When Scot McCloughan took over as general manager of the Washington Redskins, he was charged with changing the culture of the franchise. The culture when he arrived screamed circus. Just a year later, players being told they're not welcome back are taking to social media to say that the Redskins are a first class organization.
World class organization! Scott McCloughan called me and i have nothing but respect. Didn't have to call me. Nothin but respect!
How did this happen? That part is easy. McCloughan brought in a number of veteran players to help establish a culture of accountability. Those veterans set the tone every day of workouts, training camp and the season to lead the Redskins to the playoffs.
So why just a year later is the need for those players gone? In fact, it's probably fair to ask if it's gone.
No player embodied this more than DaShon Goldson. He was a solid player, but an amazing leader. Skins assistant Aubrey Pleasant described Goldson's leadership style to me as "leadership by democracy." The veteran safety made sure every player felt invested in the team's success. That helped lead to accountability because everyone felt responsible for themselves and others.
Knighton was the same kind of player. His production wasn't what the Redskins were looking for, and his role diminished as the season went on. Through that time though, he was a consistent voice in the locker room who had gravitas. He'd played in a Super Bowl. He'd been on winning teams.
For so many young teams in any sport, learning how to win is a process, and it requires people who know how to teach the younger generation. Despite veterans like Jason Hatcher, Knighton and Goldson, the Redskins are a very young roster, but they have emerging talent. Bashaud Breeland proved he could become a Pro Bowler, but also showed previously unseen leadership qualities. Will Compton emerged as a solid middle linebacker, along with Mason Foster. Homegrown talents Ryan Kerrigan and Trent Williams continue to play at high levels and grow as leaders.
With all the younger leaders emerging, McCloughan and the coaching staff clearly have determined that they don't need the guidance of the older players anymore, or at least as much of it. They learned, in one short year, what it takes to win in the NFL. Combine that with the expensive price tags and underwhelming performance and the team decided to move on not only from imports like Goldson and Knighton, but in-house good guys such as Darrel Young and Alfred Morris.
Bringing in players from the outside helped stabilize everything, because they weren't a part of the previous chaos. The professional sports world moves fast. It doesn't look back. So as the new players came in, they got to work. The younger players followed. Griffin was replaced with Kirk Cousins. The chaos subsided. Cousins played well. The team won. It all works in concert. The result is the franchise is in an extraordinarily different place now than a year ago.
McCloughan can afford to let these players walk because he doesn't need them to stabilize anything. Now he can move on to the next phase of the rebuild, which is finding players who can play at a value he sees fit.
Part of hunting for talk radio jobs is doing research, meaning listening to talk radio from around the country. That allows me to stay current on what's going on in markets around the country (specifically ones that there are openings in), and it's a nice chance to do some research on the craft. When you're working, you don't get to listen to other stations other places. You've got to be locked in on what's happening in your market. Being able to listen to other stations is beneficial not just to stay in tune with what's happening in other places, it's a chance to study how others do the job.
However, no matter where I turn, or how hosts are presenting their material, there seems to be one thing in common: they're all talking about RGIII! It's unbelievable. I can't escape!
What's more unbelievable than a country full of football obsessed people talking about a formerly effective, high-profile quarterback who is about to be a free agent though, is how consistently wrong they are about basic facts of Griffin's time in Washington.
I pause here, momentarily, to establish that I rather like Robert Griffin III as a human being. I've gotten to talk to him quite a bit, even though he was completely off limits to the media the entire year. None of those conversations were on the record and almost none of them were about the Redskins.
We often talked about college football. When Syracuse hired Dino Babers, who was with Griffin at Baylor, Robert found me and said "man, you just got a great coach!"
I really like Robert. I hope he succeeds, and there's a reason that's the near unanimous chorus amongst media members in Washington. He's an incredibly personable human being who takes a genuine interest in conversation. That's a refreshing change from many star athletes who see any media member's presence as a total nuisance.
On the field, he inarguably provided the most electrifying run in Washington sports since the Redskins last Super Bowl, however what's happened since 2012 seems to have not made it that far outside the beltway.
