Washington Redskins: Why QB Rex Grossman's Week 1 Performance Is Overblown

Washington Redskins quarterback Rex Grossman surprised many skeptics Sunday with his 305 passing yards, two touchdowns and zero picks as the Redskins beat the New York Giants 28-14.

This is one game, and Grossman has battled big highs and lows throughout his nine-year career. Expect the underachieving quarterback to resume in his inconsistency until proven otherwise.

After being a first-team All-American and Heisman Trophy runner-up at the University of Florida, Grossman has not translated his collegiate consistency to the pros. Instead, a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde persona of "Good Rex" and "Bad Rex" has developed.

Sunday's "Good Rex" had a quarterback rating of 110.5, but that was only the ninth time in his career having a rating higher than 100. Seven of those 100-plus ratings came during the 2006 Chicago Bears Super Bowl run, where he had a career-high 23 touchdowns and 3,193 yards passing. He also won "NFC Offensive Player of the Month" in September with seven touchdowns and 829 passing yards.

Passing for 300 yards is a good accomplishment, though that is something Grossman has reached four times in his career, three times for Washington. Perspective should be used as "Sexy Rexy" threw 300-plus yard during garbage time in 2010 when Donovan McNabb was on his way out.

The scarier statistic is when "Bad Rex" decides to show up and haunt "Good Rex." In 11 out of 43 career games, Grossman has a quarterback rating of 48 or under, including three that were 10.2 or lower.

The 2006 Bears' survived two "Bad Rex" outings (a 10.2 rating against the Arizona Cardinals and an abysmal 1.3 rating against the Minnesota Vikings) because Chicago fielded the best defensive unit in the NFL. However, the Bears could not recover in a 26-7 loss to Green Bay where Grossman threw 2-for-12 for 33 yards and three picks; his quarterback rating was zero.

Grossman's play progressively got worse in 2007, including a 27.5 rating against the Dallas Cowboys that caused Brian Griese to become the starter the next six weeks.

In 2008, Grossman could not beat out Kyle Orton for the starting job and wasted on the bench. He then went to the Houston Texans as Matt Schaub's backup and then arrived as McNabb's backup in 2010.

No. 8 did have a very nice performance Sunday and it was one of his best career starts. However, Redskins' fans should be cautious when it comes to Grossman. Some weeks he's fantastic; some weeks he's horrid.

Bob Bajek is a freelance reporter and can followed at Patch.com and Twitter.