culture where there's always an excuse for failure.
The failures under center continue, yet RG3 continues to be excused. Thom Loverro of the Washington Times said it best after Washington's Griffin-led first-team offense endured a diabolical outing against the Detroit Lions in Week 2 of this preseason.
It was another game where Griffin was outperformed by backups Colt McCoy and Kirk Cousins: "Yet it is clear it wouldn’t matter if Griffin went 0-for-20 with five sacks in any of these preseason games, and McCoy and Cousins played like the second coming of Johnny Unitas. If healthy, Griffin will remain the starting quarterback."
Loverro's right, because no matter what Griffin does or doesn't do—namely win—the excuses will keep rolling in. It's his offensive line, it's his head coach, it's the previous head coach, it's the scheme, it's the injuries.
This is the most excused quarterback in the NFL.
Keeping Griffin around only undermines all the good work McCloughan has done this season. He's fortified the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, a necessary first step in any rebuilding process.
McCloughan won't take Washington to a Super Bowl. But he is a good bet to put in place the first genuine foundation for sustained winning this franchise has known in over a decade (at least).
The only thing that will prevent McCloughan building the right foundation is allowing the dysfunction under center to continue. Sadly, the early signs aren't good.
Griffin was named the unchallenged starter early this offseason. McCloughan even picked up his option for 2016. Nothing like removing the pressure to improve from a guy who has struggled mightily the last two years.
McCloughan has also been eager to praise Griffin, even after a modest showing like the one he produced during the exhibition opener against the Cleveland Browns, per AP reporter Howard Fendrich: "Liked it a lot. Liked it a lot. I see improvement. Liked it a lot. I see confidence. I see ball out on time. I see a good football player."
Those words came after Griffin had failed to lead a touchdown drive in preseason for the umpteenth time. For a tough-talking GM, McCloughan is sure using a lot of soft soap with his team's failed quarterback.
His actions are part of a trend dedicated to coddling Griffin this offseason, according to Mike Jones and Liz Clarke of the Washington Post:
"The coach stopped publicly criticizing the quarterback, citing only signs of progress, however incremental. And throughout training camp, Gruden frequently gave Griffin the benefit of the doubt on close calls, signaling first downs on plays when the quarterback would likely have been sacked had contact been permitted.
...
In style and substance, Gruden and the Redskins abandoned a tough-love approach in favor of nurturing that borders on coddling in hopes it would restore whatever confidence Griffin had lost in an injury-shortened 2014 season in which he was benched for performance, won just one of his seven complete games and finished with more interceptions (six) than touchdown passes (four).
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You shouldn't expect any different from the Redskins hierarchy when it comes to Griffin. This is a franchise already content to let No. 10 start all year, "win, lose, draw, no matter what happens this season," according to B/R Insider Jason Cole:
So, the cost of finally getting Griffin up to speed as a more technically competent passer is going to be the 2015 season. Just like it was the 2013 season and the 2014 campaign.
What the coach and the rest of the players want is obviously immaterial. Making sure Griffin gets to use all nine of his lives is the wish of the owner, and that's that, per Cole:
That's the cost of pride. Potentially writing off an entire season when you have a roster talented enough in other areas to win games now, just so Griffin gets his chance, is ridiculous.
What other team in the league would be so accommodating? No team would.
The irony of Snyder's wish is that he's hired a GM who has a formula conducive to helping less-heralded quarterbacks win. McCloughan has already put this formula in place.
It's a time-tested mix of a run-heavy offense and a strong defense. Looking at Washington's two preseason contests shows how the combination can bear fruit.
In a 20-17 win over the Browns, Washington ran the ball 37 times for 153 yards. Meanwhile, the defense swarmed in for five sacks and snatched an interception.
Similar numbers keyed the 21-17 victory over the Lions. Defensively, the Redskins notched four sacks, while the offense kept the ball on the ground 40 times, gaining 179 yards.
It's significant that Cousins and McCoy directed this formula to success, not Griffin. Gruden's predecessor Mike Shanahan recently spoke about how Cousins can be a winner in the right offense, during an interview with 106.7 The Fan (h/t Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post):
"If you put a guy like Kirk Cousins in and you run the ball 30 to 35 times a game, and then you look back at the success that he had, you’d say, holy cow, look at those stats — when it’s a balanced offense. You can’t put in a guy that’s started nine games in the National Football League and ask him to win games week in and week out in the passing game. It just doesn’t work that way.
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Cousins wasn't supported by that balance last season, but why is neither he nor McCoy given a chance this year? Pride is the only answer that sticks.
Keeping the ball on the ground and playing smothering, opportunistic defense will only take a team so far, but at least it would be a start. It's a formula that demands steady and efficient play from the man under center.
That's something Griffin has never managed. Not even during his explosive rookie year in 2012 when a bumper catalogue of big plays masked his fundamental flaws.
Things will never work with Griffin, and Gruden knows it. More worrying is how the coach doesn't even seem to want to make it work.
Quoting an anonymous league head coach, Bleacher Report's Mike Freeman relayed the feeling of animosity between coach and quarterback is personal. Deeply personal:
"What is baffling is that I can't think of a single head coach in the NFL who would take an injury-prone quarterback, put him behind a very shaky offensive line, in a preseason game, watch him take those kinds of hits and leave him in the game. It looks personal to me.