So with that, we come to "The Talk Show Host's Guide to RGIII," which you can bookmark, reference and cite as often as you'd like!
First and foremost, Robert Griffin III lost his starting job in Washington because of performance, not injury. In fact, whether Griffin was even injured or not is up for debate. His camp says he was never concussed after being blasted by the Lions in week 2 of the preseason. The Redskins and the league obviously disagree, as they put him in the concussion protocol and deemed him concussed. For about two weeks, Jay Gruden didn't know what the hell was going on and I can assure you he never wants to hear the words "independent neuropsychologist" again.
However whether Griffin was concussed or not, he was getting benched.
Gruden said that whether Griffin was available or not, Kirk Cousins was going to get some starter's reps in the 3rd preseason game. Griffin wound up being unavailable, giving all the starters reps to Cousins. When Gruden revealed this in a press conference, I asked him to elaborate on what the split would have been and who would've started. He declined to expand, saying it was in the past and there was no real benefit for him to divulge more. For his sake, that was correct. For ours? Meh.
Given that there was now the green light for an open competition, Cousins was going to win the job. He was miles better than Griffin during the off-season program and in training camp. The Redskins coaching staff touted Griffin's progress because they had to. Going into the season saying "we're screwed" at quarterback doesn't do anything publicly, and they had to convince themselves privately so they didn't go to work every day with a defeatist attitude. It was true that Griffin was getting better, but not by much, and he still couldn't operate basic plays in the offense as late as August.
Despite those worries, Griffin had the job because he wasn't allowed not to have it. Eventually, ownership allowed the football staff to put whoever they wanted in place, and Cousins was awarded the job on merit. Also note that Griffin wasn't just demoted to being the backup, he was demoted to third string. While that may have had something to do with his $16 million injury option, he was also their third best quarterback.
However the misremembering of Griffin's history goes back beyond the 2015 preseason. I've heard praise for how Griffin closed the 2014 season, with a 336 yard performance against the Cowboys.
He threw two interceptions in that game and in which Washington lost 44-17. But hey, he threw for a ton of yards.
Earlier in that season was the low point of Griffin's time in Washington, as the Redskins got beaten badly by Tampa Bay. After the game Griffin commented that everyone had to play better, which rubbed many the wrong way. My former co-worker Chris Cooley, who watches tape weekly and grades players, was unable to grade the offense that week because Griffin operated at such a low level. He said the coaches had to completely abandon the gameplan and return to "Day 1 of training camp offense" to try and get anything going. He was that gun shy. His ability to decipher what to do with the football was that low on that given day.
That, in the end, is the fatal flaw for Griffin in a pro style offense, unless he made a completely remarkable jump while on the bench last year. He hasn't shown the ability to read a defense, because prior to being in the NFL, he didn't have to.
Petty admits to grappling with tasks such as hearing and calling the play, identifying defensive backs in coverage and identifying which player in the defensive backfield was the “mike” linebacker, the central part of the defense whose location teams base their offensive line protections on. “As crazy as it sounds, at Baylor, we did not point out the ‘mike’ linebacker,” Petty said.
Petty was unfamiliar with making adjustments to the play or the formation before the snap.
“Honestly, I wish I’d done a little bit more as far as being proactive to get into a pro style [offense],” he said, singling out the need to decipher fronts or coverages. “It was things I have never seen before.”
Those are basic, elementary tasks in a pro offense. So how did Griffin succeed in 2012? Two things.
First, Mike and Kyle Shanahan created a hybrid offense that had elements of Griffin's old system in it. This was the definition of putting a player in a position to succeed. The results were solid early, as Washington started 3-3. The third win was sealed with this play:
A coach, who was with the team at the time, told me that play changed changed how defenses attacked Griffin, which leads to the second factor of his rookie success.
Teams started playing very basic defenses, not wanting to risk giving up a similar big play. Griffin saw the same few, easily identifiable defenses for the rest of the season and never really had to concern himself with setting up protections and deciphering pre-snap disguises. Like at Baylor, it was line up and play. Washington lost the next 3 games, and then went on a seven game win streak to close the year. Griffin was great, won rookie of the year and then got hurt in the playoff game.
