Since we’re on full practice No. 6 today, I decided to do something a little different. I tracked each pass Robert Griffin III threw today in order to do a special RG3 edition of the practice report.
To sum it up before looking at it throw by throw, let’s look at the numbers. I counted passes during 11 on 11 play only. Since they don’t tackle to the ground it’s hard to judge how far a receiver would have gone after a catch, so I decided to use very rough estimates for yardage. If a pass was short and complete I said it was seven yards, intermediate completions were 15 yards and long passes were 30.
He was 10-14 (.714) for 116 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. To take this overanalysis one step too far, that equals a quarterback rating of 96.13.
Here is what it looked like pass by pass.
Deep pass intended for Pierre Garçon incomplete
Garçon may have been open for a moment but RG3’s pass spent way too much time in the air and Madieu Williams was on the receiver to knock it down.
Medium pass intended for Chris Cooley intercepted by Lorenzo Alexander
This appeared to be a simple case of Griffin not seeing the linebacker drop into coverage. The QB went for the tight end crossing over the middle and Alexander backpedaled into the pick.
Short pass to Santana Moss complete
A quick slant to Moss.
Red zone 11 on 11
Medium pass to Garçon complete for a touchdown
From the 20, Griffin executed a nice play action fake and threw a rope to Garçon over the middle at the goal line.
Short pass to Garçon complete
This was a bubble screen from the pistol formation (RG3 in short shotgun, the RB directly behind him a few yards). The defense was all over it and would have tackled the receiver after a short gain.
Short pass to Garçon complete for a touchdown
This was a shorter version of the previous TD play minus the play action. RG3 made a good, solid throw right where it needed to be.
Medium pass to Leonard Hankerson incomplete
This pass never had a chance, it didn’t look like Hankerson was where RG3 thought he would be. This could be an error by the receiver, the passer, or both.
Medium pass intended for Moss intercepted by DeAngelo Hall
If the Redskins’ defense works like this with any frequency there won’t be as much pressure on RG3 to score. Brian Orakpo got pressure on Griffin, forcing an underthrown pass and Hall made a diving interception.
11 on 11 from midfield
Short pass to Moss complete
This was another bubble screen, the defense had it well covered and any gain would have been minimal.
Deep pass to Moss complete
Moss went deep and had two defenders near him. The ball was underthrown and Moss came back and got it. It turned out so well that one might imagine that RG3 intentionally underthrew the pass to give Moss a chance at it. But it seems more likely that he simply underthrew it without intending to do so.
Intermediate pass to Hankerson complete
Griffin found his receiver on the sideline and zipped the ball to him.
Intermediate pass to Garçon complete
RG3 rolled left and found Garçon on that sideline. Good pass, good catch.
Short pass to Garçon complete
This was another bubble screen. The defense had seen it coming all day long and that was the case here, too.
Short pass to Moss complete
RG3 threw a quick slant to Moss. Like most of his passes, the ball got there in a hurry and it was on the money.
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