| Giants backup QB David Carr may not possess the talent of Redskins QB Robert Griffin III, but he's trying to emulate RGIII's style of play to help the Giants' defense prepare for Sunday's game against the Redskins. (US Presswire) |
Giants backup quarterback David Carr readily acknowledges he isn’t as fast as Washington Redskins rookie QB Robert Griffin III. And while Giants wide receiver Jerrel Jernigan played four years of quarterback in high school, it goes without saying that he doesn’t have the rookie’s arm or ability to read a defense.
But by using Carr and Jernigan, Giants coach Tom Coughlin could have a method of emulating Griffin’s style, which famously includes options, play actions and bootlegs, in preparation for Sunday's big matchup with Griffin and the Redskins.
“Robert Griffin III has energized (Washington's) offense,” Coughlin said Wednesday. “They’ve done a lot with creativity, he runs the option, but he’s just as dangerous when, as he did the other day (when he ran) for 76 yards, just pulls the ball down in drop-back fashion and runs and gets outside and no one can catch him. He’s probably the fastest guy on the field.”
Coughlin was referencing Griffin’s touchdown run in last week's win over the Minnesota Vikings, in which he went practically untouched on his way into the end zone.
Carr can’t do that, and he’s not even going to try. But what he can provide might be much more meaningful because Griffin is much more than a fast pair of legs.
“I think what I’m trying to do is run their offense to the best I can,” Carr said. “I’m giving them the best look. A lot of their stuff … is based on being able to run the football, run the football. And then, off of that, when you get those guys to bite on the run, then you got plays that you can hit in behind them or play action.”
Carr’s understanding of Washington’s offense comes from his final season with the Houston Texans, when he was playing under offensive coordinator Troy Calhoun. Calhoun, who is now the head coach at Air Force, previously worked on the staff of Redskins coach Mike Shanahan, whose son Kyle also worked on the Texans offense with Carr as the wide receivers coach in 2006.
Kyle is now the offensive coordinator in Washington, and while the system is familiar to Carr, he said the scheme has been customized for Griffin’s talents.
“They’re built off of, ‘run this ball, run this ball, fake this run and then hit the backside slant, hit the backside slot post’ or whatever,” Carr said. “And they run a lot of that. And if their run game is cooking, that stuff, you can’t just load up the box [defensively].”
Like the Texans did in 2006, the Redskins' passing game is predicated on the run.
But as Carr explained it, the Redskins have a more diverse passing game than the one he played under in his final season in Houston -- one that aims to pull defenses in one direction before capitalizing on the other side of the field.
“Shanahan has kind of adopted that system a little bit now to where it’s kind of more in the shotgun and the pistol look and then the quarterback can actually just read the backside of it now,” Carr said. “So he’s kind of taken it to another level of what we had in Houston.”
Carr believes he’s doing a good job of showing the Redskins’ offense to the Giants defense, but admits there are areas where he needs a bit of help -- and that’s where Jernigan steps in.
“I think I’m doing pretty well,” Jernigan said. “A lot of them were talking to me out there today. Me, Osi [Umenyiora ] and [Justin] Tuck were having fun joking around with it.”
The pair of veteran defensive ends didn't think Jernigan had the speed to turn the corner on them. He said he did, but admitted to the media that he had already pitched the ball to the running back on the option, so it might not have been a true test of Jernigan's speed.
Of course, Jernigan hasn’t played quarterback since high school, so he’s only showing the Giants' defense option plays and things of that nature.
As Carr explained, Washington’s offense is significantly more complex than that, which is one reason Griffin has posted a 100.5 quarterback rating. So while it’s important to replicate his speed, recreating Griffin’s function in Shanhan’s offense is significantly more important.
“I’m really trying to focus more on that stuff than, obviously, than running around and running a 4.2 40,” Carr said.
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