It Won't Matter Who Plays Quarterback Behind Awful Washington Redskins' O-Line

Robert Griffin III, Kirk Cousins or Colt McCoy. If you're a Washington Redskins fan, you'll have a strong opinion on who should play quarterback for the Burgundy and Gold in 2015.

But really, it doesn't matter who starts under center. Griffin, Cousins and McCoy won't win behind what is still a dire offensive line.

If the Redskins needed a reminder that a new position coach and a top-five draft pick have done little to improve their feeble front, it took only two first-quarter drives in their 21-17 preseason win over the Detroit Lions to provide one.

It was a small sample size but all that was needed to see what the future holds for the men under center in Washington this season. Based on this very un-pretty picture, Griffin, Cousins and McCoy should be huddled around a crystal ball screaming in horror.

There are probably still parts of No. 10 buried in the surface at FedEx Field after the Lions pasted Griffin throughout the opening quarter. CBS Sports' Will Brinson relayed these highlights of the punishment, certainly not for the faint of heart:

Bleacher Report's Jason Cole broke down Griffin's nightmare outing into cold, hard statistical reality:

That fumble and the ensuing pileup was the merciful end to Griffin's night. But even mercy came with a price. RG3 left the field with a shoulder stinger and needing to undergo a concussion protocol, according to Gregg Rosenthal of the league's official site.

Head coach Jay Gruden confirmed Griffin did have a concussion, per Cole, but his shoulder should be fine.

It was all in a night's work for this frighteningly generous offensive line.

Detroit's first sack came when Brandon Scherff, the aforementioned top-five pick, was shoved back into Griffin by Tyrunn Walker.

Grant Paulsen of 106.7 The Fan described how easily Scherff was handled:

Things hardly got better for Scherff, according to Mike Jones of the Washington Post:

I know, I know, he's only a rookie! But Scherff is this team's top draft pick. He was taken in the first round to be a building block up front, a key figure in the revival of a line that surrendered 56 sacks a year ago.

But he's already been moved from right tackle to guard amid issues in pass protection. Now he's having trouble at the interior.

While he has a high ceiling and plenty of time to improve, it's safe to say Scherff hasn't made the best first impression. How long before his issues are more than just rookie teething problems and something to really worry about?

Based on the beating Griffin took from the Lions, not very long at all.

Since Scherff tucked inside, Morgan Moses has taken the reins at right tackle. The big man has shown some push in the running game but isn't exactly redefining pass protection into an art form, as ESPN.com's John Keim noted:

If an entire side of a line doesn't work, the whole unit is in trouble. But that's nothing compared to the trouble facing Washington's quarterbacks.

Of course, the left side wasn't in great shape against the Lions. It couldn't be with Pro Bowl tackle Trent Williams sitting out.

It's safe to say stand-in Willie Smith had a tough night. He contributed to one of the many brutal, eye-watering hits Griffin took, per Michael Phillips of the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Just as they had for Scherff, things soon got worse for Smith. He allowed a pass-rusher to go untouched to Griffin and plant the already more-than-dinged passer into the ground.

Jones bluntly summed up Smith's effort on the play:

Smith's diabolical showing highlighted the lack of quality depth at one of the most important positions on the team. Tom Compton was busy playing tight end, but even if he was available, 2012's sixth-round pick would hardly inspire much confidence protecting the blindside.

ESPN's Jason Reid quipped how Williams was the winner despite having to watch his quarterback get obliterated:

Good for Williams, but what about Washington's chances of, say, winning more than five games in a season again at some point in the next century? That's going to depend on good quarterback play, and that will only be possible if the team's passers are kept upright.

Significantly, Jones refused to acknowledge Scherff's inexperience or Smith's presence as reasons to excuse the carnage at FedEx:

This is the real point. Yes, it's still only preseason, and this was a win, albeit an empty one. Yes, the Lions are also a pretty good defense, a unit certainly no slouch in pressuring the pocket.

But Washington's efforts to bolster an annually drab O-line should be further along than this. That's why Bill Callahan was poached from hated foe the Dallas Cowboys. He arrived with a justified reputation as one of the leading line gurus in football.

Yet Callahan built a stellar line in the Lone Star State with a bevy of first-round picks. It was also a group defined more by run blocking than pass protection.

David Richard/Associated Press

Watching Griffin get folded up over and over, it was easy to think back to Week 8 of last season. That was the week the Redskins went into Dallas and embarrassed Callahan's star-studded front.

It was the night a Jim Haslett-coached defense, a Jim Haslett-coached defense (disbelief, not a typo), sacked Tony Romo five times. The Cowboys just couldn't pick up the array of blitzes the man they call 'Haz' unleashed.

Was that just a blip in the Callahan-esque grand design? Or was it a glimpse of things to come? Based on what Callahan's Washington line has shown so far, nobody associated with the Redskins is going to like that answer.

They won't like it because dire pass protection derails an aerial attack that's actually neither aerial nor an attack. To put that point into numerical reality, here's the passing stat when Griffin was on the field against the Lions, per Neil Greenberg of the Washington Post, who appears to have taken a screen shot from the league's official site:

No, your eyes do not deceive you. It really says -8.

Greenberg was consistently critical of the plays called while Griffin was under center. Clearly, he saw these calls as a contributory factor to that not-even total:

Later, Greenberg was explicit about what he sees as a difference between an offense led by Griffin and one directed by a different signal-caller:

If you're sitting down, take a deep breath and try not to fall forward. If you're standing, you should sit. I'm actually going to defend Griffin here.

He gets a pass because of the way the ability to protect or not naturally influences the pass plays coaches call and offenses can execute. It's a catch-22, swings and roundabouts and a third way of saying it I can't think of.

When your quarterback is being regularly hammered, it makes sense to call quicker plays that put less of an onus on the line to hold up for long. Quicker plays mean dumpoff passes to connect with short-range routes.

Like it or not, that's just where the Redskins are, given the current state of this line, which is why the big question coming out of this game isn't Griffin's health or who plays quarterback if he's out for a while.

No, the real question is: Did Washington do enough to improve its O-line this offseason? Sure, general manager Scot McCloughan drafted Scherff in the top five. He even added guard Arie Kouandjio in Round 4.

But were those choices really enough when there are major question marks at every spot except left tackle? Some of the dollars that went on defensive linemen Ricky Jean Francois, Stephen Paea and Terrance Knighton would have been better spent on a competent right tackle and a powerful guard.

Callahan has his work cut out for him. Things have been bad so far, but the worst is yet to come. If you thought this was ugly, just imagine how things are going to look once the real action begins in Week 1 against the Miami Dolphins.

Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald puts names to the inevitable horrors:

The really scary thought is how the Dolphins are just the start of this O-line's problems. There are the St. Louis Rams, Carolina Panthers, New York Jets and Buffalo Bills to consider. The horror.

It won't matter if Griffin starts or if Cousins or McCoy take his place. It won't even matter if Gruden recreates an in-his-prime Joe Montana in a laboratory in his attic.

If Callahan's line doesn't get up to speed soon, another season will be lost amid a pile of broken quarterbacks.