Chris Cooley
courtesy of Keith Allison
Under a minute and a half left to play, the Redskins with a three point, and the Giants needing a long drive to take the lead. What could possibly go wrong? How about everything that has gone wrong for the Redskins all on display for on play. Manning would find Victor Cruz who was supposed to be double covered by Wilson and Williams for a 77 yard game winning touchdown. The Redskins secondary had once again let them down, blown a late lead, and allowed a big play. Everything the Redskins have done wrong this season on display for one play.
Here is the good news, and it is the same good news it has been for the past six weeks. Robert Griffin looked good. No, he looked great, electrifying, unstoppable. Robert Griffin looks like the next superstar quarterback in the NFL. All those little things he was going to have to work on like accuracy and poise are already on display. For a hybrid quarterback Robert Griffin might be the most accurate there has been. For the season he has completed 70% of his passes. That is off the charts good for a drop-back, pocket passer. For a scrambling quarterback that is other worldly, and about that scrambling thing. RGIII has rushed for 557 yards on 73 attempts.
Robert Griffin is as good a quarterback as the Redskins are bad at everything else. That isn’t quite true though. The Redskins offense has other contributors. Alfred Morris has been a surprising find from the sixth round of this past draft. Morris against the Giants tough defensive line was able to rush for over 100 yards yet again, and while the offensive line was thought to be a work in progress at best they have helped both Morris and Griffin to run the ball the way they have. It might not be the elite unit the Hogs were, but they haven’t been the disaster everyone thought they would be.
The disaster for the Redskins this season has been on defense. That isn’t all the Redskins fault. There was that rather large cap penalty they had to pay back for not getting in line with the other owners collusion in an un-capped season. Then there is the injury to Brandon Meriweather and the suspension to Tanard Jackson. The Redskins are playing with no true safeties on defense and as a unit their cornerbacks aren’t that good to begin with, but it is much better for a team to have one definable flaw than the many the Redskins have had in the past.
There was a time not that long ago that the question could be posed of how to fix the Redskins, and there didn’t seem to be an answer, but because of RGIII and Alfred Morris on offense there is suddenly a clear and definable problem. If the Redskins had a secondary that could cover receivers then they could be a good football team. All that is good with the Redskins was on display when RGIII led a fourth quarter drive and took the lead with under two minutes to play, and all that is bad with the Redskins was on display moments later as Eli Manning found Victor Cruz for a 77 yard game winning touchdown.