With Griffin returning from injury and less likely to run, teams started mixing coverages. He struggled, as defenders were doing things he'd never seen before. His interception numbers sky-rocketed. He was sacked constantly. The team went 3-10 with him as a starter. The Shanahans were fired.
We've now almost come full-circle. Jay Gruden was hired after his stellar work with Andy Dalton in Cincinnati. Gruden and Griffin had some public moments they'd both rather have back. Griffin didn't perform well in Gruden's system. Gruden knew he was not giving his team the best chance to win as better options sat on the bench. Griffin got hurt again. Those better options didn't do much as they hadn't gotten much practice time. Griffin came back. He wasn't good. He got benched. The team stunk, but hey he had that 336 yard game to close the year against Dallas! Now we've finished the circle.
Reviews were mixed behind closed doors of how Griffin handled this season. I can attest to the fact that he wanted to stay quiet and lay low, which he did. He absolutely could've spent the season leaking complaints and keeping himself relevant. He intentionally did not as to not be a distraction. He didn't have a whole lot of ground to stand on because of how well Kirk Cousins was playing, but there was some space early in the year before Cousins turned it up. We didn't hear a peep.
I talked to many of his teammates who said Griffin was a great teammate. I also heard rumblings that he wasn't as happy for Cousins' success as Colt McCoy was, even though McCoy had every right to complain as well. He was the only quarterback not to be benched for performance in 2014, then lost the starting job before he even knew it was available.
Side-note: no one knew it was available until it was. Not McCoy, not Cousins, not Griffin and not even the coaches. The old "compete/prepare like you're the starter" adage was never more relevant than this year in Washington. McCoy absolutely did. He just got beat, but you can understand his frustration. He handled it like the pro's pro he is, publicly and privately.
Griffin absolutely did his job as a scout team quarterback too. Jay Gruden told a story the week of the playoff game about Griffin running around, simulating Aaron Rodgers, before chucking a ball 70 yards down field. He brought the same energy to practice he did as a starter. I talked to one teammate who said he was always engaged as well, showing progress in reading and deciphering coverages from the sideline as Cousins was on the field.
Doing it from the sideline and doing it from on the field are completely different stories though, and that's the question for Griffin moving forward. He has supreme physical talent as a straight line runner, and he has a terrific arm. However a quarterback's success is more reliant on his ability to read and react than it is his physical talent.
If I were in a market with a team looking at Griffin, I wouldn't endorse him as a lone option. I'd love him as a backup with potential, so long that I knew he was on board with that idea, dedicated to learning the system and the starter was entrenched so there would be no controversy. If he were to be brought in to compete for a starting job, I'd want another option. I'd want him to have to earn it. I'd want him to know that nothing is guaranteed.
I'd also know that he very well might lose that job to someone who is far less famous. Griffin is still young. He's only 26. He's completely healthy and has been for nearly a year. Saying "I'd take the risk on him" isn't some moronic opinion.
Just realize what the risk is, how we've gotten to this point and why a player who once looked like the future of the NFL is now going to be available after his rookie contract. Which you do. Because you've made it to the end.
Alex Brewer and I break down the Super Bowl, Beyonce's performance and continue the QB's of the future discussion. It's like an hour of radio. Without the radio format. And commercials.
Kaepernick: Have you been paying attention?! It is shocking to me how people continue to be surprised that Colin Kaepernick can throw. The whole running quarterback thing works with him the same way it works with Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson and Cam Newton. It works because they all can throw. Kaepernick has an absolute cannon and this isn't news. I realize with less games there are people who are watching the 2nd year QB play for the first time, but considering Jim Harbaugh's decision was one of the most discussed storylines in the NFL this year, I'm shocked that no one seemingly watched him play. He's got an absolute bazooka for an arm and he's accurate too. Yesterday he was 16/21. Five incompletions in the NFC Championship game? Spectacular. Jim Harbaugh might come off in the media as an arrogant jerk, but he can coach and now absolutely no one can doubt his decision to replace Alex Smith as his team has gotten a step further than they did last season.
