Skins Quotes 9/1: Jay Gruden

Elephant said:

It should not happen at all with a professional QB in the NFL being touted as a potential great. But it did. Tired of hearing excuses for the guy. He needs to stfu and play football to a level you all suggest he is capable...without a gimmick offense to help disguise his weaknesses and maximize his physical abilities.

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I'm going to give some tough love here I get the criticism - and some of it is deserved. But he is our QB. Time to stop criticizing and picking apart his every decision and try to support him. And the 'gimmick' stuff is pretty unfair. He threw and ran his ass off his rookie year. Calling it a 'gimmick' is intellectually dishonest. The offense he ran that year might not be sustainable, but it wasn't a 'gimmick' as if his talent had nothing to do with the success we had. And I didn't hear you bitching about it when he took us to the NFC Championship.

Shit happens..even to favre. You place a big list of demands on the guy (not right or wrong) and from the outside looking in it almost feels like you don't like him because of what we gave up for him.

If that's true, cool. But know you'll never be unbiased in your assessment. If not, cool too. Our wires are just crossed here.

Elephant said:

No! It will never be enough until I see the kid raising the Lombardi trophy with a Redskins' uniform on. That is why we sold the farm for the kid...he needs to give us a return on the investment. Until I see that as a possibility, no...he gets no slack from me.

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Griffin had no say in the matter of what we paid to draft him.
It's not his fault that we overpaid in that trade.
So, to hold him to higher standards and more pressure, because of something that was out of his control, is not fair to him.

Boone said:

I'm going to give some tough love here I get the criticism - and some of it is deserved. But he is our QB. Time to stop criticizing and picking apart his every decision and try to support him. And the 'gimmick' stuff is pretty unfair. He threw and ran his ass off his rookie year. Calling it a 'gimmick' is intellectually honest. And I didn't hear you bitching about it when he took us to the NFC Championship.

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Boone, I am willing to give the kid credit for having mad heart. That's what comes with someone as competitive as he is. However, if you think Robert was going to come into the NFL and tear it up without having the ability to run for 800 yards...possibly 1000 if he didn't get injured, you're fooling yourself. He was/is not close to being ready to lead the team from the pocket to the type of success he had when he was given limited reins to throw and set up in a scheme that allowed him to run when the option was there.

Hate on Shanahans all you want, I am not a fan of their's either...didn't want him hired in the first place...but they developed a strategy for Grffiin, a game plan, that led to our success that year.

Griffin was only a part of it...a big part, but the gimmick was put in place for him to succeed.

I agree with some of what Brian has stated over the past couple years. I think Griffin has had some growing up to do, and I think some of his need to be center stage smacks of a 'me first' ego-driven focus. I hope he outgrows that. But I think marginalizing his talent level as if he hasn't been impressive (in AND out of the pocket) at times, and as if he can't grow when he's only a 2nd year QB, I think that's overstating things. I also don't think it's fair to judge his future ability to produce on last season, when he was coming back from a horrific injury and the team was wallowing in drama and controversy all-season long.

They took advantage of his talent (running and throwing) and it was devastatingly effective - it just isn't a sustainable approach in today's NFL. It may not be your intention, but when you describe that year, you give Griffin almost no credit.

Strange how when Griffin suffered a devastating injury and was rushed back that suddenly the Redskins offense was anemic.
You say it's because they abandoned the 'gimmick' offense.

I say last year only served to prove a healthy Griffin is deadly accurate and physically a force to contend with. I think you'll see Griffin return to scary good production by mid-season this year and that will end all the 'he will never be a pocket passer' 'one trick pony' nonsense.

Boone said:

They took advantage of his talent (running and throwing) and it was devastatingly effective - it just isn't a sustainable approach in today's NFL. It may not be your intention, but when you describe that year, you give Griffin almost no credit.

Strange how when Griffin suffered a devastating injury and was rushed back that suddenly the Redskins offense was anemic.
You say it's because they abandoned the 'gimmick' offense.

I say last year only served to prove a healthy Griffin is deadly accurate and physically a force to contend with. I think you'll see Griffin return to scary good production by mid-season this year and that will end all the 'he will never be a pocket passer' 'one trick pony' nonsense.

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I am not saying it's because they abandoned it...I say it's because they didn't have that option. And because he was incapable of running that offense, he was ineffective. I am not going to sit here and discount the fact that he had half a knee...I am going to emphasize that half his wheels made him ineffective in disguising his weakness...the inability to sit in the pocket and get the job done, know how to simply avoid the rush instead of run away from it, and to throw accurate passes like when his wheels gave the receivers time to get open.

The only thing I think you're missing is that the knee didn't just eliminate the threat of the run thus making him ineffective. It also clearly prevented him from planting and being able to pass normally. He wasn't an accurate passer because if 'his wheels'. He was an accurate passer period when healthy. I think we're already seeing that he'll be able to pass more effectively this year. We'll see who's right this season.

Boone said:

The only thing I think you're missing is that the knee didn't just eliminate the threat of the run thus making him ineffective. It also clearly prevented him from planting and being able to pass normally. He wasn't an accurate passer because if 'his wheels'. He was an accurate passer period when healthy. I think we're already seeing that he'll be able to pass more effectively this year. We'll see who's right this season.

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I really do hope I am wrong.

In my mind....the indecision evident in RG's playing needs to go. Not only does it undo the timing of plays....it inevitably undermines his command of the team. the time is fast arriving for him to take REAL command of the offense and execute with precision and success. this is going to be an interesting season...assuming the o-line isn't a big liability in pass pro (an unknown outcome at this point)....it rests on Robert to make this offense roll.

Perhaps with a full offseason of real work, which he did not get last year, will help Griff take total command of the new system he's currently learning.

Lately, the word 'trust' has been thrown about by the local media, trust his reads, trust his guys to be where they need to be, trust his protection, trust his abilities and the like. As he and his teammates grow confident in their command of the offense, all of this trust stuff is null. I believe this is known as being in 'mid season form'.

Keim, who's observations I 'trust' more than most, witnessed both good and bad days for Griff. On his good days he was decisive and accurate, made it look easy, on his bad days it looked like the Baltimore game. During practice, Gruden lets Haz call up any look he wants on defense so Griff has to adapt and learn on the fly.

Keim did note that Griff's bad days were almost always followed by a good day, indicating that the kid is truly a quick study. I believe he also mentions that last year, Rivers in San Diego took some time to get command of his new offense, Rivers was named the come back player of the year.

I expect Gruden to devise a scheme, at least early on, that allows Griff's current development to shine as he continues to evolve into that well rounded QB capable of performing all that needs to be accomplished at a high level.

Then we'll finally have one of 'those guys' leading our team.