Then injuries, an impasse between the quarterback and head coach regarding the playbook and adjustments from opposing coaches neutered the effectiveness of Washington’s passing attack, leading to Griffin losing the starting job and, eventually, his roster spot with the team.

Now, the Cleveland Browns hope Griffin can recapture some of the magic that saw him lead the Redskins to the NFC East title while being named the NFL rookie of the year in 2012. And he has shown signs of life during his first two preseason games under the tutelage of new Browns Coach Hue Jackson.

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Last season in Cincinnati, where Jackson was the offensive coordinator, 21.5 percent of Andy Dalton’s throws were greater than 15 yards, and the Bengals quarterback posted a 112.8 passer rating on those attempts. Cincinnati backup A.J. McCarron was similarly effective when thrust into action late in the season, posting a 121.5 passer rating throwing deep on 21.8 percent of attempts.

These figures certainly suggest more chances for Griffin to employ his deep-ball skills, but his difficulties in Washington were more than just a lack of deep-throw attempts. He struggled with reading the field, resulting in an abnormally high rate of interceptions and sacks. But that could have been a function of the Redskins relying on complex, full-field reads.

Jackson’s offense utilizes mirrored route combinations that give the quarterback a half-field read, often simplifying the structure and speeding up decision-making. It will employ some West Coast concepts, but Jackson relies more on a vertical passing game out of the Don Coryell/Bruce Arians passing tree, a style of play that looks to stretch the offense horizontally by using three- and four-wide receiver sets, while also stretching the defense vertically with the downfield passing game.

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The statistics so far this preseason bear this concept out. In his Cleveland debut against the Green Bay Packers, four of Griffin’s eight passing attempts were longer than 15 yards. In his second preseason game against Atlanta, two of his eight passing attempts were more than 15 yards, and both went for touchdowns.

Looking at two of Griffin’s big plays this preseason shows just how good he can be when throwing long. First is this deep ball to Terrelle Pryor against Atlanta, which comes on a four-verticals concept, where all four receivers run go routes:

This design is a standard in Jackson’s offense, and he used it to generate big numbers for Dalton and tight end Tyler Eifert last season. With this design, the two inside vertical routes can bracket a single high safety, giving the quarterback two options while sticking the free safety between a rock and a hard place. Griffin obviously likes what he sees when Atlanta lines up with press coverage over Pryor, so he takes his shot and hits the receiver for a 50-yard touchdown.

Also against Atlanta, we can see the Browns utilize vertical concepts on this touchdown pass to tight end Gary Barnidge. The concept they run here comes with a twist: two receivers on each side of the formation run a mirrored post/wheel concept:

Mirrored passing designs are very quarterback friendly, as they result in the quarterback needing to read just one half of the field or the other, depending on the coverage which still must cover both. Here, Griffin sees cover-one, so he looks to the most favorable matchup; in this case, his tight end against rookie strong safety Keanu Neal:

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