Of the style of QBs that we consider running and athletic, the three that pop into your head first are RGIII, Cam Newton and Michael Vick. Josh Freeman of Tampa Bay can run also, but he seems to be more of a pocket passer who only runs when he has to. Of those first three, RGIII is by far the best even ignoring the fact that he is just a rookie. The difference between them is obvious: Newton and Vick are world class athletes, with big arms and great speed who happen to be playing the QB position. Conversely, RGIII is a QB who happens to be a great athlete and the fastest guy on the field. To their credit, the coaching staff consisting of Shanahan Sr and Jr have devised an offense that plays to his strength rather than forcing Griffin into an offense that they already had. The league will figure out how to play the read-option that they use and its effectiveness will probably come down a bit, but he nevertheless surely looks like a star player. RGIII makes good decisions, has good accuracy and arm strength, and is certainly able to evade the rush. He also seems like a down to earth, humble young man who doesn't, for example, do the "I'm Superman" routine that Cam Newton does whenever he scores. I saw an interview with Griffin and he also seems very articulate, soft spoken and bright; the kind of player a fan likes to root for.
You have to credit Reese for not only compiling a good team but also a deep one. Among his drafting principles is never (or rarely) to waste draft picks by trading up to get a higher pick in an earlier round. As a result, he has those lower round picks available to him and makes use of them. Other teams will trade a 3rd or 4th rounder to move up in 1st round. They may get the man they want early but because they gave up the later draft pick, they have to fill the back end of the roster with undrafted free agents and guys that were cut from other teams. Giants on the other hand have several very good players drafted in the last few years in later rounds. Specifically: Markus Kuhn 2012-7th; Tyler Sash and Jacquian Williams 2011-6th; Adrian Tracy 2010-6th; Ramses Barden and Travis Beckum 2009-3rd; Andre Brown 2009-4th; and even going back down memory lane, Super Bowl hero Mario Manningham was a 3rd round draft choice. These are not all great players, in fact many of them are backups. But they have all shown that they are NFL caliber players with starter or near-starter talent and fill out the back half of the roster providing some insurance from injury.
Stevie Brown has played pretty well replacing Phillips, getting a few INTs that were really game changers at the time. I think Phillips is faster and a better player, but Brown has done well enough so that Phillips does not need to come back until he's really ready. Will Hill will also be a good addition when he comes off his 4 game suspension and the Giants have some roster decisions to make when he is ready.
Giants defense and even coaches were heaping praise on RGIII after the game. They can't go down to Washington feeling scared when they play them later this season. They have to come up with a different plan and be confident and aggressive against him. I saw the Giants sitting back and being scared on Sunday, worried that they were going to get faked out and expecting bad things to happen. When you expect it, the bad things actually do usually happen.
A look ahead at the Cowboys on Thursday and Friday.
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