“He’s a sight for sore eyes,” veteran linebacker London Fletcher told reporters, speaking for everyone who has witnessed the Redskins’ parade of mediocrity at quarterback these last however-many years.
On its surface, Griffin’s assignment in Week 1 was the toughest imaginable for an NFL debut: Go on the road, to one of the loudest, most intimidating environments in the league, to face a team that had won 13 games in 2011. In recent weeks, the Redskins’ coaches had begun lobbying subtly for a lowering of expectations for Griffin, pointing out the historical struggles of great quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, whose team went 3-13 as a rookie, or Troy Aikman, who went 0-11.
Rookie quarterbacks are supposed to be jittery, quick-triggered and mistake-prone. Indianapolis’s Andrew Luck, the No. 1 pick of this year’s draft (Griffin was No. 2), threw three interceptions Sunday in his debut, a 20-point loss to Chicago. Miami’s Ryan Tannehill and Cleveland’s Brandon Weeden, both first-round picks, combined for seven interceptions in their debuts Sunday.
Griffin led the Redskins to scores on each of their first four drives, including an 88-yard touchdown strike to receiver Pierre Garcon that Griffin watched unfold from the Superdome floor, having been knocked down by a vicious hit from Saints safety Malcom Jenkins. As Garcon broke free near midfield and won a sprint to the end zone, Griffin raised both index fingers to the sky.
And what about the ball? It made its way to the Redskins’ bench, where it was placed in safekeeping until after the game – whereupon it was returned to the man who had sent it into the sky, the man who would still be cradling it 45 minutes later, in the bowels of the Superdome.
Griffin had his trophy, the Redskins had their victory, and at last long Washington, by all appearances, had a quarterback in whom it was safe to believe.
But all you really had to do to understand Sunday’s import was trust your eyes, because what your eyes told you was this: The Redskins simply have not witnessed anything like this game in a long, long time, and have never witnessed anyone like Griffin – fast and agile and smart, with an arm like a rocket-launcher -- in roughly forever.
If Washington was already gripped by RGIII fever, the anticipation building all summer for the debut of the most heavily hyped rookie quarterback in franchise history, what will become of the region now – after Griffin led the Redskins to a season-opening upset victory that felt like the start of some new era?
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, they looked awful at Tampa.
. Can we stop the Raiders ground game? Lots of speed on both sides so it should be a race to the finish with a one score differential. 
