lets talk about robert griffin, adequacy and the good kind of fear. the kind that allowed mike vick to rebound from the dogfighting fallout that nearly ended his career. the kind that caused derrick rose to miss these past two seasons to now lead usa to fiba gold. the kind that forced donovan mcnabb to alter his body and decision making on the field to get philadelphia so close to that elusive title the city clamors for since 1960. if nobody is paying attention, griffins career is at a crossroads. early. this is a warning. much like rose who hasnt been through a full 82 yet. but, his time is coming and quickly. i wish him all the best because, i, like all who have seen his style and ability, desperately want to see him successfully regain his mvp form. it doesnt matter if he plays for a team i cheer for. i wish rg the same. hate to see potential mishandled lost or wasted. damn! an analyst, tom jackson, i believe, said something insightful in response to robert getting hurt by comparing him to brett favre; brett did a lot of crazy things on the field...but he was always on that field. sometimes, the best quality a quarterback can have is being available to help your team have a chance. i agree. he doesnt have to do exactly as brett did, but the rules of thumb that made brett an nfl iron man apply here. if rob wants to. the luxury rgs team has is wearing #12. a teammate who is now auditioning for a future starting position. and, unfortunately it comes as it has, with griffin getting hurt, but many of us in life will meet opportunity and fortune the same way; with someone elses misfortune preceding it. skins nation is silently feeling pretty good with this latest turn of events. some believe, as i do, that cousins is better suited as a passer right now than rob is, even when healthy. total package is not relevant. rob and kirk have plenty to develop between them both. but, aside from the racial difference, not a factor here, but keenly avoided on and off the field by teammates and the players themselves, the are as passers different in obvious ways. accuracy, reading progressions and defenses, mechanics, etc. even some of the die-hard rg supporters can admit that. problem is, its a behavioral dynamic set up and played into here that was seen in philly recently. remember donovan used the word brainwash? before that, was that mcnabb big brother, rg little brother same race pairing that...well, we remember what happened. we see now in jets land the same pairing between geno and a matured mr. vick. and, its not that donovan didnt say the right things or mistreat robert, its that what he tried to shovel on robert, at one time in a number of ways, overwhelmed and caused him an undesirable mix of irritation and anxiety. the feelings of adequacy-inadequacy may have been ignited from that point to the shanahan exception handling controversy, to... wait weve seen this script before, havent we? sure we have. in philadelphia. the sign? its as simple as a sleevewrap. i recall seeing allen iversons battles with authority, control, handling and injuries. lots of them. in fact, he has a whole chart to fill up with all those he sustained during his brilliant career as a professional basketball player. the thing is, he couldve never survived that in the nfl, playing pro football. never, ever? a snowball has a better chance to survive in hell. robert is not in the nba. he isnt playing against tall lanky guys all game long. he has burly men chasing him and coordinators trying to kill him. that wrap rob wears is not to protect his arm. doesnt make him some phony. its symbolic of what he wishes to emulate. not that a.i. is bad to imitate. a.i. was playing for a whole lot more than his team or legacy though. that made him the exception that rg is not. cut from different cloths. same race. and, thats okay. plenty do it pretty well. d. wade. desean jackson, ironically, also a skin and got injured in the same game robert did. but desean unlike wade hasnt had much of an issue remaining healthy in his pro career. hes been mostly teflon. he is always available to hurt the other team. and, im sure plenty have tried. thats the high many of us and they get either watching it done or trying to do it on every play, all season long. like watching the person who will finally toss the bag at the bullseye to sink the sitting duck into the pool of ice cold water. the wrap is the connection we see between them. its like a signal to us as fans and between them playing as well. its not received as something deragatory like say gang signs. its about courage and a no fear attitude. a go all out no matter the pain or punishment virtue that endear athletes to their respective fan bases and even beyond that as it had with a.i. mike wore the wrap, too, in atlanta, then in philly. proudly. it was and is a symbol of defiance that came/comes with having sprinter class speed, moves to pair with it and the highlight reel of escaping the best that the game had to offer while embarrassing plenty along the way. thats the crime. the punishment is those times he couldnt get away with it. there was a knee. the ankle. the clavicle. the ribs. the...he couldnt stay on the field in the same way nobody could outrun him during the majority of the plays he entertained and lead his team on it. the bad part about having no fear is watching that team get creamed, youre being paid watching from the sidelines, when you had every opportunity before being pummeled, ran and thrown or slammed to the surface, to slide or get some yards for a first and get out of bounds. take off less. add some weight to your frame to sustain itself through the grind of 16 games. roberts mind is much better equipped to handle what his body cant. the emotions that are aroused came out during the second year when he struggled. whispers of leadership faults and questioning decisions or indecision on the field that cost them all games. meanwhile, in the wings waiting is...you know who. kirk cousins is nick foles. nobody realizes that yet. or, some may see it. but like with the case of vick, many are praying it doesnt happen. for good and bad reasons. robert may not finish his career. proudly. he may realize many secretly fearing this before he played his first game...back from that acl surgery. robert is playing against a stigma of the running passer. much like many he watched growing up and has been successful at emulating and even surpassing occassionally if we recall year 1. the pistol. before coordinators solved that problem. i could say plenty more about how teams motivate qbs when they invest as much in them as washington shanny and snyder did giving away a lot to bring robert to dc. add that weight to a young gifted mans shoulders that has mich to mature with on the field, not off it. the nuances, not the big picture. reconciling with the ghosts. reconciling with his current obsession of outdoing and showing others they were wrong about him not being worthy to lead. the inadequacy aroused. its still there. self-consciousness is another term many use in its place. a middle finger we try to push toward and mess periods of our lives up and relationships trying to stick it to others who doubted, slighted or tried reverse psychology on us. with good intent or not. its time during this latest setback for griffin to tune everything else out, do some failure analysis (because this was not a fluke occurence), and tune in to the most important person on and off the field in his life: himself. he needs to see some of the greatest in any game had more than enough ability and gifts to conquer every challenge. that doesnt mean that we have to use and abuse those gifts. thats when it can and will be taken from us. when and how we least expect them to be. but, not as punishment to us alone. to punish others as well around us that have the highest of hopes and mustard seed faith placed in us to deliver the mail, unlike the real postal pros, every sunday. like another player in his head subconsciously along with the others, andrew luck. the physical opposite. another point, or should i say chip, for robert to keep on his shoulders. it doesnt mean that luck is better than robert, because he doesnt run like him, it does mean much like a blind man who became one of the greatest singers of all time, stevie wonder, it forced him to channel all of his development into what delivered him from what must have felt like early on as an uncertain and inadequate future before he sung his first song. luck is always available, pass first, because he cant run at all. which for him and passers like him is a great thing. that inadequacy is a plus. and, that along with a superior mind and superior emotional toughness, is what is separating him from his draft class and rg3, the way kobe bryant and ray allen, not blessed with blinding speed, despite allens individual brilliance, have done to separate themselves from ai. mutual respect is apparent though for all. rg3 has some adjusting to do if he is going to finish his career how it started and not end up like those before him that never gave themselves a chance, defiantely to the end, even if it is entertaining for all to watch in awe or mock when it falls short somehow. its up to him, his fans hopes and the glorious future visualized after being called to the podium after...you know who.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 23:44:54 +0000
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