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Washington "Griffins" - Reality Check

Canadian Hog

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I'm disheartened. I'm numb. I'm at a loss for words at what transpired yesterday.

In the heat of battle yesterday, our beloved organization lost sight of an incredibly important fact - that being that the game of football is the ultimate TEAM game.

After having some time to reflect and digest, what I feel quite confident in saying is the following at this point...

1. For the first time as a Redskin, Robert Griffin perceived himself to be bigger than the team. I appreciate the competitiveness, I appreciate the warrior mentality and heart he showed fighting it out and trying to stay on the field. Unfortunately, he didn't want to admit that enough was enough and that his team could actually be better served without him.

2. Mike Shanahan perceived Robert Griffin to be bigger than the team with his inability to make the tough decision and pull him. It's a shame that he showed such little confidence in a group of guys who had just reeled off 7 wins in a row. It's a travesty that he showed such little belief in a group of players that very well may have bought him a few more years in D.C. It's sickening knowing that he basically quit on a group of guys who sacrificed every last ounce of will to salvage what was potentially going to become a third successive and disastrous campaign for the Shanahan regime prior to the winning streak.

3. The other players wearing our colours believed Robert was bigger than the team (on the offensive side of the ball at least). I saw very few, if any guys step up and show the courage to make a play when we needed it offensively once it was evident that he wasn't right.. Blocking was suspect in a few situations, balls were being dropped....guys simply lost confidence and belief in themselves as a unit after it was evident that Robert was ailing. Offensively, we lost the swagger we seemed to have during that winning streak.

I wholeheartedly believe that going forward, if we want to be elite and not just good, it needs to be more about the WASHINGTON REDSKINS - not Robert Griffin...(and while we're at it, lets scrap the RG3 chants). I love the man as much as the next guy does, but I hope that yesterday was a lesson learned going forward that never can one man do it alone long term in the game of football. No one man will ever be greater than the collective. We looked downright desperate as a franchise clinging to QB who was basically walking on one leg and believing that we were hopeless without him.

For an organization that showed so much fight over the course of a seven week stretch, Robert and Mike alike sure looked like two frightened turtles taking cover under their shells from the second quarter onwards yesterday.

My apologies if any or all of this has been spoken about today. I just feel like every ounce of positive energy that we've mustered of late was snatched away in the blink of an eye and I haven't had the will or spirit to read the board carefully today.

I love this board and the people here - you and I all deserve better.
 
I think you are reading a little too much into the events of yesterday. Nobody put RG3 before the team; in fact, quite the opposite. He put the team before himself & his future. That's what him staying on the field was about.
 
Star power takes on a life of its own. Stars get treated differently. Lichtensteiger limped around for a series and was quickly pulled. But Griffin was left out there until he was diced up into hamburger because the coach didn't want to take control abd upstage his star.

Isn't that what Boudreau did for 4 years with Ovechkin?
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CH, your post probably echoes my feelings on this subject more than any other. The interesting thing today on sports talk radio was that Shanahan was getting gutted for being 'selfish' - keeping Griffin in there because he would risk anyone (including his own players) for a win. The truth is, keeping him in there was all about not wanting to disappoint Griffin, and caving to Griffin's desire to finish the game and the job, it had nothing to do IMHO with some selfish desire on Shanahan's part. I wish Shanahan HAD been more selfish, because he'd have told Griffin respectfully to pipe down and take a seat - he'd done all he could do in 2013. We might still be a playoff team.

It was hard to listen to all the man-love for Seattle today, how great a team they are, when the truth is, with a healthy RG3 we'd have dominated them yesterday, and also being confident that a full 2nd half for Cousins would've kept us in that game throughout.

One final comment I'll make - a lot of folks here and elsewhere are making a huge assumption. And that assumption is that Shanahan letting Griffin continue to play against Seattle was a massive mistake that may have cost us our QB for next season. I believe the coaching staff's massive mistake was bringing Griffin back at all after the injury weeks ago. We got lucky in the Dallas game. It's clear he's been seriously hurt all along and had no business being out there after the initial injury. In retrospect, unlike many of you, I can forgive Shanahan, because I badly wanted Griffin to play against Dallas, even knowing he was still hurt. That was a mistake on my part, and a mistake on your part, and ultimately a major breakdown in decision-making by the franchise leadership.

Griffin is just too valuable to risk for the long haul. Even if we're playing Dallas for all the marbles, and even if it's a playoff game.
 
I disagree that he shouldn't be playing at all. He had made visible improvement each week.

But it was clear as day, that on the sideline throw, just before the second TD, that he hurt himself.

Shamahan had to have his head up his ass to not see what the rest of the world, including Seattle's defense, could plainly see.

I'm not saying he should be fired, although I have little to no confidence in his overall decision-making. And while I agree with all who say Griffin shares a large portion of responsibility, for ALL of his injuries, due to his reckless style of play, it is Shamahan who bares 100% of the responsibility to pull a player who is OBVIOUSLY injured.

I'm also not afraid of playing next year without Griffin.
We will still compete for the NFC East title.
 
I don't blame the elder Shanahan. He was in a no win position. His star QB said I am fine, trust me. What do you do? He had put his faith in the kid from day 1. He had to trust what RG3 was saying.

I do have a problem with Kyle's play calling. In late 3rd Qtr or early 4th he had to see Griffin was off his game. He could have protected him with a heavy dose of Morris and Royster. Kyle could also have said we need to get him out, because not himself. He did with McNabb in infamous can't run 2 minute drill. Also, when Cousins went in, why didn't he roll him out to give him more time? It worked against the Browns.

It what happened Sunday there is plenty of blame to go around.
 
The rollout worked against the Browns because we ran it off the play-action and the Browns were selling out to stop the run. Had Cousins gone into the game earlier when we still had the option of running the ball then he may have been able to effectively use that play-action some. But that late in the game, when Seattle knew we were going to have to pass, all the rollout would do would be to take away half the field from Cousins in exchange for maybe a few seconds of throwing time. Not worth it.
 
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I don't blame the elder Shanahan. He was in a no win position. His star QB said I am fine, trust me. What do you do? He had put his faith in the kid from day 1. He had to trust what RG3 was saying.

This. Griffin is the franchise, the superstar, the undisputed starting QB. Sometimes you just have to listen to these kids.

I do have a problem with Kyle's play calling. In late 3rd Qtr or early 4th he had to see Griffin was off his game. He could have protected him with a heavy dose of Morris and Royster. Kyle could also have said we need to get him out, because not himself. He did with McNabb in infamous can't run 2 minute drill. Also, when Cousins went in, why didn't he roll him out to give him more time? It worked against the Browns.

It what happened Sunday there is plenty of blame to go around.

Another excellent point. Kyle's flaws as a play caller flared up this week.
 
Sometimes you have to sit a guy and tell him that he has to trust not only the coach but the backup qb and his teammates to get the job done when he has been compromised by injury.
 

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