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You do have a point. It's unclear right now as to how he has progressed in terms of the pre-snap read. We just haven't seen enough of him in the preseason to say he hasn't improved or he has improved in reading defenses. I will say, when he's had time to throw, he's thrown to wide open receivers. But I haven't seen him look over the defense and call out adjustments. That might be by design though.
Here's the question to ask yourself... If you are starting your own team.. you can choose any starting (or presumptive starting, since we're in preseason) QB in the league.. Who would you take RGIII over?
He's the 29th or 30th best starting QB in the a league of 32 starting QBs.
Manziel.. Geno Smith.. Any others? Those are the only two I can think of that would be a downgrade.
The chicken/egg thing is vaild, there is no question Griffin has terrible pocket presence. But when a QB has heavy pressure on every single throw, even the quick ones, I am not ready to put the blame on him. It would be nice to see him given at least a chance for success before closing the book on him. Thursday night Willie Smith single handily prevented him from having any chance at all.
Here is a pretty good breakdown of the pass plays Griffin had on Thursday. This guy Kiem has been very very critical of Griffin in the past so he is not offering any excuses.
Down and distance: Second-and-11 Time before pass: 2.13 seconds before he was hit. What happened: Griffin was pressured up the middle then tried to spin to the left away from pressure only to find more. He was sacked and fumbled, but the Redskins recovered. Why it happened: Griffin had little time to do anything and the receivers were not yet turned around. Right guard Brandon Scherff had the same issue: His hands are too wide, leaving his chest exposed, which the defender used to drive him back into Griffin. Tough to blame this on the quarterback, though it was a good chance for him to show any improved pocket presence/movement if nothing else – the opening was to his right (easy to see after the fact, no doubt). Regardless, he needed to take better care of the ball.
Down and distance: Third-and-21 Time before pass: .98 seconds What happened: Screen to the left to Andre Roberts. Why it happened: Nothing bad here. There’s no need to put him in a bad situation so pick up some yards and punt. Smart play call.
Down and distance: First-and-10 Time before pass: 2.98 seconds What happened: Griffin used play-action and took a five-step drop, only to have his pass batted down by Lions linebacker Tahir Whitehead. Why it happened: Because left tackle Willie Smith was beaten to the inside and driven back into the passing lane on the other side of the pocket. It almost looked like interior pressure, but in reality it was the left tackle getting moved over. The rest of the pocket was solid.
Down and distance: Second-and-10 Time before pass: 1.88 seconds. What happened: Griffin connected for 4 yards to receiver Pierre Garcon on a little hook route. But Griffin was hit on the throw. Why it happened: A blitz off the edge left a man free on Griffin, but what compounded it was Smith also giving up pressure again to his inside. The result: Griffin was hit again. It did not impact the play because Griffin was going to Garcon regardless, but it was yet another hit.
Down and distance: Third-and-6 Time before pass: 2.63 seconds What happened: Griffin took a three-step drop then a hitch step and threw the ball. He was drilled by a linebacker on a delayed blitz. Why it happened: No one picked up the linebacker. The back, Chris Thompson, went inside to help vs. the five-man rush. But that left the Lions linebacker with a free lane. He had dropped, but when he saw the opening, he took it and drilled Griffin. To Griffin’s credit, he hung in there and delivered a catchable ball to receiver Andre Roberts. Perhaps Griffin could have helped himself by not taking a hitch step and just planting and throwing. The ball was out as Roberts broke.
Down and Distance: Third-and-2. Time before pass: 1.90 seconds before he was hit. What happened: Griffin threw incomplete to Garcon on the right side, but mainly because he was drilled as he started to throw. As Griffin started to throw, Garcon was just coming out of his break. At some point a quarterback has to throw with trust in his protection. Why it happened: Because nobody blocked a defensive end in a four-point stance. That’s a new one. Smith blocked down on the play and the running back, Chris Thompson, was on the other side of Griffin. He looked to that side, started to go there but went to the middle.
Down and distance: Second-and-12 Time before pass: 2.41 seconds What happened: Griffin was sacked for a 4-yard loss. Why it happened: Smith allowed the defender into his pads and was driven back. The rest of the pocket was clean, but Griffin tried to move up and did so into more pressure.
Down and distance: Third-and-16 Time before pass: 3.00 seconds What happened: On another straight dropback, Griffin tried to run through the right side, but the ball was too loose and it fell out. In trying to recover it, he was hit in the head by Detroit lineman Corey Wootton, resulting in a concussion. Why it happened: Because Griffin took off running from a clean pocket. Maybe he was so scarred by this point that he felt pressure that didn’t exist. Tough way to survive as a passer, though. In this situation, perhaps they could have called screen just to get the ball out – or an inside handoff to Thompson. Regardless, Griffin had options available underneath. The Lions took away the two deep routes – six defenders were at least 10 yards from the line of scrimmage. In this case, hit an underneath target and let them take the punishment. Griffin had zero shot at picking up a first down with his legs.
I'm sure he does. But with the vast majority of these plays that wasn't the problem, the problem was the players in front of him getting their ass kicked.
