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You can't have this conversation anywhere but here - because 'fans' will absolutely freak out on you, the mob will angrily converge and attack you, for even raising the question.
But the foremost question in my mind as I watch the earliest moments of the 'Dwayne Haskins era' is whether Haskins is just another flawed diva who talks the talk, but who is really not the pure and selfless leader we were told to expect?
And before I go further - please keep in mind I am only raising the question. Without being in that locker room or knowing Haskins, there is no way to know at the present time. I am 100% open to the idea that Haskins is a fine, selfless, genuine leader.
First - a quick flashback to RG3. Setting aside his obvious (and in some ways, groundbreaking) talent... Griffin came into the league a master of the motivational quote. 'No pressure, no diamonds'. He wrapped himself in supposed love for the military, draped himself in the flag, and was all about the team. But it didn't take long to see cracks in the facade. When the coaches weren't 'using him correctly', he made his displeasure known in the worst way - passive aggressively - either through his overly aggressive father, through vague social media posts, or through his agent or always willing media types. As his first season or two progressed, there was a palpable sense that there were 2 Griffins, the one he showed whenever a camera or microphone was nearby, and another when they weren't. Rumors crept in that teammates didn't gravitate to the guy, that he kept himself separate from the team, and wasn't the 'leader' that was publicly asserted. Griffin also seemed to resist the direction of his coaches at times. While the team was winning, that behavior was just an annoyance. But when the rubber hit the road, and the team inevitably hit bumps in the road, those issues were really exacerbated. One could make a strong argument that Griffin himself, by refusing to honestly share his injury status with the team late in his rookie season, and then demanding to return as starter right out of the gate, was the biggest factor in his ultimate implosion in DC. The bottom line on Griffin was that he was always mostly about Griffin. If he ever had the respect of his teammates, he pissed most of it away during those crucial early years by constantly making it all about Robert, and almost never about what was best for the team.
Those aren't facts. But I believe that's a fair assessment based on what I observed. And I was a fan that drank the Koolaid and desperately wanted Griffin to prove he was worth the King's ransom we gave up to draft him.
Fast forward to this season and Dwayne Haskins. Brother @Om and I watched every one of Haskins college starts at Ohio State shortly after he was selected with the 15th pick. We were impressed. Not only with Haskins clearly elite arm strength, but with his pocket awareness, ability to move when necessary, and most importantly with his accuracy. The caveat that has be attached to any assessment was the very small sample size. Making a determination, whether positive or not, based on one magical season as a college starter, was always going to be a risk. One thing that we couldn't really assess from film review of Haskins college career was what kind of leader the kid was? How smart was he? How does he deal with adversity? Those things are tough to determine with any young QB, but especially when you are talking about a guy that faced very little adversity of any kind as a college starter. That's not to say he didn't face tough opponents, or even that he didn't shine in big moments, in high pressure situations. But how would he handle his leadership role, the guys around him, his own internal mentality and poise when things go horribly, horribly wrong.
Like RG3, almost every word uttered by Dwayne Haskins since being drafted by the Redskins and prior to being thrust into game action has sounded like a coaches dream. Listening to Haskins, it would be hard not to walk away impressed with his intelligence, his selflessness, and his character. He sounds calm, rational, articulate, and like the son and young leader any parent would be proud of. That may be who he is.
But since being thrust into action in a dire, dismal season of dysfunction, coaching upheaval, and endemic losing, cracks have started to show. Coming in for garbage time in several games, and not wowing with his performance, Haskins comments and body language has been (for me) shockingly negative. I don't know whether his post-game demeanor, uttering barely audible, terse, and vague responses to media questions was due to his disappointment in the team not being competitive or in his own performance or whether there are more ominous things going on. Just as occurred during Griffin's early days, rumors that Haskins 'didn't have a good grasp of the playbook'. wasn't 'working hard', and 'was in over his head under center' have persisted. The word on Haskins was that he 'wasn't ready', and to be fair, when he has gotten the chance to step in he hasn't looked ready. That's all well and good, since with rare exceptions, rookie NFL QBs (even those destined for great careers) routinely look flustered and shaky early in their careers. That has not really concerned me. But his demeanor after those early games raised some flags for me. As with Griffin - it's not so much what Haskins has said, but the way he said it, and his overall body language and demeanor, that seemed to indicate there may be trouble or dysfunction brewing.
