One game in, Griffin looks like franchise quarterback Redskins needed

Robert Griffin III outplays the Saints' $100 million man, record-setting Drew Brees. (AP)

NEW ORLEANS -- There are a lot of ways to describe the first career start for Washington Redskins rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III, but leave it to an offensive lineman, one of the guys in front of him, to sum it up best.

"They said we traded away our franchise to get him," Redskins tackle Trent Williams said. "Now you know why."

We sure do.

Griffin was sensational in his debut here in leading the Redskins to a 40-32 victory over the New Orleans Saints, likely ruining a lot of survivor pools in the process. He completed 19 of 26 passes for 320 yards, two touchdowns and a passer rating of 139.9, keeping the Saints off balance the entire day.

When the Redskins traded up to draft him second overall this year -- giving up two first-round picks and a second, as well as swapping picks in this year's draft -- it meant that they couldn't afford to miss.

One game in, it looks like Dan Snyder might finally have his guy. This franchise seeming has been searching forever for a star passer. That's why the Redskins have made the playoffs four times in the past 20 years, and why the horrors of Rex Grossman, John Beck, aging Donovan McNabb, Heath Shuler and all the other bad quarterback play might finally be in the past.

"That guy is a gamer," Redskins receiver Aldrick Robinson. "The game counts and he turns it on."

Using an up-tempo spread system early to get some confidence, Griffin completed his first 11 passes, including an 88-yard touchdown pass to Pierre Garcon. His mastery continued the entire day.

There were only two RG3-and-outs the entire day.

The Redskins did a great job of playing to his strengths, which are his feet and his ability to get the ball out on time and use his powerful arm. There was very little sitting in the pocket, which would seem to be something he has to do more down the road.

That's because Griffin took a lot of shots. He is a wild ride, but there is clear danger playing that way.

Sunday wasn't about that, though. That is something that will play out down the road. This was about a chance to show that he can be special, a coming-out party to announce he is the real deal, whatever way he did it.

RG3 is certainly easy enough to like. Forget about what he can do on the field. How many stars come to the podium a half-hour after the game is over and meet the media in full uniform, aside from helmet and cleats. Yes, the shoulder pads were still on.

He looked like a commercial up there, something you would see as a mock press conference. But there he was, tossing a football around as he spoke. Not just any football, either, but the one his teammates gave him to commemorate his first TD pass of his career, the one to Garcon.

The best thing about that throw to Garcon is how he reacted to a blitz. Let Griffin explain it.

"They blitzed on that play and I was going hot," he said. "I was looking for my hot guy. He got covered. So Pierre was the primary receiver on the outside. I had enough time, so I pulled it back and threw it to him. Pierre went across the middle and caught it high across the middle and did a good job of finishing it."

That is a veteran play. But it's clear that for now the Redskins will keep it simple for Griffin.

He ran 10 times for 42 yards to go with his aerial numbers, but he could have run even more. On one play, he had a clear field in front of him. Instead of turning on the speed and running for 10 yards or so, he kept his head up and threw to a crossing Santana Moss for a 27-yard gain.

"Everyone's in my head making sure I stay safe," Griffin said of not running as much.

You think? You are the franchise.

It's that threat of the run that makes him so effective. His ability to ball-fake on read-option plays, and get outside the pocket, makes the defense hold for a second. That opens up the quick slants and things like that against man coverage.

For at least one day, he made it all work. He was better than New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees, the guy coming off a record-setting season for passing yards. You're not supposed to come into the Superdome and outplay Brees -- especially a rookie.

That's why the Redskins fans above the tunnel serenaded him as he walked off the field.

"RG3, RG3," they yelled.

He stopped to throw his skull cap into the crowd on his way into the locker room.

Advice for the person who got it: Keep it.

If his debut is an indicator, that thing could be worth a lot of money on eBay someday.

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Payton, Petrino needed bosses who could save them from themselves

AD Jeff Long (left) could have saved Bobby Petrino from himself. (Getty Images)

Bobby Petrino and Sean Payton might not seem like they have a lot in common, but something ties them together, and it should serve as a lesson to every big-time coach in sports, especially college and professional football.

Petrino and Payton's common thread? Neither had a boss.

Oh, on paper, they had superiors, but in reality, they had none. They were CEOs of their teams. The people above them were either sycophants or incompetent. There was no board with strict oversight. No one with the power to say: Wait, hold on, you're doing what?

No one to say: Nah dude, we don't do bounties, here. If you don't cut that s--- out, I'm firing you.

Or: Hold on, Bobby ... why exactly are we bypassing university rules and overlooking more qualified applicants to speed up the hiring of a ... very ... pretty ... young lady? Hey, wait a minute, tell me more about this Jessica Dorrell? In fact, tell me everything.

There was no one with the true power to say no because the power of Petrino and Payton had grown larger than the power of their alleged bosses.

A general manager on an NFL team or an athletic director at a college is supposed to act like an airbrake when coaches suddenly start doing impossibly stupid things. The problem in both of these cases was the inaction or even enabling of the bosses, specifically Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long and Saints general manager Mickey Loomis.

Various NFL sources say Payton has effectively been the top man at the Saints for several years and his power was cemented (and grew considerably) after New Orleans won the Super Bowl. Payton and Drew Brees were portrayed as men who saved the city. It was around this time that the bounty scandal was in full swing.

For the most part, Loomis was a wimp who basically did whatever Payton wanted. There's a reason Payton received a full-year suspension and Loomis far less. Payton was the ringleader and Loomis the stooge, the bad lieutenant who followed Payton's instructions.

