Redskins coach Jay Gruden came out of the film room impressed with what he saw from quarterback Robert Griffin III.
After reviewing Thursday night's 20-17 win over the Cleveland Browns, Gruden told reporters that he sees "progress" in Griffin's approach under center.
"I see some negative articles here and there on our quarterbacks, but Robert was (4-for-8) with a 60-yard touchdown that was dropped," Gruden said, per The Washington Post. "He had a big third-down conversion. He missed the fade route to Pierre (Garcon). He threw it out of bounds -- was a little bit adrenaline-rushed. And, of course, he missed the (third-and-5) throw to (Evan) Spencer, whose route was a little bit short. But overall I think managing the game, the position, getting the plays out; we didn't have one penalty on offense, which was exciting."
Griffin also praised RGIII for resetting his feet and adjusting to Garcon's route on the deep ball, saying, "Pierre will make that play 99 times out of 100."
We need to see more, but Griffin showed off a live arm on the long bomb. His numbers would have looked fantastic had the pass been caught, but the red-zone errors also cost Washington points.
Still, Griffin was hit hard more than once and kept rising to his feet. We'd like to see him get rid of the ball quicker in those situations, but RGIII made progress on his promise to "play free" this season with snaps like this:
"He threw (eight) balls," Gruden reiterated. "So we still have a long way to go to grade him but we're happy with his progress."
We've been wary of any Griffin-related praise from Gruden -- it felt disingenuous earlier in the offseason -- but the second-year coach is singing a different tune about his quarterback in August, making RGIII a potential bounce-back figure for 2015.
