"I got hit a lot. I don’t know how many times I got hit, but I did get hit a lot.” - Redskins' quarterback, Robert Griffin, III after Sunday's 31-38 loss to the Bengals.
The Washington Redskins (1-2) have been given an extraordinary gift this year in one Robert Griffin, III. Question is, have they learned to appreciate him?
 |
| Redskins lose home opener to Cincinnati Bengals, 38-31. |
How do you allow, arguably, the most talented QB you've ever had get sacked six times, and get practically beat to a pulp? Extraordinary as he is, RG3 is still going to get back up, shake it off, and lick his wounds like he is not phased, but the rest of us can see that the Washington Redskins defense is sorely lacking in the pass protection area.
This is extremely bad, especially with the lineup the team is facing in the coming weeks.
The good news. The Redskins have been on a scoring tear since the arrival of Robert Griffin, III. He's mobile enough in the pocket, yet agile enough to make plays when he sees an opening; whether it be running into the end zone for a touchdown, or getting the first down, or passing 43 yards down field to an open team mate for the score. He does all that and more. Yet with all this amazing quarterback talent in RG3, the team still can't close the deal. Even Baltimore managed to etch out a win yesterday in the last waning seconds of a home game, defeating a much better team than the Redskins, 31-30.
Did I mention it was at home?
The Redskins lost their home opener! The first time in five years!
Some will say that Sunday's game was just the second game of the season. But let's be real. We got problems, and it ain't with the offense. And the players are already using words like 'FRUSTRATED', the adjective used, to nausea, the last three seasons. We'd better address them soon, lest we go back to the mediocre days of Rex Grossman and a mediocre offense.
We've got such a unique opportunity here. But are we capitalizing on it?
Washington needs to be winning. Not every game, because no team can win every game. But with this talented offense, we should be a in much better place than we are now. (And the team should not be giving up 21-6 leads like they did last week against St. Louis).
Losing is not an option. Neither is complacency.
And as the general said himself: "The day you become satisfied with losing, you should stop playing football."
Or at least get some 'replacement' players.
----
Quote from Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis: “That’s what I told the team – that’s what NFL football is all about, and we are really taking some great steps as a football team. Obviously, [it was] a hard fought victory today, and we got off to a good start. We were allowed back in the game, kept playing, kept making plays when we had to, and that’s what you have to do when playing NFL football. We keep responding, and I think we’re growing a lot. We get a lot of young guys valuable snaps and so forth. It was a physical game today. We just need to keep making plays. It was a good lesson; just keep playing. We fought back into the game the fourth quarter, they tied it back up, and we got after it there at the end.”
Quote from RG3 on Sunday's game:
“It’s always frustrating. But the one thing that we’re not ever going to do is stop fighting so I think it showed a lot of heart in the team, but the bottom line is we’ve got to come away with those victories. We all know that but you’ve got to continue to do the things that we’re doing to try to be successful. We think we’re doing the right thing so what do you do when you come away with two L’s after you felt like you had two weeks of practice? You keep practicing hard. I know a lot of guys say we have 13 more games but I’m always focusing on the next one. So, we’ll try to get better and we’ll go on from there.”
Comments