I just read a fascinating article on the fall of RGIII while at Washington. I had heard rumors of what happened but didn't know much detail about it. If this article is accurate when it details what happened between Griffin, the Shanahans, and the Redskins' owner, it is an unbelievably dysfunctional organization, beginning with the owner.

 

I have a lot of comments I'd like to make but I'll just post the link and a section of the article and wait for your comments.

 

Link to article (its long but good): The Puzzling Plummet of RGIII — The Undefeated

 

Here's a section that hits on the worst of it:

 

Feb. 5, 2013 — Griffin called for a meeting. He declined to tell Mike Shanahan what he wanted to discuss, saying only it was important. Griffin, Mike and Kyle Shanahan and quarterbacks coach Matt LaFleur gathered in the offensive meeting room at the team headquarters in Ashburn, Virginia. With the coaches seated, Griffin walked to a blackboard and wrote:

1. Change things.

2. Change our protections.

3. Unacceptable.

4. Bottom line.

Griffin instructed the coaches to let him speak uninterrupted and rolled through a list of grievances, stressing that substantive changes had to occur immediately. Scrap the pass protection scheme and start over, Griffin demanded. There were 19 plays — primarily those from the 50-series and quarterback draws — that were unacceptable. Griffin, who supported his presentation with video clips of each play, expected them to be deleted from the playbook. Bottom line, Griffin said, he was a drop-back quarterback — not a running quarterback.

The Shanahans had planned to increase the number of drop-back plays in the offense as Griffin developed. Their timetable wasn’t fast enough. Griffin ordered his coaches to let him play in a manner in which they believed he could not succeed. Throughout Griffin’s lecture, one name was stuck in Shanahan’s mind: Snyder.

“When Robert is standing there going through all of that, I know it’s coming from Dan,” Shanahan said. “When Robert talked about ‘unacceptable,’ that was a word Dan used all the time. He was using phrases Dan used all the time. There’s only one way a guy who’s going into his second year would do something like this: If he sat down with the owner and the owner believed that this is the way he should be used.

“He had to have the full support of the owner and, in my opinion, the general manager to even have a conversation like that. He just had the best year for a rookie QB in the history of the game. You got selected to the Pro Bowl. We went to the playoffs. We tried to get him to slide. We tried to get him to throw the ball away. If he had told me he was hurt, I would have taken him out of the [playoff] game. To hear him … it was really incredible.”

As soon as Griffin finished, Mike Shanahan bolted to the owner’s office.

“I said to Dan, ‘Do you realize what you’re doing to this kid?’ ” Mike Shanahan asked.

Read it yesterday. It's from ESPN's new site aimed primarily at black culture. Good read.

Read it. Loved it.

Read it yesterday. It's from ESPN's new site aimed primarily at black culture. Good read.

 

Undefeated?

Undefeated?

 

 

Yes

I'm suprised Shannahn waited until he was done speaking. Think it would have taken me less than a minute to get up. Would have taken Paul Brown 2 seconds!!

I'm suprised Shannahn waited until he was done speaking. Think it would have taken me less than a minute to get up. Would have taken Paul Brown 2 seconds!!

 

Exactly! If this is true, and it seems credible, RGIII had a lot of gall. No wonder the Shanahans didn't last in Washington. Who could work in those conditions?

 

It also explains why OC Kyle Shanahan bolted from Cleveland after one season. With GM Ray Farmer texting down to the field during games to complain about the personnel being utilized or not utilized, esp. if it was in an effort to get Manziel on the field, it must have felt like De ja vu, all over again (Thank you, Yoggi). He didn't want any part of the front office or ownership dictating what players to use and how.

 

The other takeaway for me is, I hope RGIII has learned from his mistakes. And I hope Hue can be creative in using his talents. Apparently, drop back passer isn't one of them. I guess we will learn soon enough when the season gets under way.