More proof Harbaugh can coach is the mental toughness his team's shown the past two weeks. Last week they started with Kaepernick throwing a pick 6 and only bounced back to score 45. This week they went down 17-0 early in the 2nd quarter and were trailing 202 to -2 in the yardage department. That disparity is unheard of and there's no way of twisting that the Falcons were absolutely dominating. And then they weren't, because the 49ers stayed true to who they were, found a weakness (Atlanta not covering Vernon Davis time and again) and took advantage of opportunities. Make a play here (Chris Culliver INT), a play there (recover Matt Ryan's inexplicable dropped snap fumble) and BOOM! (*John Madden voice*) you're in the Super Bowl.
The Brothers Harbaugh The story lines leading up to the Super Bowl are a producer's dream come true. Or maybe they're not because everyone seems to hate them. For whatever reason, Twitter last night exploded in disgust at the thought of hearing about the Harbaugh brothers for the next two weeks. Maybe it's because they're brash. Maybe it's because I follow a lot of Patriots fans and they were bitter. I don't know what the reason is but I don't see why people are poo-poo'ing this outside of being cynical.
There are 32 jobs in the NFL and getting one is hard. John got one from a special teams coordinator position. Jim got his by coming up through college at Stanford. John's playing career ended after his time as a defensive back at Miami (OH). Jim played quarterback in the NFL. They are the first pair of brothers to be head coaches in the league and now, in just their 2nd year in the leauge together they're in the Super Bowl. Both have been as successful as nearly any coach in league history since taking over their respective teams and now one of them will be a Super Bowl champ by beating his brother.
You'll hear about their dad, Jack this week and you should. He was an assistant under Bo Schembechler at Michigan before taking on a few head coaching gigs of his own. Oh and if having two Super Bowl sons isn't enough for Jack and his wife Jackie, their daughter is married to Indiana coach Tom Crean. This is cool. I've seen some stories done before, but I'm in for a good one or two this week. The Ray Lewis Dilemma
On a far more serious note, the other biggest story this week is Ray Lewis. When did it become okay to call someone who wasn't convicted of murder, a murderer. I don't really care that you think you know what happened on a night in Atlanta where two people were killed cause chances are you've just lazily repeated "Ray Lewis is a murderer" without reading up on what did happen that night in Atlanta. This wasn't a cold blooded murder where two dudes got stabbed. There was a street fight in which it's not real clear who started it, but the first major blow was thrown when one of the guys who wound up dead hit one of Lewis's friends in the head with a champagne bottle. What happened after, in which two of Lewis's friends pulled knives isn't clear in part because of how Lewis acted in the aftermath. Eventually Lewis's men were acquitted when it was determined they killed out of self-defense.
Yes, Ray Lewis did some sketchy stuff including dumping his blood stained suit, but he said he was never involved in the fight at all. In fact, he said he tried to leave. He tried to get his friends to leave before things even went down. In the end, it was a street fight gone wrong in which Ray Lewis might've not even hit anyone, nevertheless killed anyone but it's easier for you to just lazily repeat "Ray Lewis is a murder" and move on with your day and I think that's pretty messed up.
I don't want to use the word messed there but I'd like to get a job likely licensed by the FCC. It's not okay to throw around that someone is a murderer. You don't know and quite frankly the only person that does know is Ray Lewis. Yes, he lied to police but he was scared out of his mind about losing his career. Even if he was just a witness, mental clarity isn't going to happen right after you've seen people get murdered and you've been shot at. Self-preservation is.
Here's what I do know - since that night Ray Lewis has dedicated himself to living a life of faith and making the world around him better. He's helped countless people through charity and through action. He's made his community better. He's inspired. He's led. These things are admirable and they are undeniable. Do they make lying to police okay? Do they make murder okay? Of course they don't, however I know the good Ray Lewis has done and I don't know what happened on that night in Atlanta and neither do you. I think SI contributor Andy Glockner put it pretty well:
Ray Lewis is quite possibly the greatest MLB in NFL history, but I can't look at him w/o thinking of two guys being stabbed to death.
