One of the most asked questions this season is What’s wrong with Robert Griffin III? Griffin and the Redskins haven’t looked hot this season...well they haven’t even looked lukewarm to be honest. The offense hasn’t been able to score, the defense got ran over the first three weeks, and the o-line couldn’t block your son’s peewee team let alone the Cowboy’s 3rd string. So who’s to blame here? Griffin?, Shannahan?, Snyder? Don’t worry my friends the answers are all here and I’ll be happy to enlighten you.
Defense
Right now the defense is a problem but not the biggest problem. Yeah they look terrible but they’re a work in progress. The unit is made up of aging veterans whose best days are behind them, and young guys who are expected to step into starting roles and produce before they can even develop. So for what they have you can’t expect them to be a top defense in this league. They have talent but some of the younger players are still growing and learning how to produce in the NFL.
However that does not excuse them for how poorly the team has been tackling this year. In every game they have looked awful when it comes to rapping up and bringing ball carriers down one the first try. There has been so many times that the other team was caught for a loss or a short gain and made the Skins D look silly by breaking a tackle, or dragging defenders five extra yards. Some of this lack of execution can be chalked up to age and experience, or even a good player on the other team making a good play. But at some point you have to make a good play as well and stop the team from moving the ball.
Also Brandon Meriweather a key veteran expected to help a bad secondary is doing more harm than good. He’s really hurting the team with these stupid penalties. The team has enough trouble as it is stopping teams from gaining yards ,but with him adding at least one 15 yard flag a game it makes it impossible to win. He almost cost them the game against Chicago and I think him being suspended for the Denver game actually improves the teams chances to win. The team should seriously think about benching him for one of the younger guys or E.J. Biggers.
Offense
The offense as a whole is a bigger problem than the defense but I don’t think it falls solely on the shoulders of Griffin. A lot of people expect for the Redskins to play like the Saints or the Patriots. This team isn’t built to throw the ball 30 plus times and not run the ball. This is a run based team and it lives and dies with how good they can run the ball. So Alfred Morris averaging only 15 carries a game just won’t cut it. For them to be successful you need a heavy supply of Morris and Roy Helu with some Griffin sprinkled on top like a nice Lombardi sunday.
But they can’t give Morris or Helu a steady amount of carries, why? Because the offensive line designed to been able to open up holes for the backs to run through. Morris has had to break tackles two yards behind the line of scrimmage. Here is where the offense breaks down because you can’t run the ball which in turn means you can’t pass. This teams makes it’s money throwing off play action and quick passes against the blitz. But teams are blitzing or falling for play action when there’s no running game to worry about. The Redskins opponents are rushing four or five guys and dropping everybody else into coverage. Griffin and the offense are struggling because the offensive line is letting them down.
But its the same guys that last year blocked well enough for Morris to break several records and Griffin to win the Rookie of the Year. What's causing the team to struggle when they brought everyone back from last year?
If you’ve watched the Redskins games from this year and last year you will notice a dramatic difference in play calling. They don’t run as many stretch runs, play actions, or even throw the ball deep every now and then to open up the defense. So maybe Shanahan is to blame for not using the same offense that won them the NFC east last season. He’s probably listening to the media too much and is trying to turn Griffin into Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. He threw last year’s playbook in the trash and replaced it with one that got rid of the smash mouth run strategy. Or he’s doing his best to keep Griffin in the pocket and mold him into your everyday boring pocket passer.
I don’t think so, he loves running the ball because that’s what him and his team is good at. But if its not any of these guys what’s the problem? Well there’s only one explanation at this point, can you guess what it is?
Special Teams
Special teams? they don’t matter right, I mean they’re only in the game to give the back ups something to do right? Wrong special teams is probably the most important part of the game as we see now with the Redskins struggles. After losing their special teams coordinator Danny Smith and pro bowler Lorenzo Alexander the special teams unit is in disarray. They can’t block, tackle or give their team half decent field position, they look like the worst unit in the league.
They’ve played so bad this year that they cost the team the game at dallas and almost the two wins in Oakland and against Chicago. But other that giving up points their poor play sends a ripple effect through the rest of the team. The offense struggles because Shanahan can’t run the offense because they barely get the ball outside of the 20 yard line. You can’t run a stretch run when you’re backed up against your own endzone. No running game equals no passing game which means Griffin doesn’t progress as a quarterback. Further more the offense doesn’t score they don’t move the ball efficiently.
The offense can’t stay on the field which means?.....yup you guessed it the defense is of the field longer than they would like. Week 1 against the eagles anybody? If you don’t remember the Eagles were able to run 53 plays in the first half of the game. This causes the defense to fatigue and yep miss tackles. Do you see the ripple effect? Special teams is holding this team back and costing them games.
It’s a common opinion that the special teams is so bad because the cap penalty doesn’t allow the team to sign quality back ups and special teamers. But in this article the why isn’t really important, the problem is special teams. They are killing this teams chances to win and sadly the blame is falling on Griffin and his leg injury. Griffin in his second year in the league isn’t producing as well as his rookie year. That added with the fact that he plays the most important position on the field means that most of the blame will fall on him. But clearly one player or coach isn’t to blame. Every unit needs work starting with the special teams.