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A coach determined to show his quarterback who's boss, no matter the cost, is a problem that's certain to rear its ugly head again during the regular season. Gruden is definitely not above blame.
He took a job with a read-option quarterback when he wants a passer able to succeed strictly from the pocket. But it's also understandable that Gruden doesn't want to work with Griffin because he doesn't want to wait. Specifically, he doesn't want the rest of the team to have to wait for RG3 to get it.
Losses and frustration are the only things that will mark the time. If Griffin stays the starter, he needs all the reps he can get.
It doesn't matter how many passes he sails past receivers as gifted as Pierre Garcon and DeSean Jackson. It doesn't matter how much pressure he puts on his O-line while he struggles to make decisions in the pocket.
Never mind those things will make this team lose. Griffin needs the experience. That's why Gruden felt compelled to keep No. 10 under center against a rampant Detroit pass rush.
As Michael Phillips of the Richmond Times-Dispatch notes, that's how things have to work:
Griffin's entering his fourth season, but in terms of mastering the necessary mechanics of his position, he's still a rookie. While he's learning, this team is losing.
There's no reason to let that dynamic continue. Not when there's zero evidence Griffin will ever make it as a competent pro quarterback.
It doesn't help that he doesn't act like he knows he needs to improve. What else can you glean from his "best quarterback in the league" claim made during an interview with WJLA's Alex Parker?
All that did was create a ton of controversy the rebuilding Redskins don't need this offseason. It also prompted yet another excuse for football's most excused quarterback. This is the worst one of all.
Apparently, talking about Griffin's comments to Parker isn't talking about football at all. It seems that Griffin discussing his standing as a quarterback in the National Football League isn't about football. Presumably, he was referring to his ambitions on the tennis court.
As Steinberg, writing for the Post, noted, this quote isn't an isolated thing. He's said similar things to two different networks.
The real issue here is Griffin doesn't act like he knows he needs to get better. There's no acknowledgement he's struggled the last two seasons but he's working on the things that need work to improve.
Getting better is a nuts-and-bolts process. That process is what Griffin should be talking about.
But instead of focusing on the things new quarterbacks coach Matt Cavanaugh is teaching him, No. 10 is content to let everyone know how much of a competitor he is.
We get it. Nobody can dispute RG3's bravery and willingness to compete on the field. But it takes more than bravado to make a good quarterback. It takes more than that to help a team win.
People are tired of the whole thing. Watching Griffin and the Redskins trying to make it work is like re-imagining Groundhog Day as a horror movie.
The fear is real for the fans, the coaches and the player. I don't believe Griffin will ever make it in Washington. But after watching him take so many brutal beatings, of his own making or otherwise, I don't even want to see him try.
After reading recent comments from readers, it's struck me how the tide seems to be turning on the issue of keeping Griffin under center.
If the Redskins pull the plug now on their onetime supposed franchise quarterback, they're likely to find more support from the fanbase than they realize.
The time is ripe to call time on this whole failed experiment. Truthfully, RG3 in D.C. was always doomed to fail.
Griffin was made to look like a franchise savior because this team gave up so much to get him. He was treated like the missing link between losing and winning.
The problem was that he joined a team that still needed so many other things before it could enjoy success on a regular basis. Defensively, Washington was a mess, while the offensive line was in shambles.
The latter is still a problem area based on this preseason. It needs fixing no matter who is under center. But the damage is likely to be less extensive with Cousins or McCoy taking the snaps this season.
Of course, that decision will mean admitting to one of the biggest draft gaffes in NFL history. But honestly, so what?
Every team experiences draft failures. But guess what? They survive. Think of some of the all-time draft busts.
If you're like me, you went for Ryan Leaf and the San Diego Chargers. He proved a disaster after being drafted second overall in 1998.
The Chargers eventually cut bait and recovered. Since Leaf has proved a bust, San Diego has gone to the playoffs fairly regularly, certainly more than Washington. The Chargers won AFC West crowns and even competed for conference championships.
There are many more examples around the league of teams getting over their draft mistakes.
In fact, the Redskins actually have an advantage. McCloughan helped build deep and talented rosters for the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks before arriving in Washington.
On both occasions, he changed the picture at quarterback. It was Alex Smith in the Bay Area and half-sized Houdini Russell Wilson in Seattle. McCloughan knows how to manage the process of embedding a new, young passer.
That experience will come in handy for 2016's draft, a class apparently loaded with quality signal-callers, according to CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd.
Now's the right time to sit Griffin down, or as Sharp put it: "Please, just trade him. Bench him. Give him the Terrell-Owens-on-the-Eagles treatment where he’s paid to be away from the team. Whatever."
Someone will take a chance on Griffin, either during the season or after it. In the meantime, Washington should let Cousins or McCoy manage the games and then draft an heir apparent.
If so, for goodness sake, take a steady approach to that passer's development.
The formula for this season won't win a Super Bowl. It may not even get the Redskins into the playoffs. But it will pick up more wins than you can expect with No. 10 throwing the ball. That's a good start for a brighter future.
Above all, Washington can finally admit its mistake with RG3 and just accept defeat over their 2012 investment.
The franchise will survive. It will just do it with fewer headlines and fewer defeats.
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