HTTR24-7.com: Why Robert Griffin III Deserved to Win Rookie of the Year

[cphil006]

It was always simple to me. Far better numbers... tougher schedule than Luck, many fewer mistakes... worse defense than Seattle and more consistent than Wilson....

Impartial voters gave him a 3 to 1 advantage over both. Case closed.

you hit the nail on the head...

[jflow78]

One writer at ESPN said that Wilson should have won it because his numbers were better in the last half of the season.......so, in other words, Wilson is better than a one-legged Griffin.

[Lakerskinz]

I have a friend whose a Bears fan(I can tolerate the Bears..lol) who congratulated me on RGIII being named ROY...and in the same breath said that "that boy from Indy should've won it..or that one in Seattle"..I told him no way...the right choice was made...I told him he has no idea what RGIII did for this franchise..the depths from which he lifted us..that in itself was worth the award...he never got what I was trying to say...I finally told him.."stop hatin b/c RGIII ain't your QB and you're stuck w/Cutler"..lmao! We moved on to another subject...lol

---------- Post added February-4th-2013 at 10:15 AM ----------

RG3 was consistent all year long. From weeks 10-14 Luck threw 10 Interceptions to only 8 TD's.Wilson was only good for the 2nd half of the season and was almost benched! For me RG3 was hands down ROY,and thats not because I am a fan but numbers don't lie.HTTR
this!!

[DCranon21]

Good write up NLC. I'm looking forward for next season already. He will only get better and improve with more W's as his career goes by.

---------- Post added February-4th-2013 at 11:22 AM ----------

One writer at ESPN said that Wilson should have won it because his numbers were better in the last half of the season.......so, in other words, Wilson is better than a one-legged Griffin.

That writer is blind. Ask that writer when Russell Wilson posted a perfect passer rating during his rookie campaign. We can wait for that one.

Like I told someone before:

Winning your division as a rookie > clinching a playoff berth.

[frommd]

I'm still bitter that Wilson won the Pepsi Max Rookie award.

How does Robert win the Pepsi Max weekly award seven times during the season as compared to Wilson's one and lose that to him?

[Rocky21]

I'm just glad to see him walking without a limp. :-)

[Sweet Sassy Molassy]

Good read NLC, all of your points are 100% correct. It's insane that people believe Griffin III didn't deserve this award, that guy had to do so much to get this team to the playoffs. You can say what you want about Wilson but for the first half of the season he rode the Defense and Running game to success, also a little bit of luck. Luck was the beneficiary of some terrible defenses making him look like some great comeback artist. Griffin was the guy, yeah Morris had a great season, but Griffin was the catalyst that opened up everything else for the rest of the offense.

On the critical side, I would say be sure to proofread your work, or get someone to proof your writing. Because there are a few misspells (including the spelling of player names) that should be atypical of a high-quality blog site.

[orlskinsfan]

I'm still bitter that Wilson won the Pepsi Max Rookie award.

How does Robert win the Pepsi Max weekly award seven times during the season as compared to Wilson's one and lose that to him?

Agree, not bitter but wondering how Wilson won this award with all the times griffin won it. made me wonder if they didnt want griffin to run away will all the honors this year.

[DCranon21]

I'm still bitter that Wilson won the Pepsi Max Rookie award.

How does Robert win the Pepsi Max weekly award seven times during the season as compared to Wilson's one and lose that to him?

Fans voted for that one. That's the only explanation for that one. Remember voting was going through the playoffs. That is the only reason, but our rookie got Sporting News and AP Rookie of the year

[Botched]

Yeah, but...

http://forums.colts.com/index.php?/topic/15286-rg3-roy/

Oh my bad, didn't know playing qb was about running the ball. Or having high % passes when you don't even hardly pass it past the darn line of scrimmage. I want some of this koolaide everybody's drinking.

Vick had an arm...russel had an arm. Try throwing to someone besides your first read. Luck breaking tons and tons of rookie records and help lead his team to 11-5 is just a good year? Lol, what a joke

Alfred Morris > RGIII

I guess playing all the games isn't important. Wilson should have won it

What a bunch of manure

Bobby my team wins 2 games without me throw for 100 yards per game wins ROTY

I hope Bob got his degree, cause he won't be in the NFL long.. At least the skins gave away so many draft picks for him.. Snyder is a smart guy isn't he

Luck joined an awful team from last season and led it to the playoffs--he had a great season for a rookie, but how Wilson didn't get rookie of the year is a mystery. 5 years down the track, we'll be still talking about guys like Luck, Wilson and Kaepernick as stars of the NFL, but RG3 will be in the category of 'what if?'

The media fell in love with RG3 before the season even started. He had the award wrapped up practically before he ever threw a pass. We all know this award is nothing more than a popularity contest and that is the reason why the award went the way it did. I couldn't care less about ROTY, we have Luck and he's the best young QB in football and has the best future, that is all that matters.

Like I said, the award really don't amount to a hill of beans IMO, but if everything were truly taken into account and real football intelligent voters had a vote, then Luck should have won it hands down. RG3 done fine in a gimmiky offense and done way more with his legs than he did with his arm(the way a real QB does). He was a flashy guy that drew the attention of the voters for this.