I think this Saturday will tell the tale of Robert Griffin III. If the first team offense doesn't have a good outing, I think we most certainly will be in for a long year. Yes, I realize it's just preseason, but having little success to build on from the preseason can definitely have lingering, hangover effects into the regular season. It's a mental thing. When your first team hasn't scored more than 3 points in two games, that's an issue. Again, I realize you can't read much into preseason, but we're talking about a quarterback that is in a prove it or shut up year. And as matter of fact, Gruden might be in such a year himself. Scot McCloughan is going to rebuild the Redskins, and I don't think he's going to do it with any respect to any player or coach on the team. He's going to try his best to put the best players on the team, and the best coaches as well. I don't know what we have just yet with Jay Gruden. Honestly, I don't know what we have with RGIII. I do know we have some solid players that will improve the team, but I can't say the team will win more than six games this year. Which actually will be an improvement.
The chicken/egg thing is vaild, there is no question Griffin has terrible pocket presence. But when a QB has heavy pressure on every single throw, even the quick ones, I am not ready to put the blame on him. It would be nice to see him given at least a chance for success before closing the book on him. Thursday night Willie Smith single handily prevented him from having any chance at all.
The O-Line gives their side of the story to the WaPo.
Quote:
The offensive line must protect better than it did in the debacle against Detroit, and it certainly should if Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams returns to the lineup.
But there were instances in the Lions game in which Griffin could have helped himself.
On a first-quarter incompletion, Willie Smith, filling in at left tackle, appeared to whiff in blocking his defender, allowing him to drill Griffin as he tried throwing to his right.
After the game, Smith said that the defender wasn’t his responsibility on that play. And Sunday, after reviewing film, Gruden said that the staff, quarterback and linemen could all have done a better job identifying the blitzes.
In that situation, Williams explained later, it’s up to the quarterback to recognize the on-rushing defender and get rid of the ball immediately — even faster than Griffin managed in attempting to complete the pass.
That brings up the question of Griffin’s awareness in the pocket. In some cases, he sensed pressure coming and slipped out of the pocket, only to run into a defender’s path.
Some people say Chris Cooley is a jealous hater. But he gives very technical breakdowns. And he has insight into management and coaching that many analysts do not.
Quote:
The protection is three-step drop out of shotgun,” Cooley said. “Robert takes the ball, plants, and he’s maybe got Ryan Grant [open], but Scherff’s bulled directly into him. It’s a simple matter of sliding and finding a window to throw the football. Now Scherff does get bulled back, but Scherff stays in front of him on a three-man drop protection. You have to be able to slide as a quarterback to distribute. You can’t just let pressure come into your lap. It’s a simple movement of two steps right, throw ball. If he throws the ball, we don’t even notice Scherff got bulled back into the backfield. …
Interesting breakdown of Manning's pre-snap adjustments.
Protection Adjustments
One common thing Manning does at the line of scrimmage is make protection adjustments. Although Manning gets the ball out quickly, quick pressure can still disrupt Denver's passing game. Manning can tell his offensive line and his running backs whom to block simply by calling out whom he believes is the “Mike” linebacker. That is, the middle linebacker whom the offensive line is responsible for blocking. The Mike may actually be a safety, a cornerback or even a defensive lineman. The defense will often move players around to try to confuse the offense, but Manning thrives at deciphering it.
On a 3rd-and-2 on the Broncos’ first drive in the AFC Championship Game, a protection call was the key to the conversion. This Broncos’ drive happened to be the only one that ended in a punt this postseason, but that doesn't take away the play.
First, Manning identifies a blitzing safety, No. 28 Steve Gregory. Defenses know that they can’t show their intentions too early, so they often wait until fewer than 10 seconds remain on the play clock, as the New England Patriots did here. Showing blitz with eight seconds on the play clock still gave Manning enough time to make an adjustment.
Game Rewind
Manning shouted, “54 is Mike!”
This told the offensive line that linebacker Dont’a Hightower was their blocking responsibility. It also told running back Knowshon Moreno that the blitzing safety was his blocking responsibility. If the safety didn’t blitz, either Moreno would have helped left tackle Chris Clark or leaked out of the backfield to become a checkdown for Manning should he have needed it.
Manning bobbled the snap—just one of many things that can go wrong after the snap in the NFL. Without good protection, a sack-fumble was a possibility. Instead, Manning got control of the ball and hit wide receiver Eric Decker for a first down.
As is usually the case, Manning’s protection call was perfect. The safety blitzed, and Moreno was in good position to pick it up. Clark passed the defensive end off to right guard Zane Beadles so he was ready to block Hightower.
Manning correctly presumed that the Patriots weren’t going to bring two linebackers from the trips (three receivers) side because either there would be a huge mismatch, a receiver uncovered or both—depending on which players came on the blitz.
Manning is just superhuman with that stuff. I think most any quarterback would have a hard time doing those pre-snap reads and adjustments as well as Peyton Manning does it. He's being doing it a very long time and probably the best quarterback ever at adjusting the offensive protections.
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