Washington Redskins Fans Right to Lose Patience with Robert Griffin III

The sound over the PA system at FedEx Field was unmistakable. It was not a sound Robert Griffin III has heard very often since he started playing football, but he couldn't ignore it. The Washington Redskins supposed franchise quarterback was being booed by his own fans.

As another pass floated harmlessly to the ground, or sailed over the head over an open receiver, the boos grew louder. As Griffin tumbled to the dirt in the arms of a Tampa Bay Buccaneers pass-rusher after yet again holding on to the ball too long, the boos grew louder. As another one of his passes found its way into the hands of a defensive player, the boos grew louder.

By the end of Washington's dismal 27-7 home defeat to the Bucs, the cacophony of negativity meant only one thing: Redskins fans are losing patience with Griffin.

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Those feeling disgruntled are absolutely right to vent their frustration toward the quarterback supposed to herald a bright future. The only thing Griffin is signalling at the moment is the promise of more misery for a franchise that has made the playoffs just five times since last winning the Super Bowl following the 1991 season.

There are two big questions currently hovering ominously over Washington's NFL franchise. Both involve the quarterback.

The first is: How long do the Redskins have to wait for Griffin to get it? One of the five playoff berths this team has managed since flattening the Buffalo Bills on a snow-covered day in Minnesota came during Griffin's rookie year. But his regression since 2012 has been frightening.

Head coach Jay Gruden made reference to Griffin's two-year funk following Week 11's defeat, per ESPN 980 reporter Chris Russell:

Sadly, the search for answers appears to have led Washington down a maze the franchise is likely to be stuck in for some time. At the heart of the problem is finding an offense that suits Griffin's particular blend of dual-threat skills, but one that can also mask his many and obvious weaknesses.

The first part of that dynamic was briefly solved by Mike and Kyle Shanahan in 2012. A strike-shortened offseason meant the Shanahans had little time to get the player they'd just drafted second overall up to speed in their system.

That made expediency the Redskins' friend. To save time, the Shanahans wisely cherry-picked the best bits from the read-option scheme that made Griffin a star at Baylor.

Combined with the famous Shanahan zone-based ground game, the option stuff helped Griffin catch an unsuspecting NFL cold. With sixth-round steal running back Alfred Morris by his side, Griffin outran confused defenses all the way to a 10-6 record, an NFC East title and a trip to the postseason.

While the lockout was a gross inconvenience to most of the league, it certainly did Washington and Griffin a few favors. But trouble was lurking just beneath the waters and surfaced as soon as Griffin crumpled up with a serious knee injury against the Seattle Seahawks in the playoffs.

That injury, along with the Shanahans' desire to hone the rough edges of their young passer's game, demanded a different offense. Those factors facilitated more pro-style concepts and placed a greater emphasis on what a less mobile Griffin could do from the pocket.

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The crash from 10-6 to 3-13 in just one season was deeply rooted in Griffin's limitations. Without the extra time afforded by defenses trying to figure out the read-option, it soon became clear Griffin had very serious deficiencies in his game.

Those deficiencies, particularly an inability to read coverage and be decisive with the football, wrecked what had been the league's most explosive offense. That meant goodbye to the Shanahans and hello to Gruden, the young, supposedly quarterback-friendly coach who had groomed Andy Dalton with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Dalton made three trips to the playoffs on Gruden's watch. But whatever he did in Cincy hasn't worked for Gruden in D.C.

He tried to reduce the reliance on the read-option and confine Griffin to the pocket in Week 1 against the Houston Texans. That didn't work, as the Redskins were comfortably handled 17-6.

Gruden's next step has been to steadily reintroduce read-option principles. After all, it worked wonders for Griffin in the past. However, those wonders have been in short supply in defeats to the Minnesota Vikings and the Buccaneers.

Against the Bucs, Gruden tried another adjustment. He shortened the field for Griffin with more underneath concepts, more safe throws. Mike Jones of The Washington Post took quick note of the trend:

The problem is that didn't work either. When the schemes change but the quarterback continues to struggle, maybe it's time to start blaming the quarterback.

That leads to the next, bigger and more worrying question: Will Griffin ever make the grade as a quality pro quarterback?

There are certainly plenty of reasons to be skeptical. Most of them are rooted in the many fundamental flaws evident in his game.

Griffin has chronic trouble progressing through his reads, which is tied in with his difficulty reading coverage. Those foibles are both linked to his tendency to hold on to the ball until a grateful pass-rusher has time to get home.

The pattern is a depressingly familiar one. Griffin scans the field and sees his first read covered. Now he doesn't know what to do.

He holds the ball, holds the ball, holds the ball, holds the ball...sack. That's a cycle that is played out so often it even removes a portion of the blame from an admittedly woeful offensive line.

