“I want him,” Kyle recalls telling them about Griffin. “I was never going to say no.”
He says he didn’t think about his own career; rather, he saw Griffin as a major upgrade at the team’s most vital position. Still, those closest to Kyle knew he had perhaps the most to gain from a transcendent, NFL-ready quarterback.
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“You guys will grow together,” Mike says he told his son.
When Indianapolis selected Luck at No. 1, Washington didn’t hesitate. The Redskins had their quarterback.
But a new challenge emerged: The offense Kyle had honed required a pocket passer, and it was Griffin’s mobility that made him special. This time, however, he wouldn’t force a quarterback to accommodate his scheme; he would design plays to fit Griffin, taking advantage of his speed and easing him toward becoming an elite passer.
The process was taxing, but his father’s words again echoed in Kyle’s mind: work and time. He spent hours last spring studying video of zone-read offenses: Cam Newton in Carolina, Tim Tebow in Denver, Vince Young in Tennessee. He also did what he’d done in Tampa Bay, scanning defenses for weaknesses. Kyle didn’t interview other coaches or watch college film; he only wanted to see how it worked in the NFL.
“It kind of rejuvenated me,” he says.
The days turned to weeks, then months. Some days were better than others.
“I’d be like, ‘Man, I’m done with this.’ ” he says. “Then we would do something different, and I’d be like, ‘All right, this could work.’ ”
Kyle admits that he had no idea whether this offense, which relied on pre-snap motion, a reliable running game and an avoidance of turnovers, would succeed. It was asking a lot of a rookie.
“Now, everything is good,” Griffin says, months after those first meetings. “We know the system, he knows how I learn things and how to get me in the right situations. But at first, it was a grind.”
“As a coordinator, I’m seeing him use everything he has; use all the tools around him,” Redskins wide receiver Santana Moss adds.
In the regular season’s first week, Griffin and Kyle led the Redskins to a 40-32 win against the New Orleans Saints. Their comfort grew from there, Kyle tinkering and Griffin adapting.
Washington is now 6-6, with an offense ranked seventh in the league. In Monday night’s win against the New York Giants, Kyle and Griffin showed a diverse, methodical approach that didn’t abandon the run, wasn’t one-dimensional and showcased the marriage of Kyle’s ideas and Griffin’s abilities.
From that has come trust.
“He’s never told me something,” Griffin says, “that wasn’t true in the game.”
Faith has come from the head coach’s office, too. Nearly three years after his father studied Kyle, waiting to see how he handled himself, Mike says his son now has his unconditional confidence.
“The one thing I don’t worry about is our offensive staff,” Mike says, sitting in front of a bank of flat-screen televisions in his office on which he sometimes watches assistant coaches’ meetings with their position players.
Kyle says Mike has let him call “every single play” since he was hired, though Mike retains oversight of the game plan that Kyle and line coach Chris Foerster build each week, including power to alter or eliminate plays and formations. That happens less often now.
Still, Mike and Kyle squabble sometimes, the collision of two strong personalities who also share a bloodline.
“Sometimes he just doesn’t want to deal with me,” Kyle says, “and he’ll end up walking away from it. I can tell when he’s had enough.”
A little more than two weeks ago, Kyle opened his composition book and wrote “DALLAS” as the heading. He listed in black ink the 21 plays he hoped to open with against the Cowboys, whom the Redskins would defeat 38-31 on national television.
As he does each week, Mike inspected the pages, checking his son’s work and making notes, finally reaching Kyle’s proposed opening plays.
Before returning it, Mike wrote four words in large blue letters: “Go with your gut.”
‘A win-win for both of them’
Kyle stands in the sunlight as a photographer steadies his lens, his neck craning and eyes drifting toward the field. He’s not checking on what his quarterbacks are doing after practice. He’s making sure they don’t see him.
“It’d be real embarrassing,” he says as the photographer tries to regain Kyle’s attention.
The thing is, more eyes are fixed on Kyle now, which is unlikely to change. His reputation as a young star restored, his words and actions will be scrutinized. Successful coordinators don’t usually stay coordinators. They become head coaches.
Kyle has never interviewed for a head coaching position, but he admits to thinking about it for years.
“My whole life, that’s always been my goal, to be a head coach,” he says. “I’d say now, though, I think about it less than I ever have. I feel like I’m maturing a little bit.”
Kyle, who will turn 33 next Friday, says there’s more for him to learn. He occasionally seems uncomfortable around the media and was fined earlier this season for berating a replacement official. What matters most, though, is how he tutors and connects with Griffin, the player who can teach Kyle about patience and creativity as much as Kyle can teach him.
“A win-win for both of them,” Brown, the Texas coach, says.
For now, Kyle seems content to remain a coordinator, to push the limits with a rookie who plays as if he has never failed, to stay mostly hidden in his father’s shadow. He says he’s now comfortable in his own skin, and more than that, with his last name.
“It still bugs me a little bit,” he admits.
A moment later, he continues.
“I’ve got to get over worrying about proving everything to people.”
As this season finishes, Kyle’s tests are only beginning. In the NFL, the only thing more difficult than working your way to the top is proving – to outsiders but, mostly, to yourself – that you belong.
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