Vikes vs Redskins

[nofishfisherman]

Comparing his size to a RB doesn't get past my first point that RB's can be replaced far easier than a franchise QB. If one of those guys you listed goes down its not that hard to find a guy who can take his place. It could take the Redskins 15 years to find another QB with RG3's potential.

If you look at the bulk of the QB's in the league right now most of them are athletic freaks all capable of doing at least some running. But most coaches realize the value of their starting QB and won't put them in that position. Again,that is why the option is seldom ever run in the NFL.

If you want to compare RG3 to other running QB's Vick and Young are probably the two best to compare him to. Vick is nearly always hurt to some degree. He's only played in all 16 games once in his career. Young played in 3 full seasons over his career and also sustain at minimum 7 concussions (more are suspected but weren't reported).

[Big Dave2]

Comparing his size to a RB doesn't get past my first point that RB's can be replaced far easier than a franchise QB. If one of those guys you listed goes down its not that hard to find a guy who can take his place. It could take the Redskins 15 years to find another QB with RG3's potential.

[nofishfisherman]

Alfred Morris the Redskins rookie running back (drafted in the 6th round) is 4th in the NFL in rushing yards and 3rd in the NFL in rushing TD's. By any measure he's a top RB so far this year.

Who do you think the Redskins are more worried about replacing if they were to get injured? RG3 or Alfred Morris?

[Big Dave2]

Alfred Morris the Redskins rookie running back (drafted in the 6th round) is 4th in the NFL in rushing yards and 3rd in the NFL in rushing TD's. By any measure he's a top RB so far this year.

Who do you think the Redskins are more worried about replacing if they were to get injured? RG3 or Alfred Morris?

I guess that settles it. Put all your starters on the bench and never play them for fear that they will get hurt I guess.

[Big Dave2]

Who do you think the Redskins Vikings are more worried about replacing if they were to get injured? RG3 Christian Ponder or Alfred Morris Adrian Peterson?

[nofishfisherman]

I guess that settles it. Put all your starters on the bench and never play them for fear that they will get hurt I guess.

No one ever said anything remotely close to this but of course you already knew that. I'll just take it to mean you don't have a logical rebuttal and that the discussion is over.

[Big Dave2]

No one ever said anything remotely close to this but of course you already knew that. I'll just take it to mean you don't have a logical rebuttal and that the discussion is over.

But yet you don't even mention my LAST post. I guess the discussion IS over.

[zepman]

I think the majority would conclude that having a potential (drop-back) pro-bowl q-back running the option is stupid thing to do.

Absolutely STUPID....

Another post stated an undeniable truth...it took 5 NFL games to scramble his brains for the first time. At that rate, he would suffer (at minimum), three concussions per year.

With the new NFL standards on testing for concussions...he will enjoy a very bright, exciting and SHORT NFL career.

Absolutely STUPID....

[Big Dave2]

I think the majority would conclude that having a potential (drop-back) pro-bowl q-back running the option is stupid thing to do.

Absolutely STUPID....

Another post stated an undeniable truth...it took 5 NFL games to scramble his brains for the first time. At that rate, he would suffer (at minimum), three concussions per year.

With the new NFL standards on testing for concussions...he will enjoy a very bright, exciting and SHORT NFL career.

Absolutely STUPID....

So there has never been a running back in the history of the NFL that has gotten a concussion within his first 5 games?

How does being a QB make RG3 more susceptible to concussions than any RB in the league? Most of the time if a QB gets a concussion it is from a blind side hit where the QB is defenseless. Those will always happen no matter if the QB is mobile or not.

If RG3 would have been drafted as a Running Back you would think nothing of giving him 20-30 carries a game.

[Big Dave2]

Quote:

Tony Dungy is one of the more intelligent and reasonable NFL analysts out there, so when he speaks, you should listen.

On if Griffin III running the ball so much should be a concern:

“Well I don’t know, he’s done that his whole college career. What you are saying is people are taking shots at him. I noticed that Cincinnati definitely went after him, even when he handed the ball off and that is the danger you’re taking putting that option game in. As he said on his interview, that’s the way he plays and he’s not ready to back down.”

[Rick]

The real question is

"How much risk do you want to take with your franchise QB"?

Do you want your franchise QB for 4 years or 10 years?

The more options and QB draws he runs the more he is likely to get seriously injured and be done. It's really that simple.

[Big Dave2]

The real question is

"How much risk do you want to take with your franchise QB"?

Do you want your franchise QB for 4 years or 10 years?

The more options and QB draws he runs the more he is likely to get seriously injured and be done. It's really that simple.

Or, the other REAL question could be, "do you want to win games and championships, or not?"

[Slabasaurus]

Or, the other REAL question could be, "do you want to win games and championships, or not?"

I always thought the REAL question was

"what is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?"

[Rick]

Or, the other REAL question could be, "do you want to win games and championships, or not?"

Hard to win a Championship without a franchise QB (who's on IR or worse) unless you have a top defensive unit.

[Big Dave2]

Hard to win a Championship without a franchise QB (who's on IR or worse) unless you have a top defensive unit.

Also hard to win championships if you are reigning back the potential of your franchise quarterback.

[Musky Buck]

Randall Cunningham, not Richie, had a decent 15-1 for us during the Atlanta Chris Chandler run to the big show, guess you don't need that great a QB lol. Randall was laying bathroom tile etc. lol I'll take RG3 we've never won it all anyway, might as well be entertained whether he gets his brains blasted out of his helmet or not. We're the vikes baby !

