Should Griffin Have Played Against the Bucs?

[Lanky Livingston]

Yahoo's NFL blog, Shutdown Corner, questions the wisdom of sitting Bob for the last preseason game against the Bucs.

There argument is that Griffin will have thrown by far the fewest amount of passes in the preseason (31) compared to the other rookie QBs who are expected to start for their teams - Tannehill (71), Luck (64), Wilson (52), and Weeden (49).

I agree with Mister Irrelevant on the subject; while it may ever-so-slightly stunt his development in the short term, it won't even be a blip on the radar in the long-term. Plus, 3 of the 4 QBs above are not nearly as polished as Griffin, and the Colts have zero run game so Luck HAS to pass. The Redskins run-first philosophy is also important to remember here.

So...basically this is much ado about nothing. But...we've got two weeks to kill until football season starts, so....thoughts?

 

[Fear The Spear]

It won't matter because we'll be playing the highly diminished Saints team, whose defense RG3 should not be confused by.....and it's not like Gregg Williams is still the DC, putting bounties on opposing QB's. RG3 will be fine.

 

[Ax]

In a word, no.

And it's not two weeks.

It's

Ten

Long

Agonizing

Days

 

[Boone]

The problem is, if you were going to play him more in preseason, you better have the starters out there with him. That's risky and given how many injuries we've already seen, not worth the gamble in my opinion.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9650 using Tapatalk

 

[tshile]

I would like to think that Griffin is getting more out of practice than these preseason games.

As far as week 1 starting next weekend, yes I'd much rather have seen Griffin have more reps. He didn't complete a single deep ball (not all his fault), and I felt like by the time he got into rhythm he was pulled.

In the long haul I think it wont matter, and he learns more by spending the day with Shanahan and going against our D in practice than what he can learn on the field during meaningless preseason games.

 

[Burgundy Burner]

Not too worried about it. The right decision was made. Time to focus on the bounty hunters.

 

[Bulldog]

The other factor is how much competition would Griffin have faced if other teams had stuck to their plan of subbing out their defensive starters?

Griffin facing a unit of Walmart greeters teaches him how much, and at what risk?

 

[Fear The Spear]

So the title should instead read, "Should Griffin have run for his life FROM the Bucs Defense ?"

 

[Bulldog]

My point is if you are not going to expose a guy to a situation where he is going to get value out of it, then it is a needless risk.

The Bucs are a tomato can team right now even with their free agent signings in the offseason. Their 1's and 2's on defense are mediocre and their 3's based on last night are simply abysmal.

The Bucs depth reminds me of where the Redskins were in 2009 under Zorn.

 

[Fear The Spear]

My point is if you are not going to expose a guy to a situation where he is going to get value out of it, then it is a needless risk.

The Bucs are a tomato can team right now even with their free agent signings in the offseason. Their 1's and 2's on defense are mediocre and their 3's based on last night are simply abysmal.

The Bucs depth reminds me of where the Redskins were in 2009 under Zorn.

The Bucs starting defense has actually played phenomenal this preseason.
In their first 3 games (while the starters were playing), they held their opponents to "3 and out" on 11 out of those 14 drives.

Not too shabby.

 

[Bulldog]

I don't buy the preseason, no more for us than them.

The Redskins scoring 30 points two weeks in a row?

Nice to see. Let's see what they do against the Saints blitz.

 

[servumtuum]

Not to mention how much pressure we can put on Brees to keep him from shredding our secondary.

 

[Fear The Spear]

Those are clearly the keys to the game - the Line on both sides of the ball.
Can our front 7 pressure Brees quick enough that our DB's don't get too exposed, and of course, can our O-line give RG3 a reasonable amount of time in the pocket.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

i dont think the Saints blitz is going to be a problem for us. They were barely able to beat us before at full strength. Its their offense we have to worry about. our CBs are suspect.

Yep. Not just our CBs, the entire secondary. Brees is going to get the ball out quickly, and not give our front 7 time to get to him. Jimmy Graham is going to have a career day, I'm afraid.

 

[Fear The Spear]

Yep. Not just our CBs, the entire secondary. Brees is going to get the ball out quickly, and not give our front 7 time to get to him. Jimmy Graham is going to have a career day, I'm afraid.

ugh....when you put it that way, the game sounds like it could get real ugly, not even close, and un-watchable

 

[Bulldog]

That's true. But in reality name a defensive backfield that can keep up with the Saints receivers and TEs if Brees is not getting a strong rush?

The Saints on offense have torched 'good' secondaries around the NFL the past 2-3 years for 30-40 points.

Either we get to Brees and disrupt him setting up or we are going to suffer.

 

[Ax]

Eh, we've played Brees before, with less a defense than we appear to have now, and we fared alright.

**** a New Orlean Saint!

 

[Fear The Spear]

Saints could get the sympathy factor from the refs after the Isaac storm

 

[Bulldog]

let's face it, coming off a 5-11 season with a rookie quarterback - facing a veteran Saints team on their turf with something to prove is not how I would have preferred to start the season.

how about a nice home date against the Cardinals instead?

 

[Ax]

Yeah, but what a great confidence builder it will be when we beat their ass.