They say that confession is good for the soul. I admit that I was just hoping for a respectful showing by Robert Griffin III playing in his first NFL regular season game against the New Orleans Saints on the road in the Big Easy. I was hoping that the Skins wouldn't look too bad in New Orleans, where it is a party (truly) every night.
It just goes to show you that in the NFL, you can so easily be wrong.
RG3 looked like a polished veteran yesterday as the Skins outscored the Saints 40-32 yesterday in their season opener. He was the only rookie quarterback that won his first game. The Skins hadn't scored 40 points in a game since the Joe Gibbs era back in 2007. Not only did they keep pace with the Saints, they actually in fact were the front runners all day as Griffin ran the offense like a skilled maestro. He completed his first eight passes enroute to a 19 for 26, 320 yd, 2 TD (no picks) performance. His seventh completion was a 88 yard dart to his #88, WR Pierre Garcon for his first career touchdown. He completed the half with a perfect passer rating, the first ever for a rookie quarterback in his first game. His 320 passing yards were second only to Cam Newton's 400 plus yard performance last year for an opening game rookie performance.
In reviewing his performance, the coaching staff let him do, like Hancock says, him. He ran most of the game from the shotgun and ran a pseudo option/pass type of offense. This was used to give him the option to run or pass after (for example) rolling out to one side of the field or the other. He seemed to make the right decision most of the day whether to run (42 yards rushing) or pass. The question for me is will he be able to take the punishment that he will get for running this offence over fifteen (or more) games.
It also has to be mentioned that he was helped by a strong running game, led by rookie running back Alfred Morris (96 yds rushing, 2TD's), and a defense that limited the Saints to 32 yards rushing and less than 21 minutes of possession time.
I have to say that since this guy has come into the league, he has come as advertised. He has said and done all the right things, which includes carrying the equipment of the older veterans after practice during camp. As the latest generation says, he's got swag. It's hard not to get excited as a Skins fan.
It was guud 2 c da brother do his thing against a top 10 ten team, esspecially da play where he rolled left where he could've easily run 4 da 1st ,he puls-up & hitz his reciever 4 a bigger 1st dwn. Don't xpect it a everydwn thing, he,s still a rookie, but is a great start, so job well done ,itz part of da process. Guud win.
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