Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
It has come to the surprise of some that the Washington Redskins find themselves at 0-2 to begin the 2013 NFL season. I am not one of the surprised individuals for several reasons.
Sure, this is a talented football team at key positions and they are fairly healthy in comparison to the 2012 season when they won the NFC East title and finished 10-6. They have a healthy Brian Orakpo rushing the passer. They have a healthy Fred Davis at the tight end position. They have a healthy Robert Griffin III… well, sort of.
I’m not going to blame RGIII entirely for the Redskins’ trials and tribulations thus far, but he is part of the problem. It can’t be denied that Griffin isn’t taking care of the ball as well as he did last season for the boys in D.C. He also can’t be excused for misreading coverages and throwing the wrong option routes to his receivers. He hasn’t been stepping into his throws with full-force and it shows as the ball sails out of bounds or incomplete.
That’s where the blame-game stops with Griffin. In my eyes, he still doesn’t appear to be 100%, but he must be the best guy for the job if head coach Mike Shanahan keeps throwing him out their as opposed to backup quarterback Kirk Cousins. The Redskins coaching staff and defense are an entirely different topic in and of itself.
First, the coaching staff. “Operation Patience” is clearly coming back and biting Shanahan and his staff badly, as Griffin still appears to be working out the kinks from “training camp mode.” It appears that early on the coach is setting the dual-threat quarterback up for disaster for several reasons and the main one being he is throwing the ball entirely too much.
RGIII has nine rushing attempts in two games… yes, you read that correctly. Nine. Unacceptable for a guy who made a living out of the read-option offense and it is also unfair to a guy like Alfred Morris who ran for over 1600 yards last season. Sure, Morris went over the 100-yard plateau against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, but that game was well out of reach by halftime… much like their first game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Of those nine attempts for Griffin, six have been designed runs, two scrambles and one kneel-down. That’s it. 25 rushing yards for a guy who ran for 815 and seven scores last season. I know his second torn ACL injury is scary, but this is the system he excels in. Griffin is an exceptional pocket passer, but much like most quarterbacks in the league, they shouldn’t have to throw the football 40 or 50 times a game. Griffin was efficient last season because defenses would put extra guys in the box to defend the run and he would utilize the Redskins’ speed and play-action abilities to his advantage. That doesn’t exist anymore as what was the best rushing offense in the league last season is now a team that doesn’t have an identity an offense.
I hate to use this phrase, but he needs to be unleashed. Griffin is not 100%, but in order for him to succeed in the league, he has to play his offense period. If Shanahan doesn’t allow him to play his offense, they’ll continue to lose football games. They know who they are, they just have to be themselves.
Now, the defense. Jim Haslett is lucky to still have his defensive coordinator job. The reason why I picked the Redskins in the beginning of the season to win the NFC East is because of one thing: continuity. The Redskins return 21 of 22 starters from last year’s division-winning team. However, what I failed to consider was just how bad that secondary was and how they did virtually nothing to address it.
Green Bay is a prolific passing team no matter the opponent, so it’s almost unfair to indict this pass defense based on that. But, the same results roughly happened in Week 1 against the Eagles. If the Redskins expect to repeat as division champs and return to the NFL Playoffs, they will have to find better ways to get after the quarterback to hide that dejected secondary… it can’t just be the Ryan Kerrigan show and hope everyone else comes to the party.
Given that there wasn’t a whole lot of changes to this roster heading into 2013, I was one to believe that this team was set to take the next step. I guess change is good sometimes because in the Redskins’ case, they stayed the same and it looks like they’ve gotten worse.
