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Film Room: RG3's undeveloped footwork is his biggest downfall

Brad Penner / USA TODAY Sports

The most important step for Robert Griffin III is always his next. It determines where he goes, where the ball goes, where his receiver goes. It determines his quality.

When Griffin came out of Baylor, he was a blur with the ball in both the running and passing game. He escaped collapsing pockets with unmatched speed. He hit receivers in stride on incredible deep balls without his feet set. But at a mechanical level, he was still developing.

He needed to sharpen his footwork. His feet were like two scribbling pencils in the pocket, at times moving up and down without true direction. At times his hips were stiff, and although he threw the ball effortlessly, it didn't always land where it was supposed to.

Three years later with the Washington Redskins, Griffin is still having those same problems. The root of his on-field issues is his footwork. It doesn't matter if he's tall like the Washington Monument in the pocket or if he's scrambling like D.C. citizens to work.

On his first play in Week 11 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Griffin held the ball to the running back's stomach and read the middle linebacker.

If the linebacker dropped back, he handed the ball off to the running back.

If the linebacker ran downhill, he threw the ball to the seam-busting tight end. 

Eventually, the linebacker squatted and Griffin hesitated to throw. He couldn't make up his mind and then he was flushed out of the pocket, forced to roll to his left.

Near the sideline, a tight end stood open. It was a simple throw. Griffin had time to set his feet, but he rushed. He stepped with his right foot and raised the ball behind his ear. His hips faced the tight end like they’re supposed to, but they weren't rotated, nor were his shoulders. The ball nose dived as soon as it left his palm. He didn't have power behind it, and what made it worse was he didn't follow-through - his arm never crossed his body to the opposite hip. The tight end went down on his left knee when he tried to catch the ball, which he bobbled, then popped up into the air for a Buccaneers defender to intercept.

When Griffin scrambles, he does it without awareness. He often retreats in hope of buying time to scan the field despite an outlet receiver running right in front of him. He doesn't immediately throw to the outlet to take what he can get. Instead, he keeps his eyes downfield and waits for another receiver to work back to him, either resulting in a throwaway or an errant throw that comes out flat due to him being unbalanced and not taking an extra step to rotate his hips.

The 24-year-old has a similar problem when he's throwing the ball. In Week 12 against the San Francisco 49ers, he play-faked and took a five-step drop behind a U-shaped pocket. He took three drive steps, a fourth crossover step and a fifth plant-step.

Griffin leaned too far forward on the plant-step. His weight was unevenly distributed. To try and correct it, he made another mistake on his next step by raising his shoulders to climb the pocket. Suddenly he was standing too tall, out of position to throw the ball.

The furthest receiver outside ran downfield (near the 50) in between a cornerback and a safety, open. But Griffin wasn't ready to throw the ball. He took two long hitch steps to straighten his hips, his shoulders and his feet. Then he leaned his right shoulder back, and despite time to go through the mechanics, he didn't rotate his hips. He leaned forward onto his left leg and heaved the ball. It soared to the receiver's inside shoulder instead of his outside, and the receiver had to deflect it was intercepted.

Griffin's footwork is poor when he has ample time in the pocket. Regardless of the defensive pressure, he doesn't rotate his hips when winding up. It's the same problem he had in college, which either speaks to his work ethic or the his coaching. What's concerning is how much his issues are exacerbated when under pressure.

In the same game against the 49ers, Griffin took a five-step drop and looked left to widen a free safety. To his right, a slot receiver struggled with press-coverage and then ran an over route across the field.

As Griffin bounced at the top of his drop, his protection started to crack at the seam. The 49ers pushed through the heart of the pocket and sped up his read. He was just getting his feet set to throw the ball when he saw the pressure. His arm froze, knees locked, and feet skittered.

While the pass-rush barreled in, Griffin leaned back - without any power generated from his base - and threw the ball, which sailed late over the middle. The safety, who he previously looked off, started to rotate toward the slot receiver. The ball flew well over the slot receiver’s head and through the safety's hands.

For all of the third-year quarterback's problem, his career is still young and promising. Griffin doesn't have a mechanical flaw in his footwork that can't be fixed. There are plenty of quarterbacks, young and old, who have similar problems and it'll be up to him to accept his problems and work with his coaches on fixing them.

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