[Born2Fish]

And how long will that option offense work with RG3? It seems that the wildcat lasted all of 2 seasons before everyone picked up on it and basically killed it. And I ask anyone, how many championships, outside of Steve Young(who really only averaged 4 carries a game), has these so called great running QB's won? Vick-0, Stewart-0,Cunningham-0, McNabb-0, Tarkenton-0,Culpepper-0,Newton-0....notice a trend here?

[Slabasaurus]

Culpepper would not have lasted two SEASONS if it weren't for Moss's ability to catch anything thrown in his general direction.

Culpepper was terrible. Absolutely terrible.

I loved watching Cunningham though. Young too.

[nofishfisherman]

Article on RG3 taking too many hits. Apparently his coaches and teammates are telling him the same thing most of us are. I forgot that Washington traded 3 first round picks for him. Thats a huge investment and probably worth protecting to some degree.

Quote:

ASHBURN, Va. – There is an honor in the pain. Football players talk about this; how they love the collision of helmets and pads, the thrill of the crash, the joy of taking a shoulder in the side and still getting up.

Robert Griffin III has always taken pride in absorbing a hit. Those first big ones he took in professional football would bring a smile and the same refrain.

"You didn't think I could take a hit did you?" he'd say.

Robert Griffin III gets away from Vikings safety Harrison Smith during last Sunday's victory. (AP)Then he took one. He took a really good one. It knocked him from a game and sent him wobbling to the locker room. And it left a question that might take weeks to answer: How much should the Washington Redskins new quarterback be running?

It's a balance they struggle to find almost every day at Redskins Park where the tapes play in the coaches' offices. On one film they can see Griffin stumbling off the field with his first NFL concussion. On the other he is running left, curling around the Minnesota Vikings and sprinting 76 yards for a touchdown in which he was barely touched.

How do you mix that? How do weigh the dangers of a quarterback running into a season-ending injury with brilliance of outrunning an entire team? At what point does he get really hurt? How does he stay unblemished?

"The fans and my teammates don't want me to love the contact so I don't love contact," Griffin said at Redskins Park on Wednesday. "I'm a competitive guy and I don't mind getting hit but I am the quarterback of this team and I need to make sure I'm the guy not getting hit. It's not a pride thing; it's a matter of being smart."

Then he added:

"I'll still be aggressive."

This is all still an experiment by the Redskins (3-3), taking a college offense to the NFL and getting away with it. But with any experiment comes those moments of agony when things don't work. When the play goes awry and the quarterback of the future wobbles off to the locker room, wounded for the first time.

However, as the Redskins try to make the NFL fit Griffin's skills, the lessons come fast. Griffin's speed could take care of so many problems in college. He was faster than everyone. And it can still take him far in the NFL yet moments will come when he can't outrun a predicament, and he has to know that he can't take on two racing linebackers.

"He's strong and everything but he's got to realize he's the quarterback," receiver Joshua Morgan said on Wednesday.

Washington's coaches have been working with Griffin on this. A few days after a Week 3 home loss to Cincinnati, they showed a video to some players of two Bengals defenders converging on Griffin as he raced downfield. He threw the ball but still absorbed a pounding hit.

The message of the video? Griffin has to get down. Dive to the turf, slide, jump out of bounds – anything to eliminate the chance of getting hurt. It took getting knocked from the game against the Atlanta Falcons two weeks later for Griffin to see he needed to do the wiser thing and throw himself to the turf rather than take a hit.

"He's a quick learner," Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said.

Robert Griffin III is hit by Falcons Jonathan Massaquoi (96) and Jonathan Babineaux (95) during the Week 5 loss. …And since this is still an experiment in a league where coaches more often copy than innovate, the Redskins are continuing to find things out about the man they traded three first-round picks to get. How does he handle adversity? What does he do when he gets hurt? Will he listen? Will he adjust? So far he continues to please Shanahan. He leaves the impression that he will keep learning and growing, which is everything a coach wants to hear – especially one who is trying something as bold as this new offense, designed just for him.

"I have to [change] because I got told by everyone I have to make a conscious effort to take care of myself and to not be too aggressive in situations where I shouldn't be," said Griffin, who has already rushed for 379 yards this season. "I thought I did a good job of that against Minnesota. I got out of bounds numerous times, just trying to make sure I didn't leave the guys hanging."

The NFL has a way of crushing experiments. The Redskins have sailed through the first six weeks of the season without having to face another team from the NFC East. Division games change things. Division games carry their own intensity. They can be relentless grinds. Clever new things often die in division contests. Sunday they play the New York Giants in New Jersey. As a division rival, the Giants will have studied Griffin and the new Washington offense more than most teams. They will test Griffin and they will hit him as he runs with the ball.

The game will probably be close. The temptation will loom to get an extra yard, to absorb a hit that might get him a few more feet toward a first down. Can he resist it? Can he slide? Can he duck out of bounds? Can he forget the honor of the pain?

Can he?

It might be the biggest adjustment Griffin will have to make yet.

[Big Dave2]

If you are a Vikings fan then you better hope they take your advice and reign RG3 back, Then he will just be another mediocre QB and maybe the Vikings will have a chance of beating the Redskins.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Reign him back and save his melon.

[Shack]

RG3 is more built like a wide receiver if anything. To me he ain't built like a QB or RB.

Peterson is built like a tank. RG3 is built like Moss. It's all in the center of gravity.

Franchise QB's are not supposed to run past the first down line, with a soft landing at max to down the ball unless deep in playoffs or the big SB and when they do, it better mean something.