Jay Gruden slighted Robert Griffin III when responding to critics who believe the former Heisman Trophy winner would be more successful in a different offensive scheme.
RG3 has struggled in his limited action this season, throwing for 902 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions over six games in first-year head coach Gruden’s offense. He has only rushed for 100 yards and no touchdowns. Compare that to his rookie year when Griffin threw for 3,200 yards, 20 touchdowns, five interceptions and rushed for 815 yards and seven touchdowns in an offense run by Mike and Kyle Shanahan.
When asked if Griffin would do better in a different offense, Gruden gave a harsh assessment of his quarterback’s abilities.
“I don’t know what offense they are talking about,” Gruden said via The Washington Post. “As far as offenses that I have studied in the National Football League, we all run similar dropback concepts. Not everybody runs the zone read.
“We run the zone read to try to help him out. We run a lot more play-actions and bootlegs than most teams. . . . If you play quarterback in the National Football League, you’re going to have to drop back and throw it.”
Ouch.
The zone read is a scheme that plays on the strengths of the faster quarterbacks like Griffin or Russell Wilson. It works well in college, but defensive players are much better in the pros, and it is dangerous to have a quarterback run a lot in the NFL. Regardless, Gruden says they have tried to help out RG3.
Gruden, who has not been afraid to criticize Griffin this season, took his criticism of RG3 even farther. He said Washington needs a quarterback who will make decisions quicker, and get rid of the ball, which are two things Griffin has not done this season.
“We’ve got to eliminate the negative plays. We’ve got to have a great familiarity with our system, [know] where people are on the field and [play with] some anticipation,” Gruden said in comments almost assuredly directed at Griffin.
The Post’s Jason Reid believes Washington’s higher-ups — owner Dan Snyder and GM Bruce Allen — will want RG3 to start again this season. Gruden has issues with Griffin on and off the field and wants to continue with Colt McCoy and see what the former Texas QB can do for the team.
Gruden’s apparent lack of faith in Griffin could lead the Redskins to choose between either their head coach or one-time franchise QB after the season.
