Necessary Roughness, Week 13: Would RG3 Play Better on a New Team?
Some of you may recall my entry a few weeks ago in which I opined that the Redskins are setting RG3 up for failure by naming him the starting QB a week after Colt McCoy led the team to a dramatic road win over the Cowboys. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I am a complete moron — I’m almost always wrong, and my life up to this point has been a comedy of errors that has ultimately brought me here… writing an amateur NFL blog for a heavy metal website. I’ve had a hell of a time describing my column to friends and family who know nothing about either sports or heavy music. It’s hard enough for them to grasp the tongue-in-cheek irony of the domain metalsucks.net, and of course they’re all bewildered at why a site like this would even have a sports column of any sort. So I’m really not trying to fool anyone here. I’m just flapping my gums for the most part, giving half-cocked opinion that is relatively unsubstantiated by research or knowledge of any kind.
Having said all that, boy was I dead-on about my assessment of RG3’s return to the starting lineup! I mean, I nailed that one. When RG3 returned, the Redskins lost the next three games and the embattled QB not only played poorly, but he fully lost the confidence and perhaps the professional respect of his coach and fellow teammates. I’ll say it again: I like RG3. He seems like a solid dude. He’s got tons of talent and if put in the perfect situation, I think he can be successful in this league. But as of now he has a few fundamental flaws. First of all, his ego gets in his way. He is constantly saying the wrong things publicly, giving the media all the fodder they need to do what they do best, talk shit. Secondly, Griffin is entirely too prone to injury to play the way the Redskins need him to play. If he is going to last in this league, he has to be on a team with an elite offensive line and he has to have flawless mechanics in the pocket.
The best thing for RG3 right now would a fresh start with a new organization. The Redskins are a mess, and they’ve been a mess for a number of years. The last Redskins QB with any kind of multi-year success was Mark Rypien in the late ’80s to early ’90s. In fact, in the 15 years that Dan Snyder has owned this team, they’ve been plagued with instability in key leadership positions both on and off the field.
In summary, RG3 has been bad. But so has his team. The NFL culture is for QB’s and coaches to take all the blame for failure and none of the credit for success. But we all know that’s not the reality. It takes a TEAM to win games in this league. The Redskins are a bad team. It’s not a good fit for RG3 and his skillset. I hope he gets the opportunity to prove himself somewhere else. Look at Mark Sanchez. A year ago his butt fumble was the subject of months of public shaming on SportsCenter. And now he’s with a new team. A good team. And he’s playing well and winning games.
RG3 didn’t start yesterday when his team played the fittingly named Colts, led by RG3’s unspoken rival Andrew Luck. Colt McCoy played well, but the result was the same: the Redskins lost. While McCoy has done a noble job, there is a reason he was third on the QB depth chart. Maybe he’s having a revival of sorts and he becomes an All Pro. But if Washington is putting all their eggs in that basket, they might be in for another decade or so of irrelevance.
Some quick thoughts on yesterday’s results:
Green Bay is the best team in the NFC.
The Eagles are the second best team in the NFC.
Arizona’s magical season may be in flux right now. I just feel it in my gut.
The Cowboys are going to miss the playoffs. I hope.
The Chargers are back on track, but not for long. Their schedule is about to get gnarly.
The Colts are about to make a push. They will likely be favored to win each of their last four games.
The AFC North is interesting.
The NFC South is not interesting.
Miami MUST beat the Jets tonight.
The Panthers are taking years off of my life. Please win a game. Just one. Please.