The porous blockers in front of Griffin weren't at fault when his hesitancy as good as gifted the Vikings five sacks in Week 9. The Bucs helped themselves to six sacks in Week 11, at least half of which were due to Griffin's unwillingness to throw the ball.

No O-line, even those better than this group, probably a large collection in its own right, can adequately protect for that long. To those who would argue Griffin has been unfortunate to face some quality pass-rushers in the last two weeks, prepare for a sobering thought.

Two of Washington's next three games are against the San Francisco 49ers and St. Louis Rams. Those are the same 49ers who have just welcomed back premier edge-rusher Aldon Smith from suspension. It's the same Rams defense, featuring end Robert Quinn and tackle Aaron Donald, that just swarmed all over Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.

Sooner or later, the excuses have to run out for Griffin. That time should be now, because it's not just the throws he doesn't make that plague Griffin and the Redskins. There's enough wrong with the passes he does attempt.

Take the pass that was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by young Tampa Bay cornerback Johnthan Banks. It was an indictment of Griffin's lack of development as a passer.

First, he locked onto his primary read, practically staring him down before the ball was even snapped. That's a cardinal no-no for any quarterback, but particularly against the type of opportunistic scheme favored by Bucs head coach Lovie Smith.

Because he was so focused on his receiver, Griffin didn't see linebacker Mason Foster dropping into the slant lane to undercut the pass. The linebacker simply kept his eyes on Griffin and read the throw.

Foster tipped the ball, and Banks was the grateful recipient. Reading Griffin's eyes has become a quick cheat sheet for every defender he faces. He's that obvious with his intent.

What was equally disturbing was how little work the Bucs had to do for the turnover. This was no marvel of schematic ingenuity from Smith and his staff, or even a particularly intuitive ad-lib by his players.

All Foster did was spot-drop, which is a coverage technique that's exactly what it sounds like. Foster just rotated to an area and stood there.

Griffin didn't see him because he limited his eyes to one tiny sliver of the field. This horrendous gaffe reminded me of the pick-six Griffin tossed to Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson in Week 14 last season.

Then it was Johnson spot-dropping to make Griffin foolish. But here's the ugly truth: Spot-dropping isn't supposed to work against competent quarterbacks.

Against signal-callers able to read the field, defenses are supposed to indulge in more sophisticated pattern-reading. Sadly, it doesn't take much to get the better of Griffin.

How could it when he makes so many basic errors? He doesn't use his eyes to give himself options, as ESPN.com Redskins reporter John Keim described:

As Keim noted, it's a habit that leads to blown opportunities. There were certainly enough of those against the Bucs, as Jones detailed:

This is a problem that's deeper than mere systemic issues inherent in Griffin learning Gruden's scheme. That's a process that certainly isn't running smoothly.

Gruden made reference to Griffin not making the most of certain play designs against Tampa Bay, per Jones:

It's not particularly encouraging to hear the coach put the blame on his quarterback in a not-so-subtle way. However, this is a deep-rooted issue in Griffin's game, one that could prove fatal to his overall development.

He seems incapable of working through his reads at the speed required to spread the ball around and punishes natural holes in coverage. That process usually begins with a quarterback establishing a quick overview of the field, something Griffin rarely achieves.

That should be a major concern to the decision-makers in Washington. It's a glaring flaw in what are basic, yet fundamental mechanics for any successful NFL quarterback.

There is the essence of the problem with Griffin, and the reason behind growing impatience in the stands. This is a player with severe weaknesses in the key technical aspects of playing quarterback.

Griffin making the grade at the pro level is therefore likely to be a long, long process. It's one that is far from guaranteed to have a happy ending.

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Hopefully, that's something owner Dan Snyder, a champion of Griffin's talent and potential, will take note of. It's unlikely that the sight of so many empty seats and the sound of booing for most of the four quarters against the Bucs could have escaped Snyder's attention.

But the owner can hardly blame the fans. This franchise traded away two first-round picks and a second-rounder for Griffin. Essentially, Washington gave away the means to secure a successful future for a player supposedly able to win now.

What have the Redskins gotten for their investment? The very real potential of two losing seasons out of three, one high-profile coaching casualty, an apparently divided locker room and enough bad press to last a decade.

Yes, Griffin's injuries haven't helped, nor has a lack of talent along the O-line or in the defensive secondary. But in a sporting culture most often concerned with the bottom line, those things are now starting to sound like excuses, thinly veiled ones that can no longer mask the harsh reality.

That's the reality that says the Redskins are stuck with a quarterback only effective in the read-option but no longer physically able to run it. Stuck with a quarterback a million miles short of the pro standard, whose basic failings make you wonder if he'll ever reach it.

The unrest voiced against the Bucs felt like a tipping point in the relationship between Griffin and many of Washington's fans. Now it's time for the decision-makers within the franchise to ask just how patient they are prepared to be with Griffin before they'll make the tough, but probably necessary, call.