The crumbling of the Redskins began the minute Robert Griffin III crumpled to the ground at FedEx Field in the ill-fated playoff game against the Seahawks, when he became RGKnee.
He was mindlessly and recklessly placed in harm’s way for the remainder of the game by the head coach, Mike Shanahan, and the medical man who knows better, Dr. James Andrews. The one-legged franchise quarterback later needed his torn ACL repaired.
RG3 hasn’t been the same since, and there has been widespread speculation his relationship with Shanahan hasn’t been the same — shorter on trust and longer on suspicion than it needs to be between star quarterback and head coach, fueled further by the star quarterback’s inflammatory comments after last week’s loss to the Eagles that the defense knew what was coming.
This is the tale of a golden boy who has been tarnished, for one reason or another; his leadership called into question in one way or another by former Redskins great Darrell Green and wide receiver Santana Moss; his locker room a more volatile place at 3-7 than the Tom Coughlin Giants’ ever was at 0-6.
That’s the way it works sometimes in the NFL — Madison Avenue can turn phenoms oozing charisma into darlings one year, and the next year everyone wonders whether the fame was too much too soon.
We will learn plenty now about RG3, starting Monday night against the 49ers and next Sunday against the Giants, now that his nose has been bloodied for the first time. We will learn exactly what he has learned about the realities of life as quarterback of the Washington Redskins in a TMZ world.
Anyone who has watched RG3’s travails understands that as feverishly as he toiled to be ready for Week 1, he simply wasn’t confident in his knee. Combine that with defensive coordinators going to school on the read-option, with Shanahan and his son, Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, erring on the side of caution and forcing RG3 to be a pocket passer, and add to that the abject lack of a quality defense and special teams, and here we are.
“He’s just now getting confident in that leg,” former Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann said.
It has come too late to save the Redskins’ season, and too late to save Griffin from a beatdown. The read-option has become more like the bleed-option.
“Robert is taking an inordinate amount of hits after he releases the football,” Theismann said. “He’s gotten pummeled, probably more than any quarterback in the league. After a while, you get planted in the ground umpteen times, it wears on you.”
RG3’s accuracy (59.3 percent, down from 65.6 last year) has suffered. His interception at the end of the Eagles game came on a backpedaling throw he said was designed as a throwaway.
“Accuracy has everything to do, I think, with footwork,” Theismann said. “It has to do with the way you transfer your weight.”
RG3’s decision-making also has been suspect at times, on the field and off. He learned a lesson he already should have known when he called out his receivers for not getting open, for example.
One teammate labeled it “cold-blooded.” You never heard anything like that from Eli Manning. Or Andrew Luck. Or Russell Wilson. Or even Colin Kaepernick, who is also having his struggles.
Theismann, however, finds RG3 quiet and likeable.
“He’s a very bright young man,” Theismann said. “Sometimes I think he says things not understanding the interpretation or ramifications of what he is saying. I don’t believe he ever says anything with malice. I promise you, knowing how smart he is, he will choose his words more carefully when it comes to answering questions.”
Theismann, as much as anyone, understands what it means to be quarterback of the nation’s capital football team.
“The mood of the city — the mood of the government — basically is determined by the success or lack of success by the Washington Redskins,” Theismann said. “When you’re the quarterback of the Washington Redskins, in the city where the president of the United States sits, if you’re having success, they’re going to talk about you more than they are the most powerful man in the world. Hey, when you go to the Super Bowl, you get talked about a lot more than anybody — and you get a lot more positive ink than the president’s going to get (laugh).”
Griffin should know by now that when he goes on local radio and says, “As a quarterback, I’m saying if it didn’t get done, then I’m going to let you know it wasn’t me,” will be taken as a slap. Theismann joked that the days of omerta inside the modern-day locker room are over.
“Society has changed,” Theismann said. “Everybody wants to say something publicly nowadays. Even if you do say something privately in the locker room, there’s a pretty good chance it’s going to get out anyway. This is the new NFL.”
As for questions about RG3’s leadership, Theismann pointed out that his teammates voted him captain as a rookie.
“We like to project and anoint people in our business as being a complete package right away,” Theismann said. “People forget this is a business of growth.”
Theismann said he thinks owner Daniel Snyder should keep Shanahan, in part, for the sake of stability, and he said he believes reports of turmoil in the Redskins’ locker room have been exaggerated. He won’t count out RG3.
“Robert has the skills to be very special,” Theismann said, “but I’ve always believed you’ve gotta do it over a period of time in our business.”
It’s time for RG3 to start doing it again.