Wow, just watched RG3 highlights vs. Giants....

[Yakuza Rich]

Originally Posted by SkinsHokieFan

Have NFL teams figured out Rodgers/Brady/Brees/the Mannings?

Yes, they have figured out ways to defend these QB's.

Are they still good QB's? Certainly. But teams have figured out a gameplan in order to get the best of them. Rodgers, Brady and Peyton are no longer quite as effective as they once were. Still great QB's, but not producing the large numbers they once were. Brees is not going to put up the numbers he did last season. Why? Teams eventually adjust how to defend him.

The problem with a collegiate style offense is that they usually call for the QB to do some sort of running. And given the salary cap and how important reps are in practice to a QB, it's a real risk to have your QB running around a lot because noticing that mobile QB's get injured more often is like noticing that NBA players tend to be tall.

It's a giant risk for a team because good QB's don't come cheap and it's difficult to have two quality QB's on one team without getting hurt in the cap. Then they usually want to have the starter get all of the reps in practice. With that, that's why teams in the NFL tend to eschew collegiate offenses with the QB running around, the 'punishment' for your QB getting injured is too great, particularly for a 20 yard run.

Even the QB's that run more of a bootleg style and don't run a lot are more prone to injury as well.

I think once defenses let RG3 try and beat them with his legs and key more in on Morris' running and defending the WR screens it will force a big adjustment on RG3's part.

That's the difference between the Skins offense and what the Patriots ran, which is really a version of the Run-n-Shoot, except it uses pass receiving TE's and more importantly, has Brady operate more from the shotgun. Brady didn't rely on bootlegs and option reads to move the ball and outside of an unlucky play against Kansas City (and Brady is bigger in size than RG3), he never got hurt.







YR

[muck4doo]

RG3 is for real, and i like the kid. Of course, I'm also a Baylor fan. My son is in his senior year there. The Cowboys will have time to figure him out, and our DB's are a lot better than the Giants.

[Yakuza Rich]

Originally Posted by tomson75

That's a fair point, but I don't think anyone is suggesting he won't get better. I don't think anyone is suggesting he's going to suck, either.

I think the redskins have managed to force defenses to adapt to their offensive gameplan (in part because RG3 is good) rather than letting RG3 try to adapt to opposing team's defenses. Which, to me, suggests that there will be some measure of learning in the near future by your opponents, that will be necessary to compensate for his unique skill set.

There have been countless players coming out of college with tremendous skills, many even having successful rookie and sophomore seasons....that eventually just didn't pan out. So yeah, the hype on this guy is just that, hype. Weather or not the hype is warranted will be something to unfold over the course of the next few seasons.

[View Full Quote]My money is on a very good, albeit short, career. I don't see him terrifying opposing fan bases for "decades"...as some would have us believe.

What's ironic is that many of these Skins fans were saying the same things about Romo in 'wait until defenses get film on him.' Except the difference was they believed that Romo would never work out past the 2006 season, once there 'was film on him.'

By the end of 2006, teams saw ways to defend Romo and used it. But by 2007, TO was healthy and the offense changed with Garrett at QB and Romo did fool teams in the sense that he was a quality pocket passer.

In 2008, teams came up with different ways to defend Romo and Romo sort of hurt himself by trying to play more like Tom Brady and force himself to stay back into the pocket and neglecting that he was most effective outside the pocket and stepping up into the pocket.

Then in 2009 the offense changed again with Miles as the #1 WR and Romo not being so insistent on hanging in the back of the pocket. But we didn't adapt enough in 2010 and the offense didn't exactly play well under Romo and he eventually got hurt on a missed blitz pickup by the other Gronk.

And so on and so forth.

I think one thing is for certain...college style offenses don't work for long in the NFL. For all of the talk of NE's style of offense, it's been said that it was more of a decendent of the run-n-shoot than an actual collegiate offense. I think where the misconception came from was Urban Meyer and Belichick being friends, but NE's offense and Meyer's offense are almost nothing alike other than using the shotgun a lot.

It was not all that long ago that everybody was raving about the Wildcat. And outside of the Jets, whose O-Coordinator is Sparano, I can't think of a team that even attempts to run the Wildcat today

I just believe that history dictates that sooner or later RG3 will have to make some large adjustments because college offenses do not work for long in the NFL. He may or may not have the talent to get around that. But a lot of it will require for his coaching to be able to make the adjustments as well. All the meanwhile he may not stay healthy enough in the process.







YR

[jobberone]

Originally Posted by rickjameschinaclub

RG3 isn't just a running QB. He can stand in the pocket and make throws. Further, he's a world-class hurdler and runner, with intelligence. They didn't have their best WR in Garcon and Fred Davis also got hurt and he still played well.

Not arguing against him. Reread my post. I said before the draft he was an exciting player and would probably do well. How well is to be determined.

And Shanny, once again, is using him correctly, coupled with the fact that, people who aren't watching the Redskins don't understand, is Alfred Morris is providing a excellent complement to RG3. Alfred Morris is already ahead of Terrell Davis in terms of production in his first 90 carries.

I think he's playing well but I haven't seen enough of him to comment more. Love his talent hate the Skins.

[View Full Quote]I just don't get it... The Cowboys right now are looking absolutely pathetic on offense right now and can't put the ball in the end-zone and the Redskins are putting the ball in the end-zone and are one of the top ten teams in this regard. JG's slide into total crapitude continues with his inability to get his offense to score in the red-zone.

We should be worried, if not for RG3, for the fact that we aren't making progress offensively even against the most pitiful of teams.

We are scoring 18.8 pts/gm and giving up 22.2. So I'm concerned.

