Morris had taken a step to his left before running forward and raising his arms.
“The first thing you see,” LaFleur said of Griffin, “he gets on the right path.”
Washington Redskins’ offense is the three-card monte of the NFL
Video: The Post Sports Live crew examines the 11-5 Seattle Seahawks, who are riding an impressive 5-game winning streak during which their average margin of victory is more than 26 points per game.
This play from the Dec. 3 Giants game illustrates how the Redskins offense can befuddle a defense.
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Dallas defenders leaned forward and moved to their right, reading Griffin’s path and reacting to it. Then the ball was gone. In about a second, the Cowboys found themselves off balance. As they hurried to correct themselves, Griffin planted and found wide receiver Pierre Garcon running across the middle for an 18-yard gain.
Griffin has mastered the play-action fake. His passer rating after play fakes is 116.2, more than 22 points better than when there’s no fake. Just as important, though, is that it’s another way to force defenders to guess. Of Morris’s 335 rushing attempts, more than 52 percent have come from the shotgun formation — again, the highest percentage in the league. Translation: When the Redskins show pass, they’re just as likely to run, and they lead the league in rushing with 169.3 yards per game.
“The stats don’t lie,” Griffin said.
LaFleur and Kyle Shanahan said Griffin started as a greenhorn in offseason practice but has honed his deception skills to the point that he is an expert.
LaFleur works with Griffin each day in individual drills to perfect his technique. Griffin obliges.
“He wants to be the best in everything he does,” LaFleur said.
Coaches and Redskins defenders routinely victimized by the rookie quarterback in practice said Griffin sells the fake by extending the ball in the same way he does when he hands it off. And that his footwork is identical, regardless of which play is actually coming — the path, as LaFleur called it, to the “mesh,” where Griffin meets the running back. And that he never stops running, which forces defenders to question their eyes. Is the ace really in the middle, as it appeared, or was it again lost amid the quickness and sleight of hand? Commit to the run, and yes, there’s another king; the ace was on the right.
“When he doesn’t have the ball, he’s running like he does,” Redskins defensive lineman Kedric Golston said. “And the running back is running like he does, and the receivers are doing everything like they have the ball.”
A moment later, he shook his head. “It’s stressful,” Golston said. “It really is.”
That’s the idea.
A chaotic symphony
On Dec. 3 against the Giants, Morgan stopped in the backfield. A moment later, Griffin took the snap from the pistol formation and faked to Morris, holding the ball until the last instant. Offensive linemen blocked as if Morris would be running up the middle. Two of New York’s three linebackers raced to tackle Morris; by then, Griffin was already running to his left.
“If you’re not on top of your game, he’s already turned the corner on you,” Riley said.
All but two defenders had been neutralized by the formation, pre-snap movement and the fake to Morris. Young hurried over to block defensive end Osi Umenyiora and then linebacker Michael Boley. He didn’t see Griffin sprint past Umenyiora and then cut back toward the middle of the field.
“I don’t know what happens half the time,” Young said. “I just do my job; I look when the whistle blows.”
Morgan, meanwhile, was yelling for Griffin to lateral the ball.
“Yelling, ‘Pitch it!’ the whole time,” Morgan recalled.
Griffin ran 16 yards before colliding with Giants defensive back Stevie Brown. The ball popped upward, landing in Morgan’s hands — “about time,” he remembered thinking — and Morgan ran past a final group of stunned defenders and into the end zone.
It was chaos, for everyone not wearing burgundy. It has been like this for seven weeks, maybe a few more.
“It was really supposed to happen that way,” Morgan said with a smile.
When you’re in on the trick’s secrets, nothing surprises you any more.
More on Redskins vs. Seahawks:
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Seahawks’ Wilson is more substance than flash
Redskins-Seahawks winner will travel to Atlanta
Going Out Guide: Where to watch the game
Redskins ready for Seattle’s talented special teams
PSL: Bold predictions | The bigger threat?
Players to watch: Lynch | Sherman
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