RG3 vs Luck Angle I Wish I'd Had the Guts to Post First

Rat farts.

I've been batting around a possible Robert Griffin III vs. Andrew Luck comparison angle for a couple of weeks now, but had yet to think through enough to try to give written form. 

It's a good one too, one of those potential "I called it!" moments one either ends up getting to crow about down the road or, alternatively, cringing from hoping no one remembers.

Wish I'd pulled the trigger.

I stumbled across this column by Chris Baldwin today. Baldwin claims it, nails it, owns it and punctuates it in a way that needs no elucidation.  He does to this concept what Heinlein did to any storyline he decided to explore.

So much for my future act-like-you-been-there moment of confirmation.

The article speaks more than clearly enough for itself, so you don't need me to add anything ... but for those not inclined to click links, it boils down to this:

The problem is the Colts picked a Sam Perkins with an MJ on the board.

Yeah.

So on the off chance the Redskins charismatic new quarterback becomes an NFL legend, helping the Washington Redskins carve new championship notches on their belts and becoming a cultural and international icon, I hereby humbly claim the right to point back to April 27, 2012, and, if not go all Tarzan about it, at least say:

Thanks for understanding, Chris.

Hail.

RG3 Can Be Redskins Rising Tide

April 26, 2012 could well be the day the tide finally came in for the Washington Redskins.

Sometime around 8:30 pm on Thursday evening, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will officially announce that Robert Griffin III, Quarterback, Baylor University, has been selected by the Redskins.

There will be much rejoicing, and I will be among those letting my inner child dance. Anyone who has lived the burgundy and gold life for any length of time will understand.

Sure, there are “ifs” involved—in the real world there always are.  As people are quick to remind us, there are no sure things. 

So let's deal with them right off the top.

Yes, RG3 played at Baylor, and yes, it is true that no great NFL quarterback has ever come out of the Big 12 Conference. There are familiar Big 12 names—Vince Young, Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy—but no Big 12 quarterback has ever established a championship or Pro Bowl legacy in the NFL.

So while one can opt to project from that RG3 will continue the trend, I submit that there is another wy to look at it.  Before Jerry Rice no one talked much about the SWAC either.

Great players are not defined by where they played in college.

Then there is the eye ball test. This one I admit will linger for a while, even for some of those among us who are "all in" on RG3. The first time I watched one of his ubiquitous highlight reels I had the same reaction I got when I first studied the St. Louis Rams' Sam Bradford two years ago—the man ain’t big. In fact, he tends to thin. Those runners legs, and that track-star body in general, may not hold up.

Griffin's measureables, 6' 2 3/8" ht., 225 lbs., are fine on paper. But the eye test suggests a lithe, sinewy athlete and not necessarily an NFL stud. With the way pro quarterbacks get hit these days, and the way NFL pass pockets buzz with linebackers and defensive linemen creating mayhem at knee level, you would kind of like your franchise quarterback to have trees for legs, a la Ben Roethlisberger. RG3, for all his world-class speed and athleticism, has sprinters legs.

For a guy who will be standing and moving in and around in traffic as much as he is going to be, particularly early in his career, and who is going to be taking his fair share of big hits and in-traffic takedowns, that lean body and hurdlers legs are going to be at risk. There is simply no way around it. I expect I will not be the only Redskins fan cringing every time he goes down in a pile. 

So yes ... there are ifs.

Happily, as I dug deeper and started researching him in earnest, I discovered that what sets Robert Griffin III apart, and makes the cost the Redskins paid to secure his services more than palatable, are not primarily his eye-popping athletic skills and measurables. Although they are real, and they are spectacular.

No, what sets this guy apart is what he has inside ...