RGIII Called Out His Teammates After Loss to Tampa Bay
If the NFL franchise from Washington ever changes its name, the Dramatics should be a viable choice. Washington’s Week 11 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers unearthed several on-the-field team issues. Griffin was sacked six times during the game. Even worse than the loss, the current starting quarterback Robert Griffin, RGIII called out his teammates after the game. In his post-game comments, the former starting quarterback from Baylor said, “If you want to look at the good teams in this league and the great quarterbacks, the Peyton Manning and the Aaron Rodgers, those guys don’t play well if their guys don’t play well,” Griffin said. He added, “They don’t. We need everybody.”
Griffin was asked about all the sacks, whether they were due to protection issues or if he possibly could have gotten rid of the ball quicker. His immediate answer: “All the sacks are on me, period.” But later added, “And I need every man in that locker room — player, coach, everyone — to look themselves in the mirror and say, ‘What can I do better?’
We try to avoid using too many sports cliches, like throwing someone under a bus, but for a signal-caller whose leadership has been questioned, he should never throw stones.
Reaction to RGIII Comments
Washington’s volatile and explosive wide receiver DeSean Jackson posted a vague quote on his Instagram account after the Bucs loss “You can’t do epic [stuff] with basic people.”As the media got wind of the comment and asked for clarifications, Jackson did not elaborate on the post. Was it an affirmation of Griffin’s comments? Was Jackson calling his quarterback “basic?” We didn’t get an answer. Head Coach Jon Gruden didn’t hesitate to respond with his own post-game comments, calling the franchise quarterback “spoiled.” Gruden elaborated on his sentiments with the NFL Network’s Albert Greer:
His biggest thing [referring to RGIII,] he’s been coddled for so long.” “It’s not a negative, he’s just been so good, he just hasn’t had a lot of negative publicity. Everybody’s loved him. Some adversity is striking hard at him now. How he reacts to that off the field, his mental state of mind, hopefully it’s not in a negative way. I read Drew Brees said after a couple interceptions, ‘I’m never going to lose confidence, I’m going to come out firing all the time.
Dissension in the Ranks
We previously reported the Washington locker room has lost confidence in RGIII. The quarterback’s bad footwork has already been called out by his head coach and now ex-players are piling it on. Former 49ers great Steve Young told Pro Football Talk this week, “I’ve talked to his previous coaches, people I really trust and admire, that know quarterbacks. He doesn’t put the time in,” Young said on the Michael Kay radio show.” Ouch. Washington is a disaster. Can Washington play the Giants soon so Big Blue can get a win?