It’s Dallas Week in Washington, D.C. and, as always with the U.S. capital’s home team; the goings-on in Ashburn are keeping everybody on their toes. The 6-1 Cowboys and 2-5 Redskins play on Monday Night Football this week and the big storyline is what quarterback will be in the offensive huddle.
Starting quarterback Robert Griffin, III has begun practicing with the team in a limited fashion, healing from a dislocated ankle. First back-up, Kirk Cousins was pulled from the game at half-time last week versus the Tennessee Titans after losing the ball twice in the first half. Second backup, Colt McCoy came in and lead the team to a win, completing 11 of 12 passes for 128 yards. One of his passes, an 8 yard toss to receiver Pierre Garçon on a curl route, lead to the wide out running for 62 yards after the catch and a touchdown. Late in the game; McCoy threw the ball 22 yards to DeSean Jackson who got a pass interference call and the resulting field position put the Redskins in range for a short field goal by kicker Kai Forbath in the last three seconds of the game and the win, 19-17.
Griffin is getting better and he’s doing it quickly. He has looked mobile, fluid and focused in practice and head coach Jay Gruden has not completely ruled him out of starting Monday night although he has said a lot must be proved before the Baylor product gets the nod. The coach addressed it on Thursday at his post-practice press conference. Read it slowly.
“We’ll announce that on Monday night,” Gruden said. “But Colt’s the starter. We’re preparing for Colt to be the starter, you know what I mean? But we’re trying to get Robert some reps, get him ready, but right now it looks like odds are Colt will be the starter, but we’re trying to work Robert into the lineup and trying to get him reps to get him ready to go because I ultimately – when it’s all said and done – when Robert’s healthy, Robert’s the starter. Do we understand that? Robert’s the starter. Colt is not the starter. Colt could be the starter Monday night, but when Robert is healthy, he’ll be the starter… We just don’t know when that ‘healthy’ will be. Mental “healthy,” physical “healthy,” we’ve just got to get him ready.”
In a nutshell, this means that if Griffin is not ready, McCoy will start. But the team will keep it open enough that, if the former IS ready, he might start.
He probably won’t be ready, but it’s possible he could be so, if he is, he’ll start. Got it?
Some would assume that it’s RGIII and his “camp” that are lobbying for him to start as quickly as possible but who knows where the pressure is coming from? When one considers how unlikely it is that a 3-13 team from a year ago would get four prime-time games the following season, one would have to think that the reason is because the National Football League knew that Griffin was going to be returning to the field healthy and would therefore make for good viewing numbers. Maybe it’s the NFL commissioner calling the Redskins’ owner, pressuring him to get the 2012 Rookie of the Year back on the field.
“When is that QB of yours going to be ready, Dan?” one can imagine Roger Goodell saying to Snyder. “I’ve got you guys on Monday night against your long-time rivals… we need ratings.”
People forget that Colt McCoy is somewhat of a Texas legend himself.
The former Cleveland Browns draft pick was actually born in Hobbs, New Mexico – a town right on the New Mexico/Texas state lines — but attended high school in Tuscola, Texas three and three-quarters hours away and to the east.
While McCoy didn’t do the Pop Warner thing as a little boy (he didn’t start playing football until middle school), it didn’t take him long to set himself apart from other area quarterbacks. Among other distinctions, he was a two-time Associated Press 2A Offensive MVP and First-team All-state selection as well as becoming the all-time leading passer in Texas Division 2A high school history. He is the fourth-leading passer in Texas high school history.
McCoy was also versatile. Besides quarterbacking, he also punted and played safety.
Things started really hopping for the New Mexico native after he landed at the University of Texas at Austin where he was a 4-year starter from 2006-2009. McCoy left UT Austin having completed 1,157 of 1,645 passes for 13,253 yards, 112 touchdowns, 45 interceptions and a QB rating of 158. As a matter of interest, while not the most mobile quarterback, he rushed for 561 yards his junior year.
In his senior year, McCoy really needed his own red carpet to walk around on. He led his undefeated Longhorns to a BCS title game appearance after winning an amazing amount of games during his college career and this solidified his place in NCAA quarterback history. And, oh yes… he finished in the top three of the Heisman voting for the second straight season. He even had his own fishing show for a few episodes on Colt McCoy TV: Bass Fishing with Colt McCoy.
(His younger brother, Case, was also a Longhorn, graduating last year after following in his older brother’s footsteps. The younger McCoy was four-year starting quarterback himself, ending his career there ranked 10th in school history in passing yards [3,689] and 10th in touchdown passes [24])
Griffin, born in Okinawa, Japan, has a well-documented college career that took place at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. This Heisman Trophy winner is so beloved that he has his own statue on the university grounds.
These two guys are both Texas legends in their own rights and, regardless of which one plays Monday night, it’s an important game for the Redskins who have not won a division game in over a year. Dallas has surprised the NFL world with how good they are, starting with quarterback Tony Romo coming back healthy after back surgery in the offseason and a surprisingly good defense (more on that later).
Probably anyone in Texas that is not a Dallas fan (recall there is another football team there in the state) is happy to see either quarterback play although Griffin is, of course, the headliner. But McCoy definitely has his own fans and could, quite possibly, play at a higher level than what people expect based on his record with the Cleveland Browns. It has been a few years and he is in a different system. He might have needed time to acclimate more fully to the NFL. Who knows how much better he might be? There is no denying he came off of the bench last week versus the the Titans and managed the offense quite well. This could be nothing more than “Back-up QB Syndrome” but one never knows. He has been a starting quarterback in the league and is the more experienced of the Redskins’ three signal-callers. Gruden and his staff like McCoy a lot.
“Well, we know that in college he was one of the most successful quarterbacks to play,” Gruden said this past Wednesday. “He’s a winning quarterback. He got drafted and started some games — some meaningful games — and record-wise didn’t have a lot of success. But just watching him play quarterback, we know he has got talent. He was on the streets and we needed a third quarterback for training camp… somebody to come in here and compete. He was the perfect fit. I always liked the way he played. His accuracy, his toughness… [have] always been strong qualities of his. We want to give him some opportunities. He knew coming in that we had Robert [Griffin, III] and Kirk [Cousins] and he was going to be the number three guy; and he just wanted an opportunity to come in, learn the system and, if his number was called, he’d be ready.”
The Redskins need to come out on fire Monday night if they want to win this game. Gruden said that he showed them a video highlighting the history of the Redskins/Cowboys rivalry and maybe that helped light one.
Washington’s offense is going to have to keep pace with Dallas score-for-score. The defense will have to find a way to stop Cowboys’ running back DeMarco Murray in order to force Romo to win the game with his arm — which he quite possibly could do with his improved offensive line, unfortunately. Neutralizing the six-consecutive-100-yard-rushing-games-running-back however, would certainly make things easier for the Redskins. Whichever quarterback starts for the burgundy and gold will have to be on his “A” game and play like he did back in college… the way that caused the state of Texas to fall in love with him.
Hail.