The Washington Redskins have had an up and down start to the season and now RG3 is set to start in Week 11 over Colt McCoy and Kirk Cousins for head coach Jay Gruden and this comes after criticism over the past few weeks about the leadership of Robert Griffin III and while it's unlikely, there is a chance that Gruden could bench RGIII with more losses down the stretch after McCoy played well against the Dallas Cowboys.
Gruden has said that he wants Griffin to start, but he also left the door open last week about the quarterback position going forward. According to Pro Football Talk, some in the locker room question the leadership of RG3 and part of that comes from his focus on bring a "brand" and also how he comments quite a bit about what is said to him on social media. McCoy is not as talented as Griffin and that's obvious, but RG3 has not been the same quarterback he was as a rookie and some players have noticed that.
DeSean Jackson and Ryan Clark came out publicly to support Griffin and Gruden likely would never admit that Dan Snyder wants RG3 to start no matter what. Last game Griffin had 251 yards passing and one touchdown and he also threw a pick in the loss against the Vikings. This season Griffin has played in three games and has passed for 556 yards with one TD and one interception. According to Jay Gruden, the Redskins easily could be 7-2 instead of their current record, as they have been in close games and he said he is looking to the positives, including with RG3.
Griffin is easily the better option over Cousins and McCoy, but with the way the Redskins played on Monday night, many felt that McCoy earned another start. Sometimes the NFL doesn't work that way and that put RG3 back in the main role and now he is looking to stay healthy for the rest of the season, something he could not do last year. Griffin has been regressing each of the past two seasons, as he started off well as a rookie with 3200 yards passing and 826 rushing yards, but last season he missed games and was not as effective running the ball.
As a rookie Griffin had 20 TDs and just five picks and completed over 65 percent of his passes, but his second year he had 16 TDs and 12 picks and dropped five percentage points in his completion rate. Griffin did not score as much either, putting in a combined 27 TDs in 2012 and he followed that up with 16 in 2013, including zero rushing touchdowns. The Buccaneers have a terrible defense and against the pass they ate one of the worst teams in the league, so that should be a good chance for Griffin and the Redskins to get back on track.
McCoy went for 299 yards against the Cowboys and he scored a rushing TD and he looked very comfortable in the offense for the Redskins. Obviously Griffin is a better player, but McCoy was efficient and smart with the football, throwing one pick and competing 25 of 30 passes against the Cowboys. If Griffin goes down, McCoy should be ready to go again.
