Griffining, Broken Arms and 139.9
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees said last week, “He (Robert Griffin III) is a phenomenal athlete. He can do things with his legs and his arms that most people can’t do. You figure it’s only a matter of time before he takes this league by storm. I just hope it doesn’t happen Sunday.” Brees was prophetic in his words as RG3 lead the Redskins to a surprising 40-32 victory in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
The headlines were grabbed by RG3 but the whole team display was hearteningly professional. From Billy Cundiff negating the kick return ability of Darren Sproiles to the immensely brave long snapper Nick Sundberg who played the entire second half with a broken arm.
Undoubtedly, RG3’s stellar performance engineered the win in New Orleans. The Saints hadn’t lost at home since round 17 of the 2010 season. The interesting fact though is the Redskins haven’t lost in New Orleans since 1992 and this is the fourth consecutive victory at the Superdome. The Redskins put 10 points on the board in each quarter and drive after drive looked dangerous as RG3 finally showed the NFL the full armoury that he has. The 88 yard touchdown scored by Pierre Garcon shook New Orleans and the Redskins never looked back. Even losing Garcon, number one wide receiver this year, didn’t derail a focussed performance. In fact, it demonstrated that missing depth from the team may finally be emerging.
It was pleasing to see the Redskins run the ball and rookie running back Alfred Morris carried the ball 28 times for 96 yards and 2 touchdowns. RG3 himself ran for 42 yards on 9 attempts. The willingness to run by RG3, underpinned by the exuberance of youth, will keep many defences guessing this year as to whether he’s going aerial of bursting through himself. He was even blocking tackles for runners at one point – not sure Mike Shanahan wants his star doing that permanently!
To add to the records broken in New Orleans, RG3 has been named the NFC Offensive player of the week. To play so well, so quickly, means that the bar has been set phenomenally high and is sure to be brought to earth when teams see more of his plays and work out formations to stop him. One of the TV Commentators mentioned that Cam Newton took the Panthers from a 2-14 team to a 6-10 one last season. I think Redskins fans should bear this in mind when looking at our aspirations for the season. Personally, I think the Redskins are going in the right direction across offence, defence and special teams so a playoff spot is a possibility still.
This week, the Redskins travel to St Louis to take on the Rams. They lost out to Detroit 27-23 despite Matthew Stafford’s profligacy when passing. The Lions were 3 from 5 in the red zone and 44% on third down conversions. The Rams were kept quiet at times by the defence, only having 14 first downs, so I’m anticipating a similar outcome from the Redskins defence. The Rams also conceded 346 net passing yards so RG3’s throwing arm should be on display on Sunday too. A similar level of performance and intensity should carry the Redskins to 2-0 with a comfortable victory. Who knows, maybe we’ll see RG3 ‘griffining’ again in celebration.
