DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum It's time to start RG3

Hue Jackson wants to see RG3 improve vs. Bills 'before we just write him off'

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ss...art_river_index

By Mary Kay Cabot, cleveland.com on December 14, 2016 at 8:08 PM, updated December 14, 2016 at 10:17 PM

BEREA, Ohio -- Most folks are ready to end the Robert Griffin III experiment after his dawg of a game in Sunday's 23-10 loss to the Bengals, but Hue Jackson isn't.

"I am not giving up on it," he said. "I am going to work through it and see where we are. That is the whole part of him playing so we can evaluate where we are and have a good feel about it when the season is over."

Jackson brought Griffin here in the off-season and believed he could resurrect his career. He was supposed to have a full season to try to coax a winning QB back out of him, and disagrees with those ready to throw in the towel after one game back from the fractured shoulder.

"I'd challenge a lot of those people getting under center for the first time in a long time and try to do what he was doing. It's tough," Jackson said. "I don't think you write people off if things don't go well right away. I just don't believe in that.

"Let's go through this week and see where he is and see if he improved or not before we just write him off."

Jackson acknowledged that Griffin's fractured shoulder in the opener splintered not only the season, but likely the Browns' QB plans.

"It impacts everything,'' he said. "When you go into training camp, you start down a road, and you name a quarterback and you play to his strengths. The offense is built to his strengths. After the first week, it changes. Now, somebody else is playing.

"You have to adjust and adapt. Then after that week, somebody else was playing. Then we had to adjust to them, too, three weeks after that. It just has been the nature of how it has been. I said a long time ago, I don't think we have really truly played our offense yet.''

Still, Jackson needs to see much better than the 38.4 rating Griffin earned against the Bengals. He completed only 12 of 28 passes for 104 yards with one interception off an ill-advised flea-flicker out of his own end zone.

"There needs to be a jump in performance,'' Jackson said. "Last week, I tried to temper this whole room that it may not go well because I knew that could happen. Now this week, I can't say that. ... Now, you need to go play well. I expect that everything will be better from that standpoint."

Griffin, who connected only three of 11 times with Corey Coleman, believes he can take that quantum leap that Jackson seeks.

"Just going back and watching the tape, I saw a number of areas that I can play better in," he said. "I will play better. I know I can. I know my teammates have seen me do it time and time again. ... I will definitely have to knock off a lot of the rust and the conditions and will put out a better product."

Bills coach Rex Ryan still sees where Jackson is going with the RG3 experiment. But the Bills will be a load. They're fifth in the NFL with 33 sacks and fourth in the AFC with 229.6 passing yards allowed per game.

"The first thing you see is this guy still has that athleticism, which is almost rare for the position to have somebody with that kind of athletic ability,'' said Ryan. "Now, you're going to see two quarterbacks on Sunday (including Tyrod Taylor) that can absolutely fly, and that is rare, but he still throws the ball well.

"I know the conditions last week make it tough. Ben Roethlisberger had a 37 quarterback rating in our game. That was tough. Unfortunately, they ran the ball all over us, but I am just saying that his numbers might not have looked good this past week, yet I see a guy that still looks dangerous.''

Jackson admitted this week that he's starting Griffin over a healthy Cody Kessler because he saw Kessler for seven games. Griffin is still an unknown heading into the pivotal off-season.

"I don't see it so much as Robert being over Cody as opposed to here is a chance to evaluate a guy in a real football game under adverse conditions and see what he can do,'' he said.

Extra Point

The Browns claimed running back Darius Jackson off waivers from the Cowboys. He was a sixth-round pick out Eastern Michigan, where he had 16 rushing TDs last year. They waived linebacker Corey Lemonier to make room. ... Jackson moved practice inside after he fell on the icy outdoor field. ... John Greco underwent surgery to repair a Lisfranc midfoot injury, which is about a year-long recovery

I want to see Hue improve against the Bills before we just write him off.

j/c:



This does not sound like a leader to me. Wonder if analytics say otherwise?

That's sounds exactly like what a leader would say. Trying to do things to bring a spark, knowing In he back of his mind that those were the kinds of things that got him injured.

Trying to win for the team over his health.

LOL............okay.

Not surprised that you like the guy.

And nobody is surprised that you would say that.

When I envision your voice in my head it's like a cross between my 5th grade gym teacher and the Dr Pepper guy.

What does that even mean.

Hey Barney w/another non-football post and another insult.

Refs................may I please reply in kind w/out being suspended? For example........there was a time when Memphis called me a liar. I looked up a statement that I said earlier that proved I wasn't lying and then said he was a liar. I was then suspended for calling him a liar.

So, may I respond to Dep the way he has to me or are there different rules for different people?

I love how you play the victim card when cornered.

But I would like an answer to swish's question about "what does that even mean?" He was replying to this comment of yours:

(that was in reference to RG3)

Look at your post in the same quote.

What you got was a reply in kind.

Just like when you insulted another poster saying that he didn't want to be educated.

You are a bully on the board that doesn't like when people strike back.

All I have to say is to get used to it. I'll keep going for as long as you do.

How is that "playing the victim card?"

Look............I never feel like a victim. I feel that guys like you and Barney are inferior, so how the hell can I be a victim? I just think you guys are full of crap and your attempts at bullying others is indicitive of your poor character.

What? Dude, you started this. Not me.

Apparently you don't read your posts? You're constantly saying/griping about you being victimized and bullied and ganged up on.

Hell, for the longest time you accused me of being a ref on here and banning you.

even the fans are dysfunctional.

Calling the likes of you a bully does not make me feel "victimized." LOL. I have been kicking your butt for years when it comes to football takes. I see what you are and call you on it.