The latest moment of potential concern? We've all seen the clip from yesterday's game with Haskins imploring his OL 'What can I do to help you?' Was that moment representative of Haskins asserting himself as a young leader? Or was that Haskins mugging for a nearby camera? I don't know. What we do know was that Haskins words seemed to be received in one of two ways... none of the players seemed to be engaged in the conversation (with the possible exception of Morgan Moses) but even worse, several of them seemed to respond with outright scorn. I'd have preferred Haskins simply do what most QBs would've done and stated 'You guys have to block better! I cannot make reads or get anything positive done back there when I'm running for my life! Come on guys - we are better than this!' or words to that effect. Yes - one could interpret Haskins words as a genuine selfless attempt to rally the troops. But you could also look at it more cynically as him throwing them under the bus as an unproven rookie, and doing so knowing a camera was taking it all in nearby.
I hope that this kind of stuff is merely a reflection of one of the worst seasons in Redskins history and all of the frustration and ineptitude that goes along with that kind of the season. Many of those involved on this roster will hopefully be gone at seasons close. Hopefully we get a new GM and an aggressive and competent head coach who can take control of the situation and provide an environment where Haskins can grow and thrive as opposed to the pathetically tepid support a hapless Bill Callahan seems to offer.
But if the worst case scenario comes to fruition, that Haskins isn't the hardworking, smart, student of the game and selfless leader we were lead to believe, and that becomes apparent down the stretch of this miserable season, we need to start over with what looks to be a very high draft pick.
We can't afford 3 or 4 seasons of drama-filled RG3 like dysfunction at QB.
We just can't.
But the foremost question in my mind as I watch the earliest moments of the 'Dwayne Haskins era' is whether Haskins is just another flawed diva who talks the talk, but who is really not the pure and selfless leader we were told to expect?
And before I go further - please keep in mind I am only raising the question. Without being in that locker room or knowing Haskins, there is no way to know at the present time. I am 100% open to the idea that Haskins is a fine, selfless, genuine leader.
First - a quick flashback to RG3. Setting aside his obvious (and in some ways, groundbreaking) talent... Griffin came into the league a master of the motivational quote. 'No pressure, no diamonds'. He wrapped himself in supposed love for the military, draped himself in the flag, and was all about the team. But it didn't take long to see cracks in the facade. When the coaches weren't 'using him correctly', he made his displeasure known in the worst way - passive aggressively - either through his overly aggressive father, through vague social media posts, or through his agent or always willing media types. As his first season or two progressed, there was a palpable sense that there were 2 Griffins, the one he showed whenever a camera or microphone was nearby, and another when they weren't. Rumors crept in that teammates didn't gravitate to the guy, that he kept himself separate from the team, and wasn't the 'leader' that was publicly asserted. Griffin also seemed to resist the direction of his coaches at times. While the team was winning, that behavior was just an annoyance. But when the rubber hit the road, and the team inevitably hit bumps in the road, those issues were really exacerbated. One could make a strong argument that Griffin himself, by refusing to honestly share his injury status with the team late in his rookie season, and then demanding to return as starter right out of the gate, was the biggest factor in his ultimate implosion in DC. The bottom line on Griffin was that he was always mostly about Griffin. If he ever had the respect of his teammates, he pissed most of it away during those crucial early years by constantly making it all about Robert, and almost never about what was best for the team.
Those aren't facts. But I believe that's a fair assessment based on what I observed. And I was a fan that drank the Koolaid and desperately wanted Griffin to prove he was worth the King's ransom we gave up to draft him.
