The Big Arm of Griffin

By now you probably all know how big a fan I am regarding a quarterbacks arm strength. I actually threw up in my mouth a few times last season watching Rex Grossman trying to hit a receiver down the sidelines beyond 50 yards. I counted at least six possible touchdowns that never happened due to Grossman's noodle arm. Our longest pass play in 2011 was 51 yards.

Moving forward, we find ourselves in the opposite situation. We have a rookie quarterback with a cannon for an arm, and one who is known for having an outstanding deep ball. After the jump, I posted some quotes from various sources citing this rediculous arm strength we are about to see on display from Griffin.

We all know the story of Hankerson's ripped glove.

From Gerardo Orlando(The Scores Report):

The power is so great the Washington Redskins don’t describe their prodigy’s throwing as a verb but rather a noun.

“The Arm,” they say. And every conversation about Robert Griffin III includes some mention of “The Arm” because those players who have experienced it don’t appear to have seen something quite like “The Arm” before.

They try to describe it, putting into words the strength that awes them. And as they do, the stories get larger and seemingly more preposterous, except that the men don’t smile when they tell them. They say “The Arm” is real, even if their attempts to make it come to life sound ridiculous.

“It’s more of running to your left and flicking your wrist and throwing the ball 70 yards,” Washington’s backup quarterback Rex Grossman said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Then he shook his head.

“His arm almost comes off like a whip,” Grossman added, holding his own hand above his head, then flinging it forward about a foot in a vain attempt to demonstrate the way Griffin throws.

From our very own Sonny Jurgenson:

"I was very impressed with the velocity he had on the ball, his arm strength, the quickness of his passes," Jurgensen said. "Also, something you don't normally get with a young man, is the touch he has on the ball. He has excellent touch on the ball on crossing patterns, laying it over to the tight end on the deep crossing patterns that you'll see Fred Davis run."

Rich Tandler:

Robert Griffin III was the most accurate deep thrower in major college football last year. He completed 50.9 percent of his passes that traveled 25-plus yards. And rarely did he throw it up for grabs; his touchdown to interception ration on those deep throws was 20-1.

The deep accuracy was one of the reasons why the Redskins gave up a lot to move up in the draft to secure his services. Their longest pass play last year covered just 51 yards, the shortest longest pass play of any NFL team. They had to try to put together sustained drives to score and that got them ranked 26th in the NFL in scoring with 288 points (18 points/game).

Cosell did credit Luck for his masterful ability to call plays and make adjustments at the line of scrimmage, calling it an “essential attribute as [Luck] transitions to the NFL.”

Based strictly on game tape, however, RG3 was the more remarkable quarterback.

“What immediately jumped out was his arm strength,” Cosell wrote. “… Griffin, for a power thrower, was consistently accurate. The better term for accuracy is ball location. That’s what allows receivers to run after the catch. Griffin excelled in that area.”