As American football fans, especially Washington fans, will no doubt remember: 2012 was a magical year for Washington football.
A start to something promising.
The arrival of the new face of franchise, Robert Griffin III, brought a new energy to the fans and the team, bringing the team the first playoff berth since 2007, and the first place in the NFC East division, a feat they had not accomplished since 1999.
High octane offense.
The fast paced and the high-powered offense was led by Griffin, fellow rookie and running back Alfred Morris, veteran receivers like Pierre Garcon and Santana Moss, and engineered by family coaching tandem Mike and Kyle Shanahan. They were ranked fifth in total offense, and number one in rushing offense with over two thousand seven hundred yards, mostly due to Griffin and Morris.
A sour end.
Now, even some non-football fans know how the season ended: the subsequent fallout of the Redskins organization and the Shanahan staff, Griffin’s injuries, and the gruesome showing in the Wild Card game against the Seahawks. Both Griffin and the team have not been the same or showed the same electricity from that 2012 campaign.
Similarities.
Moving on, it is hard not to think of Griffin’s rookie year and his athletic ability as a comparison to current rookie Marcus Mariota, who has already been named the starter by Tennessee Titans Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt.
Mariota comes out of Oregon, which uses a spread offense system very similar to what Griffin played with when he attended Baylor University. The Titans have already reportedly adopted some of those spread option plays that Mariota was raised on and flourished in at Oregon.
(Pictured above: Robert Griffin III and Alfred Morris running the read option play, a style that was utilized heavily in Washington in 2012, and something Mariota will likely use during his tenure in Tennessee.)
The comparison.
These are a four points that I think were keys to Griffin’s rookie season success, that I also see similar keys in Tennessee in 2015.
1. Dedication to the system.
The Shanahans used a run-heavy offense which allowed for Griffin to successfully run the read option and make plays outside of the pocket, where he felt more comfortable. Coach Whisenhunt has already shown that he is willing to adapt the playbook to Mariota, an encouraging sign for a young quarterback entering the league. In the preseason, Mariota has been seen playing in the shotgun and using roll outs and play action within much of the snaps he has been taking.
(Pictured above: Tennessee Titans from 2012, in the shotgun formation, a formation that Mariota used often in Oregon, and will likely use often in Tennessee.)
2. A Young Running Back.
Part of Kyle Shanahan’s system implores younger running backs (as he showed with Alfred Morris, and then later in his lone season in Cleveland), so the fact that Tennessee drafted David Cobb is encouraging, because it allows for the growth of the two young players together, as Griffin and Morris did. Bishop Sankey currently sits atop that depth chart, which is not necessarily negative, being that Sankey is a young player as well who as shown some promise in preseason thus far, with only a year on Mariota coming in. But training camp whispers have already showed that David Cobb is growing in interest and could potentially have the starting job, pending a good preseason performance.
3. Veteran Receivers:
Having experience and leadership in the locker room and on the field is immensely helpful to a young quarterback. Griffin had the likes of Pierre Garcon, Josh Morgan, and Santana Moss to rely on. Mariota will have Delanie Walker, Hakeem Nicks, and Harry Douglas- not a bad group when paired with impressive young receivers like Kendall Wright, and the human question mark Dorial Green-Beckham (will he be NFL ready, or not?), both of which Griffin did not have anyone comparable to during his 2012 campaign.
4: Solid Defense?:
The 2012 Washington Redskins defense ranked twenty-second overall- not numbers that can carry a team. This was aided by Griffin’s ability to take care of the ball, and only throw five interceptions all season (a total of eight interceptions for the team, three more from Kirk Cousins).
Mariota had a very low turnover rate while he was in Oregon, but opened the preseason with a couple really bad turnovers, but if he can fix those mental mistakes, and he can continue to take care of the ball, in conjunction with the rejuvenated defense led by Jurrell Casey and Jason McCourty, with key additions Brian Orakpo, Perrish Cox, and Da’Norris Searcy, led by former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive guru Dick LeBeau, this team could be a high or fast scoring offense with a good defense to make sure games are not ever too close.
Overall: Watching old Mariota game footage reminds me of watching Griffin and the accelerated and exciting offense of the 2012 Washington. Now, a lot of what happened was in that they were in a somewhat mediocre division at the time, with Andy Reid on his way out of Philadelphia, and a Dallas offense that could not ever get traction going, and a New York team coming after a Super Bowl victory the previous year (admittedly, they did achieve a positive nine and seven record despite not making the playoffs).
The offense of Washington was not very impressive the year prior to Griffin’s arrival, being sixteenth overall and twenty-fifth in rushing offense. The Titans’ offense was twenty-ninth overall and twenty-sixth in rushing in 2014. The Oregon offense led the Pac-12 Conference in 2014 in both total offense and rushing offense, aided greatly by Mariota’s athletic ability and speed to move around and make plays outside the pocket when needed. Perhaps the new face of the franchise can re-energize a team that only managed to win two games in the previous season.
An Important Side Note: The biggest part of the magic of Washington’s 2012 campaign was their completely improbable seven-game win streak to end the season (which included an overtime victory against eventual Super Bowl champions of that season, the Baltimore Ravens), take the division, and make the playoffs. Sitting at three and six at their bye week, most had considered Washington an exciting team to watch offensively, but their hopes of making the playoffs were all but dashed; but the team fought and won the important games as a team.
Now, will the Tennessee Titans have that kind of teamwork and dedication to play and win in a position like that?
The Titans have not made the playoffs since 2008, and I am not trying to say that they will somehow take the division away from Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts. But it is possible for them to go ten and six and make a Wild Card playoff position.
Examining Preseason (thus far): Marcus Mariota and company have looked up and down throughout the three weeks of the preseason thus far.
Mariota has gone seven of eight for ninety-two yards and an interception and fumble the first game; five of eight for fifty-nine yards and no turnovers the second game; and then seven of eleven for ninety-nine yards, but also put up twenty-two rushing yards on only three carries, a part of his college game that we had not yet seen in wide use in his first two preseason games.
Adding all the stats up (as if it was one whole game of play), Mariota would be nineteen of twenty-seven, which is above seventy percent completion, for two hundred and fifty-two yards of passing, but with no touchdowns, one interception and one fumble, seventeen rushing yards on five carries. These numbers are not awe-inspiring, but it is not a bad start- especially the high completion percentage. Also, consider the red zone dropped pass by Dexter McCluster against the St. Louis Rams, and the four scoring drives he has led, despite never scoring himself.
Aside from Mariota, the offense looks more like a cohesive unit that needs to work on making it to the end zone, with only half of the scoring drives lead by Mariota leading to touchdowns and the other half leading to field goals. The defense has been effective in stopping opposing offenses and creating turnover, including a nice Perrish Cox pick-six against the St. Louis Rams. If everyone on the team can keep up good quality play, a positive record in an overall mediocre division (save the Colts) is entirely possible.
A Closing Remark: I sincerely hope this over analyzed and overzealous article does not somehow jinx the Tennessee Titans or Marcus Mariota (because some people are rather superstitious about talking out loud about successful expectations). But, I do sincerely believe in this newly formed team and their ability to win games. They have the ability to be one of the most interesting and fun teams to watch this upcoming season.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, every Sunday.
And Monday.
And Sometimes Thursday.
Rarely Saturday.
What do you think?
Do you think the Titans will make the playoffs this year?
Which team do you think will go from proverbial zero-to-hero and escape the basement of their division to a playoff team?
Let me know what you think in the comments down below!
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