Robert Griffin III’s mistakes in Browns debut outweigh flashes of his old promise

PHILADELPHIA | To ask for rationalization would be unfair. The Eagles’ quarterback could have been Cleveland’s quarterback, but instead is in Philadelphia, kicking up dreams that follow a luscious first day on the field.

So, just up the hall from where Cleveland Browns quarterback Robert Griffin III volunteered he had sprained his left shoulder, TV crews salivated about rookie Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz.

“You know what’s coming this week, right? Carson Wentz mania!”

Not so in Cleveland. There the Browns are beginning a process that appears to trail Griffin: stretches filled with injuries, inconsistency and inaccuracy, as much as he publicly tries to kick it away. He was hurt Sunday afternoon when he didn’t see a defender until the collision was pending. The opposition “surprised’ him, Griffin said. The play happened late, when the game was ostensibly over and Griffin was trying to get out of bounds. Instead, it was another wallop landed on the dangling career that he is trying to reboot with one of most woebegone franchises in sports.

By the end of the Browns’ season-opening 29-10 loss, many of Griffin’s familiar shortcomings had bubbled up. Though he was able to get out of bounds earlier in the game, the run he was injured on lacked awareness at the end. He started conservatively, and well, before touch passes were too long or his feet too firm in the pocket. He is boring into the Cleveland legacy now, his 12-for-26 performance central to the Browns’ 12th consecutive season-opening loss.

“We came up short today and it started with me,” Griffin said.

During his postgame explanations, Griffin was able to pivot the finger of blame toward himself. In the past, this was often a part of the game that escaped him. Sunday, he repeatedly said he needed to play better. That he was conscious of the importance of protecting himself when on the move, a priority he had embraced since leaving Washington and an issue that had tormented Redskins fans prior.

As there always seems to be, Griffin’s play produced flashes of promise. He left the pocket, pump-faked, then juked the defender in front of him and ran for 20 yards in the first half. He angled out of bounds before anyone on the Eagles defense could lay a finger on him. It was smart, effective running, a hint of what Griffin could be even though he lacks the turbo option that accompanied him in 2012 when he was a rookie.

Otherwise, his day became a ride down a slippery slope. Griffin was 3-for-4 at the end of the first quarter, 9-for-15 with an interception by the half (three of his passes were dropped), then jogging back onto the field with his left arm prone and close to his side to end the game. His passer rating by that point had dwindled to 55.0.

“Like I said, it starts with me, I didn’t do a good enough job helping us manage the game and get those completions,” Griffin said.

He was insistent on re-entering the game after spraining his shoulder in the fourth quarter. There was no chance for a comeback, there was a large chance he could be clobbered again. Griffin had to take a knee before leaving the field on Cleveland’s second-to-last offensive series to absorb the pain that zipped through his body. He debated on the sideline with doctors, later calling the choice to re-enter and hand the ball off three times before heading home one that “everybody was on board” with.

“Didn’t matter what the scoreboard was,” Griffin said. “It was just about that moment and that desire to finish the battle with your teammates out on the field.”

No such issue for Wentz who presumably rode home on the shoulders of Eagles fans. At the end of his first game, he was 1-0 with a 101.0 quarterback rating. Philadelphia distributed a trove of picks for his services in April’s draft: the Eagles gave up their first-, third- and fourth-round picks in the 2016 draft, plus, their first-round pick in 2017 and a second-round pick in 2018 to acquire the No. 2 overall pick from Cleveland. All of that landed Philadelphia a fifth-round pick in 2017 and Wentz. Cleveland was willing to make the deal because it had signed Griffin. That was the framework for Sunday’s first-day feel good from Wentz.

“Right from the first snap, it was locked in,” Wentz said.

The Redskins will be dealing with both factions soon. Griffin returns to Washington in Week 4. The Eagles come to the District in Week 6. By then, the trends of the season that began Sunday in Philadelphia will be more clear. Can Griffin avoid injury and be effective? Is Wentz’s opening day sustainable? If so, does that reconfigure how Philadelphia is looked at in the jumbled NFC East?

Griffin’s phone rang during his postgame press conference. It was his mother, Jackie. Griffin half-joked she was very worried about him. After his first regular-season game since Dec. 28, 2014, she’s not the only one.