The landscape in the NFL was changing. Quarterbacks were a different breed, playing a different style, and the old guard wasn’t prepared for the evolution. The rage was spread offenses with read-option quarterbacks who presented multiple problems for the defense. They could not only throw and run, they could throw on the run. Pocket passers were on the verge of being considered dinosaurs.
The new wave of quarterback was here in the form of Robert Griffin III, Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson. They were instant hits with an impressive skill set that confounded defenses and pumped instant energy into their offenses.
The Washington Redskins went from 5-11 to 10-6 and the NFC East title with Griffin, who was the No. 2 overall pick in the draft that year. The San Francisco 49ers finished 11-4-1 and went to the Super Bowl after they inserted Kaepernick, a second-year player, as the starter for the final seven games. And the Seahawks went from 7-9 to 11-5 with a rookie Wilson starting all 16 games.
A new era had dawned in the NFL.
That was three years ago, and 36 months later, that has all changed. Well, almost.
Griffin and Kaepernick have been benched by the teams that embraced the zone-read offense and are likely on their way out of town as fast as they came in. They have been replaced in favor of the very type of pocket passers they were supposed to supplant with their dynamic, athletic style. What happened?
Two things: Defensive coordinators quickly caught on to their style and forced them back to where they are most uncomfortable, which is in the pocket. And, when those quarterbacks ventured out of the pocket and used their greatest assets — their legs — big, hard-hitting defensive players made them pay the price and wore their bodies down.
“The zone-read system is very, very good,” said former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski, an analyst for ESPN. “There’s no doubt the system is good. The issue is the beating the quarterbacks take. In the NFL, a quarterback can’t survive a vicious NFL schedule and stay healthy. You just can’t do it.”
So far, Wilson has been the anomaly.
After leading the Seahawks to back-to-back NFC championships and one Super Bowl victory, he is still running, still scrambling and still throwing. He is not having as much success as the previous two seasons — the Seahawks are 5-5 heading into today’s 4:25 p.m. game against the Steelers (6-4) at CenturyLink Field in Seattle — but he is still in one piece and serving as one of the most difficult quarterbacks in the league to defend.
“It’s shocking to me he has been able to survive as long as he has,” Jaworski said.
Hits keep coming
Ben Roethlisberger has been sacked more times in his 12-year career than any active quarterback. In fact, his 429 sacks are the eighth most in NFL history.
But being sacked in the pocket is one thing, especially at 6 feet 5, 250 pounds. Being hit while weaving in the open field by a hard-charging linebacker or a head-hunting defensive back is another. Especially when you are Wilson’s size at 5-11, 206 pounds.
“It’s a violent game,” Roethlisberger said. “It’s tough enough to play this game in the pocket.”
Three years ago, Roethlisberger cautioned about the advent of the read-option quarterback and the success they were having in the NFL. He said to give defensive coordinators a year to catch on, and also see how many hits those quarterbacks can withstand before anointing them the new wave of the NFL. Turns out, he was spot on.
“I think defensive coordinators are really good; they figure these guys out,” Roethlisberger said. “Give them more than a year. The first time you play someone, you can surprise a lot of guys because they don’t know what to expect. But if you can fool a Dick LeBeau or a Keith Butler or some of these other defensive coordinators multiple times over the years, then maybe you have something going.”
Trying to figure out Wilson has proven to be a little more difficult.
He is completing 67.5 percent of his passes (199 of 295), the highest of his four-year career, and is on pace to throw for 3,805 yards, which would also be his most since he entered the league as a third-round draft choice in 2012. But that doesn’t mean he has been confined to the pocket.
Wilson leads all quarterbacks with 385 yards rushing on 73 carries, an average of 5.3 yards per attempt. He has also been sacked 35 times, more than any other. And that from a quarterback whom Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians calls “the best at extending a play since Fran Tarkenton.”
That’s 108 potential hits he has absorbed, not counting the times he has been bumped, shoved, pushed or knocked around after attempting one of his nearly 300 passes.
But Wilson is still standing. He hasn’t missed a game since entering the league, starting all 58.
“The problem with the NFL is you pay your quarterback a bunch of daggum money and you lose him because he’s trying to run the ball,” said Butler, the Steelers defensive coordinator. “That ball attracts a lot of attention. You try to run the ball as a quarterback, and, if you do it a lot, you’re going to pay the price for it.”
Especially in the NFL. Zone-read quarterbacks can endure a little more in college because, a lot of times, they are the fastest, most athletic players on the field. That isn’t always the case at the next level.
“These are the biggest, fastest, hardest-hitting athletes in the world,” said Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley. “You’ve got 11 guys who are knocking the heck out of those quarterbacks on a down-in, down-out basis. What you see is that the hits catch up to the quarterbacks and they can’t do it at the same level. It may not show itself immediately, but it starts to take a toll.”
That’s what happened to Griffin and Kaepernick.
The other guys
Griffin was named the Redskins starter before he even took a practice snap for the franchise. To accommodate the move, offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan installed an offense similar to the system Griffin ran at Baylor. Griffin was an instant sensation.
He led the Redskins to the division title and used his arm and legs to win the league’s offensive rookie of the year award.
The same thing happened with Kaepernick. When he replaced Alex Smith as the 49ers starter in the middle of the 2012 season, offensive coordinator Greg Roman immediately installed concepts of the Pistol offense Kaepernick ran in college at Nevada. Like Griffin, Kaepernick was an instant hit, leading the 49ers to the Super Bowl where they eventually lost to the Baltimore Ravens.
All of a sudden, defensive coordinators who were not accustomed to facing these types of college attacks were caught unaware how to stop them. Eventually they did, forcing Griffin and Kaepernick to become more traditional quarterbacks, something they either weren’t comfortable with or able to do.
That led to more sacks, inaccurate throws and, eventually, benchings.
UCLA coach Jim Mora, who was a head coach with the Seahawks and Atlanta Falcons, disagrees that players can fit into only one type of system.
“I don’t buy into that,” Mora said in an interview with NFL.com. “Good players are good players. I was lucky to work for Bill Walsh, and I can tell you, the traits he looked for in a quarterback, the top five things had nothing to do with system. What kind of decision-maker is he? Does he have pocket mobility? Can he throw with accuracy? Is he a leader? Can he get under center and do three-, five- and seven-step drops? It’s much more than system. System is overblown.”
But there is Wilson, still running, still throwing, still surviving. While Griffin and Kaepernick have disappeared, he’s still performing his magic with the Seahawks.
“All those guys, you just can’t run [the read-option] on a consistent basis,” Jaworski said. “I think it has a place, but it can’t be the staple of your offense.
“Russell has been a little unique. He’s not the only one who runs this, but he has the unique ability to avoid direct hits. He’s very explosive with that first step, so he’s not getting that clean shot. He’ll run out of bounds, he’ll slide, he’ll not challenge a defense. He plays with intelligence.”
And continues to confound everyone. For now.
Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com.
First Published: November 29, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