Fast forward to this season and Dwayne Haskins. Brother @Om and I watched every one of Haskins college starts at Ohio State shortly after he was selected with the 15th pick. We were impressed. Not only with Haskins clearly elite arm strength, but with his pocket awareness, ability to move when necessary, and most importantly with his accuracy. The caveat that has be attached to any assessment was the very small sample size. Making a determination, whether positive or not, based on one magical season as a college starter, was always going to be a risk. One thing that we couldn't really assess from film review of Haskins college career was what kind of leader the kid was? How smart was he? How does he deal with adversity? Those things are tough to determine with any young QB, but especially when you are talking about a guy that faced very little adversity of any kind as a college starter. That's not to say he didn't face tough opponents, or even that he didn't shine in big moments, in high pressure situations. But how would he handle his leadership role, the guys around him, his own internal mentality and poise when things go horribly, horribly wrong.
Like RG3, almost every word uttered by Dwayne Haskins since being drafted by the Redskins and prior to being thrust into game action has sounded like a coaches dream. Listening to Haskins, it would be hard not to walk away impressed with his intelligence, his selflessness, and his character. He sounds calm, rational, articulate, and like the son and young leader any parent would be proud of. That may be who he is.
But since being thrust into action in a dire, dismal season of dysfunction, coaching upheaval, and endemic losing, cracks have started to show. Coming in for garbage time in several games, and not wowing with his performance, Haskins comments and body language has been (for me) shockingly negative. I don't know whether his post-game demeanor, uttering barely audible, terse, and vague responses to media questions was due to his disappointment in the team not being competitive or in his own performance or whether there are more ominous things going on. Just as occurred during Griffin's early days, rumors that Haskins 'didn't have a good grasp of the playbook'. wasn't 'working hard', and 'was in over his head under center' have persisted. The word on Haskins was that he 'wasn't ready', and to be fair, when he has gotten the chance to step in he hasn't looked ready. That's all well and good, since with rare exceptions, rookie NFL QBs (even those destined for great careers) routinely look flustered and shaky early in their careers. That has not really concerned me. But his demeanor after those early games raised some flags for me. As with Griffin - it's not so much what Haskins has said, but the way he said it, and his overall body language and demeanor, that seemed to indicate there may be trouble or dysfunction brewing.
The latest moment of potential concern? We've all seen the clip from yesterday's game with Haskins imploring his OL 'What can I do to help you?' Was that moment representative of Haskins asserting himself as a young leader? Or was that Haskins mugging for a nearby camera? I don't know. What we do know was that Haskins words seemed to be received in one of two ways... none of the players seemed to be engaged in the conversation (with the possible exception of Morgan Moses) but even worse, several of them seemed to respond with outright scorn. I'd have preferred Haskins simply do what most QBs would've done and stated 'You guys have to block better! I cannot make reads or get anything positive done back there when I'm running for my life! Come on guys - we are better than this!' or words to that effect. Yes - one could interpret Haskins words as a genuine selfless attempt to rally the troops. But you could also look at it more cynically as him throwing them under the bus as an unproven rookie, and doing so knowing a camera was taking it all in nearby.
I hope that this kind of stuff is merely a reflection of one of the worst seasons in Redskins history and all of the frustration and ineptitude that goes along with that kind of the season. Many of those involved on this roster will hopefully be gone at seasons close. Hopefully we get a new GM and an aggressive and competent head coach who can take control of the situation and provide an environment where Haskins can grow and thrive as opposed to the pathetically tepid support a hapless Bill Callahan seems to offer.
But if the worst case scenario comes to fruition, that Haskins isn't the hardworking, smart, student of the game and selfless leader we were lead to believe, and that becomes apparent down the stretch of this miserable season, we need to start over with what looks to be a very high draft pick.
We can't afford 3 or 4 seasons of drama-filled RG3 like dysfunction at QB.
We just can't.
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