Pistol Tony

[T-RO]

Originally Posted by jterrell

When the QB is considered a runner the defense can in fact tee off. That has happened more and more with teams even willing to take 15 yard penalties to make those hard hits on QBs. That is the single largest reason this stuff will cease. If RG3 comes back next year but takes another hit in the legs and tears his ACL again because he was running read-option Shanahan will need full-time security. If Redskin fans don't lynch him plenty of folks in the state of Texas will be ready to. RG3 lead insanely effective college offense without needing to run much or use read-option stuff.

...No offense that places the QB in danger regularly will last.

A month or two ago I probably declared this exact thing: It's much quarterback injury risk to have them running. But then while watching the Atlanta-Seattle game I started comparing who was taking the most punishment.

Ryan is one of the less mobile quarterbacks in the NFL and he was getting slammed...in some very vulnerable positions. A lot of big hits just as he released the ball. (A week later we of course witnessed Ryan being injured right at the most crucial point of the 49er game.)

Meanwhile Wilson, while in the pocket, was using his legs to create tremendous air between him and the defenders. When he did run he was usually smart to avoid big hits.

Wilson has tremendous balance and a compact frame.

RG3, contrastively, has some long gangly legs. That guy is going to be perpetually vulnerable to knee injury no matter what style of offense he plays in.

I suspect RGIII and Johnny Manziel are going to have short careers and miss games. But when they are healthy...they are going to be devastatingly dangerous in a pistol type offense.

The Skins are set up pretty good. They have RG3...AND a good backup.