I am not sure what I saw was leadership much, vs. Bills. I saw some very poor play at QB. I am not sure of some of what I see going on. This wasn't rusty, it was worse. He sounds willing, but hasn't backed it up. Struck me as saying right sounding stuff, mostly for Hue and media and fans benefit in hopes of keeping this "experiment" rolling along. I am not that curious. Do you need more of the same, and, if so, how much more to stand convinced that it is not working or workable? We are letting our notion of what is possible crowd out what is actual. To a degree, these are the players here, the hand you chose to play, and the bed you gotta sleep in. But I have lost faith in this coaching group's judgment and expect more of the same until I see different results, or honest attempts to change to make a difference in outcomes.
Horton is part, the starting O is another, especially the line. STs have yet to show up. Hue must have quite a to do list. Sad to watch bad football. Sit RG3 next week.
Regardless of how well he practices. Coach, heal thyself. First.

j/c

I'm afraid the RG3 experiment has flopped.

Yep. It's not looking good at all, but I think most football fans expected this.

Similar to judging the FO/rebuild/analytics to date, it is too premature to make a conclusive statement. We've got him for 2 years so bring him back...he's hardly had a fair trial to date.

I want that to be the case because we need something to work out at QB. But he looked like he had no clue yesterday. When he ran out of bounds at the ten when the LOS was the five...I about lost my mind.

Honestly, I would roll with RG3 next year as our starter.

RG3 was supposed to play the entire year so we could evaluate him, as of right now he has played 3 games for us. So its kinda hard to just right him off because of 2 games.

We need talent on this team, and if RG3 stinks it up again next year, we are getting another top pick.

We need talent, we need a healthy O Line.

I hear you and I don't disagree. But man, he looked so lost yesterday to my eye. I don't think there are any real options in FA and I'm down on this draft for QBs early on.

I know this might go over like a fart in church, but I think Kessler ran our offense better than RG3. My confidence in RG3 yesterday was at zero.

I think Kessler has a shot at being a starter...I think RG3's shot at that has passed him by. That said, I'm ok with RG3 starting the remaining games this year if that's what Hue decides.

I love it how you guys come to these conclusions on players that have played less than a handful of games. All while the majority of the starting team has been playing like dog crap. But whatever.

I understand what you're saying but I think the RG3 experiment should be just about over. After all, it's not like he's new to the league.

True, I'd like to see if he finishes strong before we stick that fork in him though.

I got ya. I think we'll see him play the last two games. Unless he turns it around and looks really good, I'm gonna say he'll probably be gone next season. That's fine with me. He was a long shot to begin with, IMHO.

P.S. It's too bad a lot of running QB's get injured so frequently in the NFL, as I think it adds a lot of excitement to the game.

We don't get to decide anything...so it's just opinion. I realize you are responding to 'people' and not a 'person'...but I also said this:

"That said, I'm ok with RG3 starting the remaining games this year if that's what Hue decides."

I don't think it's going to help RGIII to start the last couple of games. There are too many things that he needs to work on in his game.

Would I feel horrible if we kept him around next year to work on it? Nope. If he could correct those things, he has an NFL arm and normally has good accuracy.

The thing we'll have to weigh is if he would be taking a roster spot better used by a younger player.

I never thought he should have been our week 1 starter because I doubted that we could get all of those things corrected that quick. If he hadn't started and got hurt week 1, he might have looked like a different QB by now, but we'll never know for sure.

Yeah...I'm mostly frustrated that we are going into another off-season without being able to really eliminate certain questions at so many positions.

Do we have a viable QB(s)? Who knows...likely not.

Do we have a viable starting OL ? Who knows...our three best interior starters (assuming Reiter is one of them) were IR'd during the year. Is Cooper the/a guy? Is Coleman an NFL player? Do we need to get a Center?

Do we have viable WRs ? Who knows...the #1 pick missed many games with an injury. The #1 WR has been a problem lately, looked awful Sunday and now has a very hurt/bad finger. The young draft picks have hardly played.

Do we have viable RBs? Our stud has looked like anything but a stud since our LG went out.

Can we really evaluate any of the above with the QB "answer" so up in the air?

Do we have a viable DL? Will D Bryant return from injury? Can Nassib develop? Will Ogbah become a special player? What happened to X Cooper?

Do we have viable LBs? No...even if we re-sign Collins. Then we'd have (2) when we need (6)-(8) Does Orchard help?

Do we have viable DBs? No. Our highest paid guy there has been terrible all year.

Do we have the right coach(es)? I don't know. But I don't want to shake 'em up enough to stop the direction - whatever that may actually be right now.

It's frustrating...it is what it is...we are what I thought we'd be. I just hoped we'd have a few less glaring questions at the end of the year.

There are reasons 31 other teams wouldn't touch RG3 with a ten foot pole.

It just appears some people haven't figured that out yet.

rg3 has lost his touch on deep passes and his decision making has gotten soooo slow that i feel he is more a liability than anything else. I bet the brown only start him to ensure they have the first pick overall.

Yes, but I believe that could be accomplished no matter which QB on the roster they decided to start.

Yes, if we have a QB that would win us a game, pretty sure we would have played him by now.

I'm surprised there isn't much any talk about RG3, a 'should he stay or should he go' kinda thing.

I'm leading more towards go, but if we had a decent offensive line maybe things would be different? Plus I'm guessing our receivers just might have trouble getting open all-too-often and that's why both he and Cody hold onto the ball too long at times?

Hope the door don't hit him in the ass ...

He STINKS ....

And yet, got us the W.

At this point, he's the only QB worth keeping on the roster.