Here are some examples of how I see things differently from some others. Not necessarily more accurately, I just can't help but see what I see and if it's different from what these guys see then I'm going to disagree. It's only natural.
You take the in-depth breakdown of Robert Griffin, that we're talking about in this thread.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/979087-robert-griffin-iii-2012-nfl-draft-scouting-report
The very first video is a video that is meant by the article writer to show off Robert Griffin's accuracy.
[video=youtube;ECtEm9-sX_I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECtEm9-sX_I[/video]
But here's what I see on the play that is concerning right off the bat. Why did he give up on this pocket? As a quarterback you need to step up and, if you need to, out, not bail to the outside like that. He did not need to bail on this pocket. By doing so he basically tossed the play in the trash can and played some playground football instead of making reads.
The play sets up a triangle read with the inside post receiver and the outside vertical receiver, forcing the safety to that side to declare his coverage. If he commits outside to the vertical then the inside post will come open. If he commits inside (which is the case here), then the outside vertical will come open. The pocket is not broken. You need to climb the pocket and continue reading that safety, then make your throw with proper timing and accuracy.
What ends up happening is the left corner bails Robert Griffin out of a bad decision. The corner either didn't know what the responsibilitie were of the other players on his defense, or he didn't care, because he peeked into the backfield to see what Robert Griffin was doing be it running or passing. The defense already has a spy assigned in case Griffin breaks containment, and furthermoe the underneath zone cover guy that passed off the inside post receiver can also be a first responder in a broken containment situation. The corner is really the LAST person that should be worried about whether Robert is scrambling or passing. But he pulls a Jason Allen and so Griffin is able to fire the ball into the end zone to a receiver that is somehow still open even though Griffin screwed up the timing of the play.
What I want to know is, why did he bail from that pocket? Considering some things I've seen have already led me to believe that Griffin does not see the field and make reads well from inside the pocket, and wants to get out of the pocket in order to get clearer vision, this play is another red flag for me...whereas everyone else can't stop gushing about the touchdonw he just threw.
The next video, the writer actually does highlight a bad decision by Griffin...but claims that it's "rare". I'm not so sure, given what I feel is the root of the problem.
[video=youtube;XP8V2S0WYaU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP8V2S0WYaU[/video]
This play is a moving pocket, basically a play designed to get Griffin to a side of the field where he can see the field better and make a better throw. He executes. I'm going to pause the play at 15 seconds, right as Robert gears down as he reaches the left most portion of the "X" in "TEXAS A&M". You freeze that, and he's got the vertical receiver dead to rights. The receiver (probably Kendall Wright) has separation on the corner vertically, the safety has committed to the underneath play...if Robert Griffin releases a 55 to 60 yard throw to the perimeter, then Wright has zero trouble running underneath that ball and catching it probably for a touchdown. At the spot I've got it frozen, Wright has 15 yards of vertical space between he and Griffin, and outside shoulder ball placement would have required no more than 45 to 50 feet of horizontal clearance, and so a 60 yard throw at the average speeds most common in franchise quarterbacks would have taken about 3.0 seconds which is 3.5 seconds if you account for release time, which would have required Wright to clear about 40 to 45 yards in 3.5 seconds which is plenty of time given that he's already at a running start.
Basically, that's a long and scientifically showable way of saying that the design of the play and the look Robert Griffin got was just right to have executed the moving pocket and released a deep ball to Wright for a touchdown. What we see instead though is hesitation from Grififn.
Why the hesitation? Because he doesn't SEE it. If you have it pausded at 15 seconds right when he's at the leftmost side of the "X", you can draw a line straight from Robert Griffin to Kendall Wright, and that line would touch two offensive linemen and two defensive linemen that moved out with Robert in the moving pocket. His hesitation here stems from the simple fact that he can't see over them, and so he doesn't trust the throw. Another example of bad vision from the pocket, only this team it was even a moving pocket situation designed to get him some better vision.
Then you have this video which is meant to show "Field Vision". There are two plays on the video.
[video=youtube;2JNWGF0Z7Ak]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JNWGF0Z7Ak[/video]
The first play does not show "Field Vision" after the snap. It shows the quality of his pre-snap reads, and his willingness to use his eyes to disguise his intentions. However, he throws this ball pretty much blind, based on what he saw in the coverage spacing prior to the snap. He looks left and then turns right and fires the ball. Could he have pulled the ball down if he saw coverage he didn't like on the right side? Maybe. But we don't know because it didn't happen. Given the other troubles I keep seeing in his ability to see the field from the pocket, I have my doubts. This could have been an interception much like the one Chad Henne threw in the second half of the 2009 Chargers game when Eric Weddle was playing the weak side and cheated downward to Davone Bess' hitch route from the slot, while Henne was busy looking to the right to try and disguise his intentions on the play. Henne flipped back over to the left and fired the football blind, trusting that Bess would be open, but Weddle had cheated based on his film study, and snagged the easy pick.
The second play of this video shows vision, but it's vision outside the pocket where I don't think I would make a case he has any problems. It is indeed a run/pass option as the author says. The failure was not really in the three defenders that gave Griffin chase trying to make sure he didn't run it in for the score, but rather the corner in man coverage that simply can't stay plastered to Terrance Williams. But if you look at the play, those were Robert's only two options because of the run-pass option play design. Either he runs it or he throws it to Williams. In the NFL you're going to run into more corners that can stay plastered to the receiver in man coverage like that, and so Griffin would be left in that situation either throwing the ball away or taking his chances against the three defensive players that were bearing down on him...which would get him tackled and potentially hurt.
The final one is one that is supposed to show pocket presence.
[video=youtube;gzHlgIRKKfI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzHlgIRKKfI[/video]
This is a video I have actually addressed before, because it's a prime example of some of the SHOTS that I see Griffin taking every game...that he won't survive in the NFL. This is 3rd & 22 so I'm not going to blame Robert for not converting this down. But I do blame him for taking the shot he took. It's not toughness, to me. It's stupidity. You count pre-snap and he's got 6 guys crowding the line showing blitz. Yeah, he has 6 guys to block them, but that's not a good situation. Those aren't good numbers. Someone's going to break free. He has to be more decisive with this ball. This particular video of the play is a little more cut off than the one I remember talking about before. But he's got a slot receiver running a stick route against plenty of space from the safety. He's floating to the inside. You lead him to the inside so that he's forced to run through the catch, and there would be a lot of space for him to run over the middle and try and make SOMETHING happen. But if you look at the vertical cam view that ball would have had to go right into an area where Robert doesn't have good vision because of his height.
So instead Robert takes his sweet @ss time, looks right, looks left, comes back to the right and throws the ball to a guy on a 5 route that was not going to get the 1st down anyway. It's no wonder he got lit up after he threw the ball.
It's just an example of a different way of thinking. Most people see that play and the first thought that pops into their head is "Awesome toughness!". I see that play and the first thing that pops into my head is "You let yourself get lit up for no good reason".
I'm not saying I think of it the right way and others thing of it the wrong way. There's usually at least two ways to see every play. But it just shows you, when I talk about significant issues that Robert Griffin has...this is what I'm looking at. This is why I'm seeing it different from most others.