— Andy Glockner (@AndyGlockner) January 21, 2013
I think this is totally fair. That night is part of the Ray Lewis story. However it's not the whole story and if you're going to lazily call him a murderer I'm not real sure how you sleep at night. That's some heavy stuff to just throw out there considering you have no idea if it's true. That's why we have a legal system which said that he's not and that fact is inarguably true.
As for those mad that you're going to hear Ray preach for two weeks, I get it. I'm not going to hate on a man who has totally submitted himself to a higher power. It's not an act. It's who Ray Lewis is. Do I want to hear it for two weeks? Not particularly but at the same time who am I to question someone's dedication to his faith? Plus, Texans DE Connor Barwin already won best joke in this category.
Ray Lewis is going to make tebow look like an atheist the next two weeks.
— Connor Barwin (@ConnorBarwin98) January 21, 2013
I think even Tim and Ray would laugh at that.
The Brady/Belicheck Dilemma What do you do with a coach and quarterback who haven't won since 2004, yet have still been more successful than any one during that time? That's what we have in Tom Brady and Bill Belicheck. The only more successful coach and quarterback that you can argue is the Tom Coughlin/Eli Manning combination that's beaten the Patriots twice in the Super Bowl, but if we're going overall consistency New England wins.
Sometimes we (the collective sports media) try way too hard on this stuff. Here's what we do: Tom Brady and Bill Belicheck are as good as it gets in the NFL, but winning is really really hard. The Patriots are the poster child for this with their 18-1 season in 2007. The Giants barely made the playoffs that year and in fact lost to New England late in the regular season. All they had to do was get hot at the right time and beat New England once. They did. They're the champs. It's just really hard to win in the NFL.
There is also the fact that Brady is 8-7 since his 9-0 start to his playoff career and the Patriot's haven't won since Spygate. Brady's defenses haven't been as good since 2004 and as close as he is to it, you can't expect him to be perfect every week against the league's best defenses, which is who you get in the playoffs. The Spygate thing is annoyingly interesting. If Belicheck didn't think it would help him win, he wouldn't have done it. Since Spygate he's been to two Super Bowls and lost them by a combined 7 points. Could some sort of illegal tape have been enough to swing it? He did win his first 3 Super Bowls all on late field goals. Although I don't believe it to be true, it's a perfectly reasonable question.
The guy's clearly an amazing coach. He's had 10 straight double-digit win seasons good for 9 of 10 division titles. He's great. His legacy, Spygate and later career post-season failures, is what it is. Also clear, he's a sore loser. Cue Shannon Sharpe, roll tape.
If it was up to Bill Belicheck, he wouldn't talk to the media ever. He hates it. It annoys him. It's also part of his job. He gets paid millions because there are fans who pay to watch him and his team play a game. The media is the link between him and those fans, who whether he likes it or not, he owes something to. Being cold to the media doesn't help you win. I get it. I hate losing. I despise it. Yet, I understand character is important and as Shannon Sharpe says, there's something to be said for being gracious in defeat. Belicheck has a personality but refuses to show it. He clearly thinks it helps him win, but the reality is it helps him none on Sundays. It's long overdue for the 60 year old coach to stop being a sore loser and grow up.
My Own Dilemma Colin Cowherd has a saying I love: "love your family, like your sports." I love sports in that it's my job. It's my passion. It doesn't define me. My Twitter profile will never have what teams I root for in it because that doesn't define who I am. For so many, it is their identity which is why when people say "sports don't matter" I tell them "you don't get it," however there's an ever growing group of people who seem to have lost perspective of just how much they matter compared to the rest of the world.
For some reason it's become okay to pretty much say whatever the hell you want as a sports fan. You're allowed to hate people. You're allowed to call an athlete some pretty heavy stuff (see above). You're allowed to be completely wrong without being considered an idiot as long as you're supporting your team. In whatever sports culture we live in, this is just the way it goes.