What was really needed was an intervention, but there was no one powerful enough to take on Payton. Payton was the power.

Where was owner Tom Benson in all of this? Who knows? I covered the late Wellington Mara, who was intricately involved in every decision of the team he owned, the Giants. I have no frame of reference for a Benson. I covered the late George Young, the longtime Giants general manager, and Ernie Accorsi, who followed Young. They were vastly different from the Longs and Loomises. They were men of intellect and action who weren't perfect but understood that bosses have to act like bosses.

What Long did, in many ways, is an even larger disgrace than Loomis. Petrino pushed Long to bypass school affirmative action rules requiring a 30-day period for jobs to be posted before interviews could commence so Petrino could quickly usher in his girlfriend. Long may not have known the two had a previous relationship, but he should have smelled something was rotten. Instead, his response to Petrino was yes sir. Whatever you want sir. Cream with that coffee, Mr. Petrino?

Petrino pushed for the interview process to begin just five days into the waiting period, according to a story in Sports Illustrated. "We feel that flexibility is needed," Long wrote at the time.

Petrino is flexible, all right.

Dr. Fritz Polite, sports management professor at Tennessee and director of the Institute for Leadership, Ethics & Diversity, told SI that Arkansas' speed in ignoring affirmative action procedures demonstrated "the power lies with the coach to sidestep rules ... simply because he's winning."

Petrino's success allowed him to hop over Long, and in the process Long became impotent. It's an old story that hasn't changed in decades in college football, and the lessons have not been learned from the numerous scandals in which a coach made himself king. University presidents are clueless (maybe purposely so) and athletic directors compliant and sometimes worse, fearing reprisal from a coach who has more power than anyone on campus.

Those in power above the coach self-castrate knowing the coach is the true ruler of the empire.

The same thing happened with the Saints.

What Long and Loomis should have done was cut the pretense and, whenever they saw Payton and Petrino, make a simple gesture.

They should have saluted.

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Bills needed to be bold, and they are with huge deal to land Williams

Mario Williams should help turn around a defense that ranked among the NFL's worst. (AP)

When the Houston Texans chose defensive end Mario Williams over Reggie Bush with the first pick of the 2006 draft, they said it was for one reason -- Peyton Manning.

They wanted someone who could get to the Colts quarterback.

The idea made sense. You get to Manning, you get to the Colts. And if you get to the Colts, you get to the top of the division.

Now, six years later, Buffalo is doing the same thing with the same guy. With the addition of Williams, the Bills become more competitive -- which means the gap between them and everyone else in the AFC East just shrank.

I know, it still belongs to New England, but the Bills demonstrated they are serious about advancing in a division they once owned. And their chances just improved with the acquisition of the best free-agent defender on the market and, from where I sit, the best free agent, period.

Look, the Bills have had only one winning season since 1999 and have been stuck in the middle or bottom of the AFC East for the past 12 years. If their fans weren't tired of the experience, their general manager, Buddy Nix, was ... which is why he promised a big score early in free agency.

He not only delivered, he hauled in the biggest catch not named Peyton Manning. And that should not only sell tickets, it should help Buffalo win more ballgames.

How many more I don't know. What's important is that Buffalo took a bold step to make itself better, and it's about time. The Bills knew that if they were going to do something other than finish 6-10 or 7-9 each season, they had to build a team to catch the people in front of them -- and you start with someone that has a stranglehold on your division.

That would be New England, and if you want to beat the Patriots, you get to their quarterback, Tom Brady. Not only is he the best quarterback in the business; he's 18-2 against Buffalo ... and that number alone tells you why Buffalo had to do something, anything, to defend the guy -- much as Houston did when it drafted Williams.

The Texans move then was controversial, but it played out. Williams was effective, and the Texans eventually found themselves at the top of the AFC South. Of course, it took losing Manning for Indianapolis to step aside, but Williams was the key part in the reconstruction of a defense that last season ranked second overall and launched the Texans to the playoffs for the first time in their history.

With Buffalo returning to a 4-3 defense, there was a need for a dependable end, but Williams is more, much more, than that. He's a premier player, a relentless pass-rusher who in the past five seasons averaged more sacks per game than everyone but Dallas' Demarcus Ware and the Vikings' Jared Allen.

I mention that because the Bills' pass rush needs help like Duff's needs celery and hot sauce. Buffalo last season ranked 27th in sacks per pass play, with rookie defensive tackle Marcell Dareus the team leader in that department with 5?.

The Bills were 28th against the run, 19th against the pass and 30th in points allowed, too, and, sorry, but none of those figures get you to the top -- especially when it's an elite quarterback who's there.

So you do what you can to correct them, and what the Buffalo Bills did was invite Williams to their complex and not let him go until he signed a six-year deal making him the highest-paid defensive player in league history.

Hey, whatever works. Buffalo had to do something to shake things up, and the Bills delivered the biggest hit of the week. So they spent a fortune. Big deal. They gained an All-Pro player who, at 27, is in the prime of his career and can help the club close the gap with the division leader.

That doesn't mean Buffalo is on New England's heels. I'm not saying that. Last time I checked, Brady was still standing, which means everyone else in the AFC East plays for second.

But Williams' addition strengthens a porous defense that Brady typically shreds, boosts the Bills' chances of advancing within the division and could, just could, act as a recruiting tool to attract more top-shelf talent to western New York.

I've seen it happen before. It might again.

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