I'm not sure I understand what you are talking about when you say the "old option play" could you be more specific? Or do you mean option concepts as a whole (to include zone-read)?
Because surely, I'm not nor do I think anyone in this thread has suggested running the "old option play".
And when if comes to option concepts the Panthers
embarrassed our defense and plenty of other defenses by using different option concepts last year.
Tebow, a QB that doesn't even throw the ball very well, was able to take a 1-4 team and amass a 7-4 record and a playoff win by using option concepts almost exclusively as the basis for their offense.
But, any play or concept can be "stopped" but not without leaving the defense vulnerable somewhere else e.g. if a defense commits to stopping the the zone-read QB keep and the zone-read RB keep then they leave themselves vulenrable against playaction passing:
Tim Tebow game winning touchdown to Demaryius Thomas Denver Broncos vs Pittsburgh Steelers today - YouTube
Option concepts are sound football concepts tried and true over a long period of time.
Its not a gimmick play, at its core option concepts that include the QB as a run threat create a numerical advantage over the defense.
The question is how much contact is a team willing to expose they're QB to and how much contact can the QB handle and how smart is the QB about protecting themself?
If most of Griff's run come off schedule then imo an entire facet of the offense that his unique skillset provides will be ignored.
I think this is a very generic and overly simplistic approach/opinion of how Griffin's running ability would be used as a threat to the defense.