Quarterback Controversy

The Redskins may soon have a full-blown controversy on their hands.
Robert Griffin III is going miss at least 6 weeks after injuring his ankle against the Jaguars.

Complicating matters even more, Kirk Cousins came and performed great in relief, completing 22 of 33 passes for 250 yards and 2 touchdowns, and setting up 2 other touchdown drives (converted by Alfred Morris).

Note: the last drive, capped by a Silas Redd TD was meaningless though some team with running back issues should offer the Redskins a pick for Redd. He looks fast and strong.

Complicating matters even further is that RGIII has not shown enough (hardly any) progress to believe that he is going to develop into the quarterback the Redskins hoped he would be when they used the second pick in the draft to select him.

Scenario #1: Cousins plays the next 6-8 games as well as he did yesterday. If so, he would be a serious contender for league MVP.
Scenario #2: Cousins has some good games and some bad games. He makes some good plays and some bad plays. The Redskins win some and lose some.
Scenario #3: Cousins plays poorly, throws more touchdown than interceptions and the team loses almost every game he starts.

Scenarios #1 and 3 are easy, it's scenario #2 that's hard. And here's why: After Cousins starts 6-8 games, maybe more, it's going to be hard to bring both quarterbacks back next year for their 4th season.

But unless Cousins is spectacular or even very good, it will be hard to give up on RGIII after one great season and two seasons restricted by injury.

My thoughts: Kirk Cousins has almost zero advantages over RGIII. But he is a more accurate passer, and perhaps more importantly, he seems more willing to "pull the trigger" and throw the ball before mentally confirming the receiver is open. Too often RGIII misses open receivers by waiting an extra half-second. Also, Cousins as yet makes none of the bad decisions that RGIII makes that often lead to penalties, turnovers and injuries.

I think you need to be a star quarterback to win in this league. If you are going to follow the Seahawks model and develop a QB who is a skilled game manager (no QB throws fewer pass attempts than Russell Wilson -- yes, they're winning most of the time), then you need an awesome ball-hawking defense and a solid ground game. Both of which the Redskins might have someday soon.

But if you don't, want you want to win titles you need a star QB. A guy who can make plays and win games on his own. In his only healthy season we saw RGIII do that. I don't think 3 years is enough to permanently write him off as injury-prone or not good enough.

But RGIII had his chance. Now Cousins is getting his.

Even Redskins Fans Can Be Oversensitive Babies

In Virginia, vanity license plates are no additional charge, so many people tend to get them. Some moron is driving around with KLIQ920 plates. And another guy has an Audi with OWWWW-D tags.
One jerk, who is a Cowboys fan judging by the sticker on the back of his car, is riding around with F RG3 on his car. An oversensitive baby, and Redskins fan, took a picture of the offending plate and tweeted it to the Virginia DMV.
It's not offensive, it's funny, if you hate the Redskins, and if you do like the Redskins it's completely meaningless,. Lighten up Redskin fan.

How Happy Should I Be?

The Washington Redskins just completed a perfect 4-0 preseason. And our starting QB Robert Griffin III didn't take a single snap.
I really want to believe that this shows something special about the defense, or the offensive line and that once RG3 comes back (if he's at full health, a big if) the Redskins would have to be even better.
But then I looked at this list of NFL teams that went undefeated in the preseason.
Last year the Seahawks went 4-0 and it portended a strong season. But the Eagles also went 4-0, and then went 4-12 during the regular season.
Remember the year the Lions went 0-16? They were 4-0 in the preseason that year.
From 2000 - 2012 inclusive, 25 teams went undefeated in exhibition games. 13 of those teams made the playoffs (52%), 2 of those teams won the Super Bowl (8%), both of which are better than the random expectations (37.5%, 3.3%) but hardly a guarantee.
Now I know that this last game against the ExpensiveCornPrices was played entirely by Pat White, a QB who won't even make the team (though he could be first string on the Jets), but the defense only gave up 6 points in 4 quarters, and played similarly well in the other three games.
If the defense is improved and RG3 is healthy, and the team made the playoffs last year, why is another 10-6 season out of the question?
Or am I getting ahead of myself?

Getting Some Use Out of the "Stupid Things I Do Because They'd Make Good Blog Posts" Tag

Turns out I was able to find a few affordable things still remaining on the wedding registry for Rebecca Liddicoat and Robert Griffin III.



So I sent the couple a lovely orange Kate Spade bath towel.
I've gotten a little more information about this that has turned me slightly against the Griffins. First, they should have made the registry private and given the password to family and friends. Second, there is also an option where the couple could donate 50% or even 100% of the value of the gifts to charity. That would have been nice. They're of course under no obligation to do so, but to not do either of those things makes it seem like they wanted gifts from fans. But we have to go back to the elemental reason you buy someone a gift, to show them you care about them, to make them happy, and because it brings joy to the sender to make the recipient happy. All those reasons still apply here so I am happy I did it and I hope they use my bath towel in good health.

