RG3: The Promise

Washington Post sportswriter Sheinin spent most of the 2012 football season covering Robert Griffin III’s rookie year as quarterback for the Washington Redskins. This inside access forms the backbone of his excellent look at Griffin, his unbelievable year, and the season-ending knee injury that many feel could have been prevented. Sheinin’s look at the positive influence of Griffin’s family, as well as a game-by-game analysis of Griffin’s season, perfectly captures the quarterback’s appeal as a “telegenic, multifaceted, crazy-sock-wearing, Heisman Trophy–sporting, sort-of-dorky, sort-of-cool, gunslinging, swashbuckling Texan.” While Griffin was received as a savior by Redskins fans, a storied franchise on a downward trajectory since the 1990s, he was also part of a strategy by head coach Mike Shanahan that emphasized Griffin’s remarkable throwing arm as well as his running ability—the “zone-read” offense, which never before had “been run so effectively by as fast a quarterback as Griffin.” Sheinin convincingly explains how running the “zone-read” left Griffin vulnerable to injury. But he concludes that the pressures of being a savior combined with “the culture of football” that emphasizes playing hurt above safety, in the end, made Griffin “both a victim of the NFL culture and, along with his coach, its ultimate expression.” Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM. (Aug.)