Seahawks vs. Redskins: Hobbled RGIII Highlights Risk of Mobile QB in NFL

Robert Griffin III’s less-than-stellar performance against the Seattle Seahawks in his first playoff appearance shows the risk of employing a mobile QB in the NFL.

In college football, teams live and die by the utilization of mobile quarterbacks. Spread offenses led by these QBs open up the field and allow teams to confuse and misdirect defenses in order to get the ball into space.

It’s a fine system, and it has worked for years in the college game.

But how about in the NFL?

Griffin was as dynamic as he was in college, if not more, in his rookie season for the Washington Redskins. His ability to run the football and work off of the read option gave him an edge that not many rookie QBs enjoy.

Defenders had to account for those abilities, and it opened things up down the field for him. Everything seemed like it was all falling into place for a change in the way NFL teams operate.

Barriers were falling; the age of the mobile quarterback was dawning.

But what does Griffin’s hobbled performance in the Skins’ wild-card loss to the Seahawks say about the danger of choosing this route at the NFL level?

If RGIII was healthy, none of this would even matter. But he wasn’t healthy because he took a beating this season and ended up being unable to finish what he started.

The NFL is not college football—plain and simple. Athletes are bigger, faster and more punishing than the collective group Griffin faced each week in Big 12 conference action.

Griffin’s style is certainly exciting and effective, but his team suffered in this instance.

So, what do you think?

Is this just another reminder as to why the NFL is too brutal for a dual-threat QB to survive?

Or is this just a small speed bump in what will be the eventual shift towards mobile quarterbacks and high-tempo spread offenses?

Whatever you think, we can all agree that this was a disappointing climax to an otherwise exciting first season for the Redskins QB.

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