Robert Griffin III wasn't getting it done in Washington, so it's not terribly surprising that he's been benched. He didn't play well enough last season to really think anyone in the receiving corps will be hurt by his absence. But it might be bad for Alfred Morris.
Sometimes the threat of a running quarterback benefits the running back; forces defenses to account for that possibility, and open up lanes. In Washington, Morris played in eight games where most of the quarterbacking was done by RGIII last year, and eight where it was done by Kirk Cousins and Colt McCoy. Morris' production in the former games -- yards, yards per carry, touchdowns -- was a whole lot better.
| MORRIS WITH RGIII (2014) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game | Att | Yds | Avg | TDs | |
| @Hou. | 14 | 91 | 6.5 | 0 | |
| Jac. | 22 | 85 | 3.9 | 2 | |
| @Minn. | 19 | 92 | 4.8 | 2 | |
| T.B. | 20 | 96 | 4.8 | 0 | |
| @S.F. | 21 | 125 | 6.0 | 1 | |
| @NYG | 14 | 49 | 3.5 | 0 | |
| Phil. | 21 | 83 | 4.0 | 1 | |
| Dall. | 12 | 43 | 3.6 | 0 | |
| Avg | 18 | 83 | 4.6 | 0.75 | |
Now here's Morris with Cousins or McCoy at quarterback. This is a small enough sample set to think Washington will get this worked out this season, and frankly Cousins played much better this preseason than Griffin. But whatever; here are the numbers.
| MORRIS WITHOUT RGIII (2014) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game | Att | Yds | Avg | TDs |
| @Phil. | 23 | 77 | 3.3 | 0 |
| NYG | 12 | 63 | 5.3 | 1 |
| Sea. | 13 | 29 | 2.2 | 0 |
| @Ariz. | 13 | 41 | 3.2 | 0 |
| Tenn. | 18 | 54 | 3.0 | 0 |
| @Dall. | 18 | 73 | 4.1 | 1 |
| @Ind. | 17 | 67 | 3.9 | 0 |
| St.L. | 8 | 6 | 0.8 | 0 |
| Avg | 15 | 51 | 3.2 | 0.25 |
--Andy Richardson