[Sam I Am]

RGIII is talented. His problem will be that he is going to suffer a lot of injuries due to being a running QB.

Can't wait to see Ware slam him to the ground like he did Marshall Faulk or Ratliff t-bag him like he did Jason Campbell.

[SkinsFan28]

Originally Posted by Yakuza Rich

I think defenses need to get about a year of film on him and then they'll figure out how to defend against him, ala Cam Newton.

To me, the key is stop allowing RG3 to freeze the defense. Have the DE's get backside responsibility to protect against Morris' cutbacks and RG3 rolling out. The rest of the front seven needs to stop worrying if RG3 will run. If he does, sooner or later he will take too many big hits and that will prevent him from wanting to run again. Or it will get him knocked out of the game like it did against Atlanta.

Kyle Shanahan clearly protected RG3 in the Giants game by having him throw it very little and instead using Morris. I think if a team can stop Morris and take away the WR screens, he'll struggle like rookie QB's will struggle.





YR

Did you see Morris dragging tacklers yesterday. He is a solid hard runner. I agree that defenses need to focus on stopping him, but that really is what makes Griffin's ability standout, because he is definitely a multiple threat player. If you start stopping Morris, Griffin can still choose to keep it or throw it. And he seems to understand that getting down or getting out of bounds is critical for his health as well.

[JohnsKey19]

Originally Posted by SkinsHokieFan

Have NFL teams figured out Rodgers/Brady/Brees/the Mannings?

The big thing that RG3 has over previous "collegeiate offenses" (even though bellichieck has added those elements to his offense in NE) is the ability to throw accurately in the intermediate range

I could be wrong, but he has a very unique skill set which is also suited very well for playing in the pocket. The traditional Shanahan scheme is a great fit for him (the bootleg game) and I expect you'll see him thrive in the ZBS/boot scheme, but having the pistol/option elements will be a wrinkle that'll keep defenses off balance.

Smartfootball had a great blog post about this in September, RG3 has the ability to read the defense post snap and change the play to run/pass after the ball is snapped. I am excited to see how that evolves.

[View Full Quote]And lets just wait until he has the book on NFL defenses and actually adjusts to NFL speed. He is a rookie after all

Unfortunately as a Cowboys fan, i have to agree with you. I think the worst thing as a non-Redskins fan is the fact that he is a rookie. Obviously there will be an adjustment period at some point. But as teams figure him out, he'll also in time become a more complete player.

[SkinsFan28]

Originally Posted by SkinsFan28

Did you see Morris dragging tacklers yesterday. He is a solid hard runner. I agree that defenses need to focus on stopping him, but that really is what makes Griffin's ability standout, because he is definitely a multiple threat player. If you start stopping Morris, Griffin can still choose to keep it or throw it. And he seems to understand that getting down or getting out of bounds is critical for his health as well.

couldn't edit due to work getting in the way of the 15 min time limit:

So, that said, I do agree with the basic premise that 7 games does not a HOF career make. We will have to see how defenses adapt to him, and then how he adapts to them.

[Yakuza Rich]

Originally Posted by SkinsFan28

Did you see Morris dragging tacklers yesterday. He is a solid hard runner. I agree that defenses need to focus on stopping him, but that really is what makes Griffin's ability standout, because he is definitely a multiple threat player. If you start stopping Morris, Griffin can still choose to keep it or throw it. And he seems to understand that getting down or getting out of bounds is critical for his health as well.

Nobody finds players at a certain position that fit their coaching scheme like Shanahan can with tailbacks. If history is an indicator, Morris will last about 2 years and then Shanahan will find another tailback late in the draft to take over. It's really incredible that other teams haven't learned better from Shanahan's ways with tailbacks.






YR

[SkinsHokieFan]

Originally Posted by Yakuza Rich

Nobody finds players at a certain position that fit their coaching scheme like Shanahan can with tailbacks. If history is an indicator, Morris will last about 2 years and then Shanahan will find another tailback late in the draft to take over. It's really incredible that other teams haven't learned better from Shanahan's ways with tailbacks.






YR

Along with that, an o-line that IMO has 1 NFL starting caliber o-lineman (Trent Williams) is running the ball so effectively.

It really is something

[WVSkinsfan]

Originally Posted by rickjameschinaclub

Actually, no... on a 4th and 10 he did a Romo like reincarnation of the Rams play gaining a first down. He led the team with a TD to take the lead with 1:30 left. The Giants scored on a perfect strike to Cruz in double coverage and RG3 brought them back to mid-field on a pass to Santana Moss, only to have Moss fumble the game away, i.e. they were moving the ball.

Every mistake RG3 made, he compensated for, meaning he overcame them. And the secondary is what killed the Redskins, just like it's been doing all year. It ain't their offense, which is actually scoring TDs with a crappy OL.

To act like RG3 lost the game for them is absurd and to act like the Giants whooped their butts is also absurd. I hate the Redskins more than anyone, but the guy can play so far...

[View Full Quote]And one more thing... The Redskins team actually looks like it's making improvements finally and their offense is clicking, with a new QB. We, on the other hand, are stuck in doo-doo land despite having what could potentially be a HoF QB in Romo, provided JG was not coaching. They are showing strides in what they are doing offensively i,e, they actually look like they have a semblance of an identity now on offense. I wish we could say the same thing with JG coaching this team at minimum on offense.

If Dallas doesn't shape up, they'll get humiliated by the Skins and it'll hurt.

Great post! RG3 is doing all he can do to help his team win.Its not his fault their defense is the worst in the league.He also gets major props for doing what he is doing without half of his starters on ofense.They won't win many more games b/c of all the injuries but I am estatic of what I have seen from my new QB.I will defintely enjoy watching him quarterback my team for a very long time.