Games swing on every play on Twitter where everything is definitive and final until your next tweet in 30 seconds. Everybody sucks or they're great. There is no middle ground. I just don't get it. I never will. I don't follow people on Twitter I don't want to follow and all it takes is a few idiotic comments for me to unfollow, yet if I had followed that rationale yesterday I think I would have been down to three people. I follow people I like to hear from, but yesterday I couldn't take the whining about pretty much everything. I eventually just clocked out, which is saying something for me during a sporting event. I couldn't do it. We've become such a cynical society that hates everyone and everything and it bothers me greatly.
Herm Edwards famously said "don't press send!" and it's some pretty damn good advice. Part of the fun of Twitter is riding the emotion and feeling like you're watching with a couple million of your closest friends, but if it's gonna be as negative and petty as it was yesterday, I'd rather just find a nice quiet room to watch by myself.
The Manning Dilemma(s)
John Fox is a good football coach. I got to see him up close in Carolina where his career took a natural arc. He took over a terrible team, got them to a Super Bowl in year 2 and back to the NFC title game two years later and then was up and down until he was really down in his final year and got fired. He is a good coach. Good coaches can have bad days and yesterday John Fox had as bad of a day as you can have.
Before breaking down the two monumental mistakes Fox made, let's say none of it should have mattered. All the Broncos had to do was knock a ball Joe Flacco threw 50-something yards in the air down to Jacoby Jones and they likely win. If they intercept it, they do win. Instead Rahim Moore made the worst safety play in the history of football and Jacoby Jones caught it and ran into the end zone likely thinking "how the (bleep) did that ball make it to me" and the Broncos wound up losing in double OT. It wasn't even like Moore was in bad position. Sure he let Jones behind him, but no throw was going to make it to Jones if Moore took the right angle. He just played the ball like someone with no depth perception. Worst play ever and to his credit after the game he said "it's all my fault" however it's not. Back to Fox.
3rd and 7, 2:00 minutes left, 4th quarter, ball on the Bronco 47, 35-28 Denver
When the Ravens turned it over to Peyton and co. with 3:12 to go, they had to think the game was over. All Peyton Manning had to do was get two first downs and he'd moved the ball with relative ease all game even if it didn't always lead to points. The Broncos picked up one first down on the 2nd play and the Ravens called time. Another run. Timeout, the Ravens last. Another run and the two minute warning came with a 3rd and 7 for the game. If the Broncos get a first down, the game is over. They can kneel. No way out for the Ravens. If Baltimore gets a stop, they get the ball back with a chance.
John Fox is a defensive coach with a defensive mindset. In the past he's had mediocre or worse quarterbacks and was able to have moderate success with them and take Jake Delhomme to a Super Bowl. John Fox now has Peyton Manning which is why his decision to run the ball on 3rd and 7 is as asinine as the play Moore made. Manning's at his best in the short to intermediate game and he has guys he's thrown to for years available in Brandon Stokely and Jacob Tamme not to mention a superior possession receiver in Eric Decker. Manning could have converted it in his sleep and even if he didn't, the "risk" you give the Ravens 30 extra seconds when they HAVE to score a touchdown. If you're only up a field goal, fine. The extra time means they can get extra yards close on a field goal. It's really hard to score a touchdown without a massive defensive breakdown when you have to have one because the defense can crowd the endzone. Not going for it is playing not to lose instead of playing to win. I'm always in favor of playing to win. Be the aggressor. Especially when you have a hall of famer under center.
1st and 10, :31 seconds left, 4th quarter, ball on the Bronco 19, 35-35 tie
Again Fox's defensive mindset strikes. With two timeouts and one of the greatest hurry up quarterbacks ever only needing a field goal, Fox decides to take a knee. The cold weather meant that the ball doesn't fly quite as well as it normally does but in the altitude, Matt Prater could have been good from 60 yards. If he misses, who cares. The field goal would have come as time expired. We all know he's clutch too after witnessing him close out so many of the "Tebow time" games last year too. Instead, Fox decides to not "risk" an interception or a blocked kick or any of the horrible things that could possibly happen when you snap the football on offense and play for overtime. Justice would have been the Ravens scoring on the opening possession and Peyton never seeing the ball. Instead they drug us all through an overtime plus of horrible football and then the Broncos lost.