For All He's Done For Us

Robert Griffin III has done a lot of great work, at considerable personal harm, to restore the once great Redskins. To express gratitude for his efforts Redskins fans bought almost every single item (under $50) of his wedding registry at Bed Bath and Beyond.
RGIII even posted this picture of himself with all these boxes to thank the fans.



But now some people are criticizing him, saying he is rich and he shouldn't accept gifts from fans who earn so much less than him, he should donate them to charity.

First of all, as much as I admire RGIII and Rebecca Liddicoat, they're not William and Kate. There is nothing wrong with them setting up a registry for family and friends, and there's nothing wrong with fans sending them gifts. If I had thought about it before everything was bought, I might have sent something. Just to get a thank you card from the couple would have been nice.

My previous post about Rebecca Liddicoat may have been a little harsh. I said she wasn't pretty enough to be with a star quarterback the caliber of RGIII. But now I am reconsidering. I kind of like the fact that they were registered somewhere normal like Bed Bath & Beyond as opposed to some place ridiculous like Michael C Fina. It shows that they are good salt of the earth people, and that she isn't marrying him for his money, and he isn't marrying her just for her looks. So let's hope they have a long happy life together enjoying gravy from the gravy boats their fans bought.

The Most Obvious Hanukkah Present Ever

Two very obvious things happened on Hanukah:
1) I got a Robert Griffin III jersey
2) RG3 got hurt the next day

I can't say this enough times, and I probably mention every week in my brief rant about the Redskins, I love RGIII. He is a great player, and a great role model for my children.
Over the summer, Chase had to create an alphabet book using a picture of an item or two starting with each letter. Normally, Q is difficult one, but not for us. We printed a picture of RGIII from the internet and said "that's our quarterback."
With his superior play, his leadership, his grace, his smile and his panache this is a player Chase and Julian will grow up watching and loving.
And by the time RGIII retires (hopefully after 15 years with the Redskins), they may fit into this jersey.

Washington's Real First Lady

The whole country is smitten with our First Lady Michelle Obama. And they love her even more in Washington DC. Her normal stay-at-home mom wardrobe, her perfectly toned arms and her wonderful caring anti-childhood-obesity program are enough to make you swoon. But there are some holdouts, probably racists and right-wing nuts.
But Washington does have a first lady we can all agree on, Rebecca Liddicoat, soon to be Mrs. Robert Griffin III.
By all accounts, Liddicoat and Griffin have a great relationship. They met and fell in love at Baylor and RG3 proposed to her last year with a love song he wrote himself. The fact that they are different races doesn't matter to them, or anyone who is not Rob Parker.
They certainly look happy.

But there's one thing that nags at me about this, she isn't that hot. Yes, she is pretty, and she'd be attractive enough to date just about any other man. But not the star quarterback, one of the best players in the league. Doesn't RG3 need a smokin' hottie like Lauren Tannehill? Or an international supermodel like Giselle?
But then again, do I really want my star QB involved with some shrew? Don't I want him to have a loving supportive wife who always stands by him and never causes trouble? I think the Mannings have done this right, Peyton Manning's wife Ashley and Eli Manning's wife Abigail are both low-key, but they're also gorgeous, more attractive than the future Mrs. Griffin III.

Results-Oriented

There's a saying in poker, and it applies to all areas of life, it's called being "results-oriented."
It means that you judge decisions solely (or heavily) based upon how they work out. This is a very foolish thing to do in poker and in life as well. Results are based on so many other things that happen after your decision, you can only evaluate your decision based on the information you have at the time.
Right now the Redskins know that they have been starved for years for a franchise quarterback. Peyton Manning is 36, of questionable health and very expensive. Ryan Tannehill of Texas A&M (who the Redskins likley could have gotten if they kept the 6th pick) is far from a sure thing.
Robert Griffin III is fast, strong-armed, fearless and tons of fun to watch.



The Redskins did what they needed to do to get him.
Now let's get back to being results-oriented. Did the Redskins give up too much for him? Maybe. But NFL teams have a chart where points are assigned to each pick in the draft and if you want to acquire one pick, you have to come up with a combination of picks of greater value. The Redskins also faced a climate where several other teams, including Cleveland were likely to be aggressive in going after that number 2 pick.
Unlike poker, where you get thousands of trials for each decisions to smooth out variance, the NFL stands for Not For Long when you are the coach or GM of a losing team. And unlike poker where once you put your chips in you can't affect the cards, in the NFL you can do things after the decision is made to make the decision look better.
The Redskins can coach RG3, they can acquire good lineman and good receivers to assist him. They can create a game plan to help him develop. If they do those things right, this trade will look great 10 years down the road, no matter how many picks they forfeited.
But if he turns out to be a bust, then this is a bad trade, no matter how many picks the critics thought they should have given up.
But sitting here today, I think it is a great trade. It is a bold aggressive move to remake the franchise into a contender for years to come. And I defy anyone, right now, to tell me the Redskins chances for future success are better with 4 nebulous draft picks over the next 3 years, than they are with one Robert Griffin III.