Ashburn, Va. – Since arriving in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area as a second overall draft pick in the 2012 draft, Washington Redskins’ quarterback Robert Griffin, III has taken to social media and the podium microphone like a fish to water. He is a vocal guy that seems to wear his heart on his sleeve. This, along with the fact that he is young and still learning how to be an NFL quarterback on and off the field, has gotten him into trouble.
Over time, countless “experts” in and around the sports world have pushed Griffin to stop talking. Whether it’s via Twitter or during an interview, they have urged him to stop getting himself in trouble by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. It appears that Griffin has heeded the advice and is now pushing back.
The most recent noise surrounding the Redskins franchise resulted from both Griffin’s and his head coach, Jay Gruden’s, comments after the terrible loss at home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this past Sunday. Both said things they perhaps should not have and both sets of comments caused pandemonium in and around Redskins Park.
Despite the unique circumstances surrounding the franchise right now (the team is just nine games in to Gruden’s first head coaching gig and first year here and; Griffin has only completed his third full game in a new offense), following the Tampa Bay game there were all sorts of pronouncements that Griffin must go… that he was “done” here in Washington. There have been assaults on his character and morals. Gruden was described as being not in control and not the play-caller originally thought and that he wouldn’t last long. Some folks had both of them out of here before season’s end.
The result of the uproar after those post-game press conferences and Gruden’s subsequent Monday presser has culminated in a huge turn of events from what the media and public are used to with this young man. Griffin has stopped the talking.
In his normal mid-week press conference yesterday, the quarterback did a great impersonation of [New England Patriots’ head coach] Bill Belichick. Answering multiple questions by the local and national media gathered in Ashburn, the mantra of the day for RGIII was straight, to the point and not very informative:
“Jay wants me to play better. I want to play better. We’re focused on [the] San Francisco [49ers].”
As a matter of fact, out of 23 inquiries, Griffin used the word “focused” 19 times. He listened thoughtfully. He paused. He smiled. And then, no matter the question, he would say:
“Jay wants me to play better. I need to play better. We’re just focused on San Francisco.”
Or;
“Yeah, like I said… I’m focused on San Francisco, man. That’s all I can do.”
Granted, there were a few… albeit very few… times he added something else. And there were a few times when it looked like he wanted to say something else. But he stuck to his refrain and never gave the media anything more.
Some have indicated that he seemed uncomfortable with this new way of doing things. It was actually more like a challenge he had been given and as the presser went on; he became more and more comfortable with meeting it. He smiled more as the presser went on and even appeared to giggle a couple of times. The comfort level actually appeared to increase with time and repetition… something that is supposed to happen with football players.
The one time he strayed from the tune was when asked a real football question.
“Yeah, very tough defense,” Griffin said of the 49ers. “They make you earn every single thing you get. They don’t give up a lot of big plays and they play with passion. So we are going to have to match that going into their house and they are not going to make it easy for us.”
It was probably somewhat of a relief for Griffin to not have to worry about anything but the one sentence he needed to remember. For once he didn’t need to mark his words carefully or think about how they might be misconstrued. He didn’t have to worry about them being taken out of context. It would be pretty hard to hear the words “play better” and “focused on San Francisco” and mistake them for “it’s not my fault” or “I’m the man.”
This turn of events is overdue and Griffin should be applauded for it now regardless of how and when it finally came to pass. People have been clamoring for him to do things differently and now he is. One can’t get better until they do the things required to get better. This seems to be a start towards doing so.
Perhaps this is the beginning of the beginning of the healing of the Washington Redskins. In the locker room yesterday, his teammates insisted they have his back. Isn’t that what’s going to be required anyway for this team to move forward regardless of whether or not they are all best friends? What is required is a mutual respect and an obvious attempt by all to get better. It appears, at least from what was said yesterday by both Robert and his coach, that this is the direction in which they are moving.
Griffin’s best answer of the presser was, by far, the shortest. And it came when he was asked how the relationship was between himself and his head coach. His answer?
“Great.”
It would be pretty difficult to misinterpret that.
Hail.