One Night Only: Offensive Packers-Redskins Game Review, Mythbusters Edition

I always knew he was an alcoholic bat.You caught me. I admit it.

I can't buy the arguments, GTripp. RG3 hasn't been able to move this offense until the game is already out of reach. The only time our games have been competitive is between kickoff and 13:00 minutes remaining in the first quarter. I do not believe all of our woes are because of RG3, but many of them are on RG3.

Here are some of my casual observations from the two games thus far:
1) RG3 is not planting and throwing. His mechanics have gone to hell and I believe that is because of the status of his knee. He's throwing it sideways and he rarely drops back, plants, and fires.
2) Because he's using poor mechanics, we're seeing a lot more balls sail on him. This kid used to deliver balls on a frozen rope, that is gone. He is no longer delivering with the velocity and accuracy he did in the past. I understand he's going from the pocket now, but it remains that he's not delivering like he had.
3) I want to emphasize WHEN he's put up his numbers. In the GB game it was 31-0 before we scored our first points in the 3rd quarter. At that point, the defense isn't worried about putting pressure on the QB and making big plays. They're concerned with working the clock and giving underneath throws. The first game was the exact same way before we scored our first offensive TD. We are scoring in the 4th quarter and 3rd quarter. At this point, defenses have already softened and they're working on the clock.
4) The commentators you blast, many of them have had the same type of procedures. Everyone said it took a significant amount of time to come back and feel comfortable. While the only person that can truly answer this question is RG3 himself -- I believe the consensus is that these procedures often require more time to heal -- both physically and mentally.Just to briefly respond to the points of disagreement.

A lot of this analysis is based off the Green Bay game. Perhaps RG3 should be docked for having two or three balls sail over the intended target against Philadelphia, but the accuracy wasn't really an issue against Green Bay. He completed 65% and threw some in-completions because he tried forcing a couple passes to receivers that weren't open, usually on third downs.

If you thought Griffin was a big-time plant-and-fire guy last season, I don't know how to respond. He can clearly rip it, but he's not a consistent strider, and you have to keep that in mind when concluding that he's "not stepping into his throws." There are some throws he isn't stepping into, others he is, and this isn't all that different from last season.

You point out his ball velocity is affected. I just don't think it is, like, at all. This would be something that would be cool if we could see it measured objectively, but I don't have a way of doing that. I can tell you that he isn't underthrowing receivers any more often than last year, but I haven't seen data on the actual ball velocity. It just looks normal to me. If I'm wrong about that, I'm wrong about that.

A lot of suggested that RG3 is just mentally not comfortable yet in the pocket.

This is may or may not be the case -- he looks fine to me -- but I would tend to lean towards other explanations for his lack of running than that he's uncomfortable. There's just no evidence to support it.

He might actually BE really uncomfortable out there. He might just not feel right. But I think that's a less logical explanation to me at least than he's just been trailing on the scoreboard pretty much the whole season. And that has probably been the number one factor (along with prepared defenses) in why the running element of his game just hasn't been a factor.

A lot of suggested that RG3 is just mentally not comfortable yet in the pocket.

This is may or may not be the case -- he looks fine to me -- but I would tend to lean towards other explanations for his lack of running than that he's uncomfortable. There's just no evidence to support it.

He might actually BE really uncomfortable out there. He might just not feel right. But I think that's a less logical explanation to me at least than he's just been trailing on the scoreboard pretty much the whole season. And that has probably been the number one factor (along with prepared defenses) in why the running element of his game just hasn't been a factor.

I said that RGIII looks more than "uncomfortable" - in fact I said that, to me, RGIII is playing scared. I did not mean this as an explanation for why he is not running, although that is part of it. I meant my claim as an explanation for why his mechanics and decision-making in the passing game have been so poor at times.

Please note that if I am right, this is a fixable problem. If you fall off a horse, trepidation is natural until you get back on and experience safety again. If I am right, RGIII needs to get to the point where he says, "Damn the torpedoes" and moves on. I think that this will happen this week, in fact.

my 2 cents

A lot of suggested that RG3 is just mentally not comfortable yet in the pocket.

This is may or may not be the case -- he looks fine to me -- but I would tend to lean towards other explanations for his lack of running than that he's uncomfortable. There's just no evidence to support it.

He might actually BE really uncomfortable out there. He might just not feel right. But I think that's a less logical explanation to me at least than he's just been trailing on the scoreboard pretty much the whole season. And that has probably been the number one factor (along with prepared defenses) in why the running element of his game just hasn't been a factor.

RG3 lowest QB rating in the league in the first half of games 33.3%, second half is the 5th highest. His completion % is 45.8 (11/24) in the first half. His accuracy is a problem.

So when the defense softens, he does well.

NBC Sports (http://scores.nbcsports.msnbc.com/fb/leaders.asp?range=NFC&type=Passing&rank=092&year=).

RG3 is not comfy in the pocket and his mechanics are inconsistent and not stable.

I said that RGIII looks "uncomfortable" - in fact I said that, to me, RGIII is playing scared. I did not mean this as an explanation for why he is not running, although that is part of it. I meant my claim as an explanation for why his mechanics and decision-making in the passing game have been so poor at times.Which is a risk I took by generalizing the comments by three or four people into one claim.

The 'mechanics are fine' argument is the easiest one for me to address. RG3 won rookie of the year last year, so his mechanical flaws didn't matter. We're 0-2 now, so the mechanics are now under scrutiny. This is normal.

The decision-making argument has no easy response, because even though the overall takeaway I had from the GB game was positive (on offense), RG3 is clearly forcing passes to covered receivers. This is not a positive development. He has to make better decisions.

It is my belief that a change in the circumstances around him (the talent on his offense relative the the defenses he's facing) is the main culprit. This is just a hypothesis that makes a lot of sense, and I think there's a lot of evidence supporting it. But it could be argued just as easily that the decisions made are just a function of where RG3 is at in his rehab. Because he wasn't forcing this many throws last year, and this troubles people.

It should trouble people, but I don't think there's a whole lot RG3 can really do about it outside of throw the ball away more. But that's not going to fix the offense.

Seems pretty obvious he's not 100% comfortable in the pocket, now whether it's due to all the blitzes he's facing, the knee, or maybe a combo of both, who knows. All I know is he's not the same guy he was last year, at least to this point.

Any insights SS about internal problems with the team? Or is this just a fundamental football problem? The defense is pretty poor is their any internal feelings about what the problems are?

Just some disagreements about football. Nothing deeper than that. Nothing some wins won't fix

Green bay secondary is flat out garbage. Our guys match up with them just fine.

Yes decision making is a problem.

I'd say this, RG3 problems are an easy fix compared to protection and game planning at this point. Coaches on the o-side have had there asses handed to them.

Unless we push Polumbus off a cliff, that problem is never going to be fixed.

RG3 has a qbr rating of two !!! in the first half of games this yr.How anybody thinks he looks good or comfortable is beyond me.The garbage time stats in the 2nd half mean nothing