Late in the overtime, Peyton Manning turned into Brett Favre. Or perhaps he turned into Peyton Manning in the playoffs. I'm as big of a Peyton Manning fan as you'll find. I'm fascinated with how he plays the position and have said for a number of years he's the best to ever do it in the regular season. However his playoff failures are real and they are spectacular. He's now 0-4 in playoff games played under 40 degree weather. He entered the game throwing 1 touchdown to 7 interceptions under such conditions and tacked on two more picks in this one including a tie for the worst I've ever seen in a big spot. Brett Favre's across the body blunders are well documented and none was bigger than the one he threw in the 2009 NFC Championship game. Peyton Manning doesn't make that throw though...except he did.
For as great as Manning is - and I still maintain he's the greatest regular season quarterback ever - it's rather clear the clutch gene went to his brother. Eli's greatest attribute is his ability to stay calm under pressure. Last night Peyton tried to do to much and it cost him. He got two special teams touchdowns and still lost. Facts are facts.
It's good to have options
Had Fox been aggressive, Moore not had the depth perception of one who's legally blind or Manning not turned into Favre I would have been perfect on my game 1 pick. I said Baltimore covers and Denver wins. Instead, I'm 0-4 combined spread/outright thanks to San Francisco housing Green Bay in a game I said the underdog Packers would win outright. It's pretty simple - I guessed inhuman Aaron Rodgers would show up and inhuman Colin Kaepernick wouldn't. I guessed wrong.
There are still many who hold on to the idea that a running quarterback can't win a Super Bowl because they haven't yet. I'm really very confused as to what these people are looking at. It's likely they are looking at history instead of the present incarnation of the running qb. In the past, guys like Eric Crouch won the Heisman in college and played safety before failing out of the pros. It's pretty simple. Those guys couldn't throw. The current incarnation can.
Colin Kaepernick not only has a cannon right arm, but he knows how to use it. The current incarnation of the running quarterback is a thrower first. He can, unlike his predecessors, stand in the pocket and make all the throws. He is accurate. He is decisive. I sound like Ron Jaworski. Because he can do all these things, his ability to run becomes a major factor and defenses are screwed.
You can't play everything. Last night the Packers played man coverage, meaning all the defenders were looking at their man and when no one was open, Kaepernick scrambled including his first touchdown run. You want to play him to run? He'll happily sit back and pick you apart with his arm. Then there is the option. You have to account for Frank Gore or whoever is at running back, or Kaepernick hands it off and that guy gashes you. Pay all your attention there and Kaepernick runs it for the longest post-season QB run in NFL history. We need more guys! Okay. Bring up some safeties and as soon as you sniff option, get up there. Wait till he takes two steps, pulls back and slings it over your head for six points through the air.
I'm not smart enough to tell you what the solution is in guarding this stuff, but I am smart enough to tell you it works. Coaches have to be careful not to get their qb's killed which is the major concern in Washington with Robert Griffin III's slight frame and propensity to get nicked up, but Kaepernick is 6'5". Sure you don't want him getting blasted, but the guy can take a hit. Same with Cam Newton, who is bigger bulkwise than Kaepernick and loves running over small db's. Despite his vertical lack of size, Russell Wilson is a stocky guy who can take a hit too. These types of guys aren't going anywhere.
If you don't have a mobile qb in the future, you're not eliminated from winning however the notion that having one means you can't go all the way is just plain dumb. It's the natural evolution of the athlete. Guys know they can't just rely on running all over so they learn to throw. They're smart. They can read defenses. They can do anything the statue-like qb's that have generally dominated up to this point in football history can do, but they can also run. It's not long till one of these guys wins a ring and when they do, I hope all people stuck in "you must be a pocket passer and cannot run land" will admit they were wrong. "Can't" and "haven't yet" are two very different things. Just ask Lebron.
