I have never been much of a Robert Griffin III fan. I always thought he was a rare talent, but that he tended to have foot-in-mouth-disease constantly. It seems like every time I turned around he was publicly saying something controversial that had people catching the vapors. So, it wasn't surprising to me that he said something after Washington lost to the Bucs that got fans and the media all worked up into a serious lather.
Don’t blame RG3 for all of Washington’s problems
RG3’s comments following a Week 11 loss to the Buccaneers prompted a public reprimand from his head coach and a wave of criticism. But the wrong person is getting most of the blame for the team’s struggles.
After all the hub bub I decided to see for myself just what it was that he said that pissed people off, and I was appalled at what I found. This guy decided he would call one of the Washington players out in particular repeatedly after the loss. Get this: he said this one guy was responsible for all six of the sacks Washington gave up in the loss. He also accused that same guy of being in a group of Washington players who aren’t playing good team ball.
We were playing good team ball. It takes 11 men. It doesn't take one guy, and that's proven. If you want to look at the good teams in this league and the great quarterbacks, the Peytons and the Aaron Rodgers, those guys don't play well if their guys don't play well. They don't. We need everybody. I need every one of those guys in that locker room, and I know they're looking at me saying the same thing.
Where does he get the nerve?! Just who the fuck does he think he is to call out a guy on his team?!
He also blamed that same guy for turning the ball over and throwing interceptions and not seeing the field well all day.
Hey wait a minute ...
Aw, shit.
Man, this is embarrassing.
See, what had happened was I had heard that Griffin had “thrown his teammates under the bus.” I Googled the transcripts from Sunday and I saw him criticizing one guy repeatedly for not playing well after the game. I had no idea that one guy was himself.
Yes, that’s right folks.
Even though someone cleverly edited a clip of Griffin’s comments to make him look like the biggest asshole possible, it turns out he had actually taken more than his share of the blame for the loss after the game on Sunday. In fact, the offending clip that makes it seem like he’s saying he can’t play well if his teammates aren’t playing well only shows part of his answer. The rest of his quote is him saying that the same thing applies to him and that they are all in this together, basically. They were utterly benign comments in context.
So you're trying to tell me your offense looks best in the hands of a quarterback like Colt McCoy? Not two promising young quarterbacks like Griffin or Kirk Cousins?
But who gives a shit about context, amirite?
Hell, after watching the All-22 from the game it's not even like Griffin played particularly bad. His biggest sin in my book was not connecting with wide receiver DeSean Jackson on deep balls twice when he had him wide open. In his defense, I will say that he overthrew him both times and that's something that's hard to do with Jackson (he is so fast you generally want to throw it as far as you can and let him outrun everybody to the end zone). This time the ball just went a little too far both plays.
I'll tell you who did have a shitty game and that's Washington right tackle Tom Compton. That guy was awful all damn day, and he was actually a lot more to blame for those six sacks than Griffin was. Oh, and Washington kicker Kai Forbath missed a 47-yard attempt in the second quarter and a 50-yard attempt in the third quarter. He makes those two field goals and even with the shitty start the score is tied 13-13 more than half way through the third quarter.
Those guys did deserve to get called out after the game. But most folks aren’t talking about those two or anything else that went wrong.
- If Niles Paul doesn't fumble the ball to Bucs linebacker Danny Lansanah before he got control of the catch ...
- If Jordan Reed didn't make a bad business decision on a screen to him on third-and-2 on the following drive ...
- If Roy Helu didn't fumble two drives after that at the end of a catch in which he had a first down inside the Bucs' 45-yard line ...
- If Washington's offensive coordinator had noticed that Alfred Morris was running like a mini Mack truck and decided to ride him to victory instead of throwing so many passes, Washington would've had a much better chance of winning that game.
D.C. Drama
There was a lot of blame to pass around, but I wouldn’t put Griffin’s play as one of the top three problems. Now that the offending clip has gone viral, everybody is coming for Griffin’s throat, including his own head coach.
Jay Gruden took his own shot at Griffin on Monday. When asked about Griffin’s clipped comments, Gruden said in part, “Robert needs to understand he needs to worry about himself, number one, and not everybody else.”
Photo credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA Today How about practicing what you should be preaching and waiting for context before blasting your own starting quarterback? That’s the same Jay Gruden who calls the plays and wasn’t feeding Morris the ball on Sunday. Gruden is getting a pass largely because of Griffin’s injury in the first game. He was a fair to middling offensive coordinator before coming to Washington, and now he’s shitting the bed as a head coach and offensive coordinator. But people still would rather focus on the quarterback position.
Who, exactly, tore shit up at quarterback for Washington this year? Colt McCoy!? So you're trying to tell me your offense looks best in the hands of a quarterback like Colt McCoy? Not two promising young quarterbacks like Griffin or Kirk Cousins?
Washington is now 3-7. They lost to a Bucs team with one win prior to this one. Even if you want to be an asshole and place most of the blame for the loss on Griffin, the truth is that the entire team was not ready to play let alone win on Sunday. And whose fault is that? Surely not the quarterback, who was just told by his head coach to mind his own business. Yet for the rest of this week a lot of folks will be cheering on that head coach for “putting Griffin in his place,” while totally ignoring his own culpability in the loss.
So my question is, who really got thrown under the bus?
★★★
See More:
