1 reason every NFL team can win the Super Bowl

Washington Redskins

If the Washington Redskins are going to win the Super Bowl, Robert Griffin III has to finally get back to the level of play he showed in his rookie season. During that year he completed 65 percent of his passes for 3,211 yards, 20 touchdowns and five interceptions.

Since then he has completed 62 percent of 670 pass attempts, for 4,897 yards, 20 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. He’s also only played 22 out of 32 possible games.

Washington has some great receiving threats (DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon), a fantastic backfield (Alfred Morris, Silas Redd and rookie Matt Jones) and a great pair of tight end (Jordan Reed and Niles Paul). The weapons are there for Griffin to work with.

Now it’s up to him. There are a few things Griffin needs to do, the first of which is stay on the field. That involves a lot of little things on his part, including being smarter about taking big hits. While for the most part no one hit has laid him out permanently, the cumulative effect of multiple hits across the season definitely takes its toll on him. He needs to be smarter when he runs—more like Russell Wilson or Cam Newton (although Newton has a bigger frame).

He’s also got to buy into Jay Gruden’s offense. Thus far it seems as if he and his head coach are not on the same page—there is resistance on both sides of the pair, but it’s quite clear that Gruden is not moving—so if Griffin is going to get better and lead his team to the championship, he needs to bend at least a little.

At the end of the day, Washington is in a competitive division and they need their franchise quarterback to be the guy they traded a ton of picks to move up and draft three years ago.

Next: New York Jets