Cleveland Browns: Position grades from loss to Eagles

Quarterback: D

Robert Griffin III is quite possibly the franchise quarterback Cleveland has been searching for for the past 17 years. He has all of the physical abilities and the weapons around him to succeed in the Browns’ offensive scheme. Unfortunately, Griffin’s Cleveland debut went horribly.

No one is going to place the blame solely on the shoulders of Griffin, as multiple factors contributed to the drubbing. But when doing an independent analysis on the play of the quarterback, it is impossible to come to a conclusion which favors the 26-year-old. Sure, he never really had a chance to have a spectacular outing, but Griffin missed a lot of opportunities himself.

Griffin completed less than half of his pass attempts, finishing 12 for 26, recording a total of 190 yards. Many of these yards came on chunk plays including completions of 58 and 44-yards downfield. But Griffin’s 14 incompletions included a variety of drops, overthrows, and bad throws which should have never been made.

The former Baylor Bear also recorded 37 yards on the ground in five separate rushing attempts, but missed several additional opportunities to run the ball when a lot of space was in front of him. The one interception he threw was not a great throw, but also not solely his fault as it proved to be the result of a tipped ball.

Griffin undoubtedly had a poor performance, but the offense should not lose faith in their quarterback. Cleveland’s signal caller revealed some of what he brings to the table, throwing effective deep balls on Sunday. But consistency remains an issue, and the Browns had terrible field position throughout which made it merely impossible for Griffin to orchestrate drives. Overall, it was an extremely rough day for Cleveland’s quarterback, who barely avoids a failing grade for his performance.

Next: Offensive Line