Coming out of college at Baylor, Robert Griffin III was known for being able to throw an impressive deep ball in Art Briles’s offense. That skill seemingly got shelved for much of his time with the Washington Redskins, where he was used primarily in as offensive scheme that focused on shorter routes.
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Now, the Cleveland Browns hope Griffin can recapture some of the magic that saw him lead the Redskins to the NFC East title while being named the NFL rookie of the year in 2012. And he has shown signs of life during his first two preseason games under the tutelage of new Browns Coach Hue Jackson.
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These figures certainly suggest more chances for Griffin to employ his deep-ball skills, but his difficulties in Washington were more than just a lack of deep-throw attempts. He struggled with reading the field, resulting in an abnormally high rate of interceptions and sacks. But that could have been a function of the Redskins relying on complex, full-field reads.
Jackson’s offense utilizes mirrored route combinations that give the quarterback a half-field read, often simplifying the structure and speeding up decision-making. It will employ some West Coast concepts, but Jackson relies more on a vertical passing game out of the Don Coryell/Bruce Arians passing tree, a style of play that looks to stretch the offense horizontally by using three- and four-wide receiver sets, while also stretching the defense vertically with the downfield passing game.
As any Redskin fan knows, that coaching tree goes from Coryell to his greatest student, Joe Gibbs. The obvious question: would Robert Griffin have done well with (the younger) Joe Gibbs as coach? That's a question for an imaginary world, of course, but, in my mind and heart, Joe Gibbs is always the coach of the Redskins.
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