Wilson done a great job, but he had a great O-line and a great defense that helped him every step of the way. We all knew what Luck had as far as an O-line and a less than decent defense so I won't even get into that. All in all though, Luck is the best of the 3 and has the best future in front of him IMO. So let RG3 reap the rewards of his goofy coach that will eventually put him out of the league.

To be fair, there is actually a good bit of intelligent stuff in that thread too.

[Jbank31]

One writer at ESPN said that Wilson should have won it because his numbers were better in the last half of the season.......so, in other words, Wilson is better than a one-legged Griffin.

That writer is Mike Sando and he is the biggest homer going. He campaigned for Wilson the entire year like he was his cousin. He would distort his numbers to come up favorably to every qb in the NFL. Look at his bio and you will see he comes from the Seattle paper and lives in the city. The ESPN website blew up with Seahawks fans moaning about the vote right after the ceremony. They are downright rude fans. Talking how RG3 will be in a wheelchair in three years and how they beat the Skins on their home field... Very classless. It's too bad because Russell Wilson is a very likeable kid. I maintained all along that a legitimate argument could be made for all three.

[NLC1054]

Good article NCL, but I disagree that Griffin was supposed to lead us to the playoffs THIS year. Maybe he had that expectation, but short of a few fans in here, I think most of us were looking for 8-8 while battling for a wild card spot and if we didn't make it, we knew it was a step up from the 5-11 seasons. If we did make it, it was just icing on the cake for most of us. I think all of us were expecting a playoff run in 2013-14 season, but not this year.

We might not have expected it, but the media certainly did overblow how we needed to win now for the cost of drafting Robert Griffin III to be justified. I heard a lot of "THEY WANT TO GO TO THE PLAYOFFS NOW!" on ESPN and especially NFL Network.

[The Robert Griffin Experience]

Every yard gained in that craptastic division is like .456 yards when converted to NFC East yardage.

Trollish post there but I laughed out loud.

Anyway, I've learned to ignore the Colts homers. They've been doing damage control ever since it became clear that Luck was closer to Sam Bradford than John Elway. I think he'll be a good QB in time - after all, Flacco and Ryan eventually become above-average to elite QBs, but Luck simply does not have the arm talent of a superstar QB, and while Peyton or Brady don't have elite arm talent or athleticism either, Brady and Manning have had extraordinary offensive stability, have an understanding of the offense so advanced that they're essentially coaches on the field, and have sky-high football IQ. Again, people were projecting Luck to be this genius QB when it's just that, a projection.

[NLC1054]

I posted this list on the Colts forums.

He is the first rookie in NFL history to throw for more than 300 yards, two touchdowns and no picks in his first start, and the first rookie quarterback in NFL history to finish the first half of his first game with a perfect passer rating.
He is the first rookie in NFL history to throw 4 touchdowns in back to back games in the NFL season, the second player in NFL history to throw four touchdowns in back to back games, and the first player to do so without the benefit of a bye week in between.
He is the first player in NFL history to throw for over 3200 yards, rush for 800 yards, and have a completion percentage over 60%.
He broke the record for rookie passer rating set by Ben Roethlisberger in 2004 (102.4), and finished third in passer rating behind Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers.
He is just the 54th man in NFL history to record a “Perfect Game”, beating the Eagles with a passer rating of 158.3 and having just one incomplete pass.
He’s the first rookie to have two touchdowns of 65+ yards in his first two starts since Greg Cook in 1969.
He tied with Ben Roethlisberger for the 2nd most games with a passer rating over 100. (Russell Wilson ultimately broke is in first place.)
Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson are the only rookie quarterbacks in NFL history to finish the regular season with a passer rating over 100.
He has the lowest percentage of passes intercepted (1.3), breaking Charlie Batch’s record (1.98.)
He had the fourth best completion percentage in the league.
He set the rookie record for rushing yards in a season by a quarterback. (815)
He led the league in yards per pass attempt. (8.1)
He led the league in yards per carry. (6.9)
His 76 yard touchdown versus the Minnesota Vikings was the second longest run by a quarterback in NFL history and the first 70+ yarder since Kordell Stewart in 1996.
He is the first quarterback in NFL history to have four 60+ yard touchdowns and a 60+ yard rushing touchdown.
Robert Griffin III and Dan Marino (1983) are the only rookie quarterbacks in NFL history to be selected to the Pro Bowl outright. (I.E, without someone else having to drop out first.)
He’s the only quarterback in NFL history with over 750 rush yards to finish with a passer rating over 100.
He’s the only quarterback in NFL history with over 75 rush yards to finish with a 4:1 touchdown to INT ratio.
Set the Redskins franchise rookie record for completions,
He set the record for rookie completion percentage in one game (93%).
He led the Washington Redskins to their first division title since 1999, their first 10 win season since 2005, and just their third playoff appearance in the last 20 years.
He influenced other playoff teams like the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks to adopt elements of the read-option and the pistol formation, both of which were supposed to be impossible to make work in the NFL.
He was a two time NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month, two time NFC Offensive Player of the Week, 7 time Pepsi Rookie of the Week, a Pro Bowl selection, and the Sporting News and PFW/PFWA Rookie of the Year.

I pretty much broke their thread.

[SkinsGuy]

Nice list, NLC.

There are certainly some bitter waters flowing through Indianapolis these days.