I'm disheartened. I'm numb. I'm at a loss for words at what transpired yesterday.
In the heat of battle yesterday, our beloved organization lost sight of an incredibly important fact - that being that the game of football is the ultimate TEAM game.
After having some time to reflect and digest, what I feel quite confident in saying is the following at this point...
1. For the first time as a Redskin, Robert Griffin perceived himself to be bigger than the team. I appreciate the competitiveness, I appreciate the warrior mentality and heart he showed fighting it out and trying to stay on the field. Unfortunately, he didn't want to admit that enough was enough and that his team could actually be better served without him.
2. Mike Shanahan perceived Robert Griffin to be bigger than the team with his inability to make the tough decision and pull him. It's a shame that he showed such little confidence in a group of guys who had just reeled off 7 wins in a row. It's a travesty that he showed such little belief in a group of players that very well may have bought him a few more years in D.C. It's sickening knowing that he basically quit on a group of guys who sacrificed every last ounce of will to salvage what was potentially going to become a third successive and disastrous campaign for the Shanahan regime prior to the winning streak.
3. The other players wearing our colours believed Robert was bigger than the team (on the offensive side of the ball at least). I saw very few, if any guys step up and show the courage to make a play when we needed it offensively once it was evident that he wasn't right.. Blocking was suspect in a few situations, balls were being dropped....guys simply lost confidence and belief in themselves as a unit after it was evident that Robert was ailing. Offensively, we lost the swagger we seemed to have during that winning streak.
I wholeheartedly believe that going forward, if we want to be elite and not just good, it needs to be more about the WASHINGTON REDSKINS - not Robert Griffin...(and while we're at it, lets scrap the RG3 chants). I love the man as much as the next guy does, but I hope that yesterday was a lesson learned going forward that never can one man do it alone long term in the game of football. No one man will ever be greater than the collective. We looked downright desperate as a franchise clinging to QB who was basically walking on one leg and believing that we were hopeless without him.
For an organization that showed so much fight over the course of a seven week stretch, Robert and Mike alike sure looked like two frightened turtles taking cover under their shells from the second quarter onwards yesterday.
My apologies if any or all of this has been spoken about today. I just feel like every ounce of positive energy that we've mustered of late was snatched away in the blink of an eye and I haven't had the will or spirit to read the board carefully today.
I love this board and the people here - you and I all deserve better.
In the heat of battle yesterday, our beloved organization lost sight of an incredibly important fact - that being that the game of football is the ultimate TEAM game.
After having some time to reflect and digest, what I feel quite confident in saying is the following at this point...
1. For the first time as a Redskin, Robert Griffin perceived himself to be bigger than the team. I appreciate the competitiveness, I appreciate the warrior mentality and heart he showed fighting it out and trying to stay on the field. Unfortunately, he didn't want to admit that enough was enough and that his team could actually be better served without him.
2. Mike Shanahan perceived Robert Griffin to be bigger than the team with his inability to make the tough decision and pull him. It's a shame that he showed such little confidence in a group of guys who had just reeled off 7 wins in a row. It's a travesty that he showed such little belief in a group of players that very well may have bought him a few more years in D.C. It's sickening knowing that he basically quit on a group of guys who sacrificed every last ounce of will to salvage what was potentially going to become a third successive and disastrous campaign for the Shanahan regime prior to the winning streak.
3. The other players wearing our colours believed Robert was bigger than the team (on the offensive side of the ball at least). I saw very few, if any guys step up and show the courage to make a play when we needed it offensively once it was evident that he wasn't right.. Blocking was suspect in a few situations, balls were being dropped....guys simply lost confidence and belief in themselves as a unit after it was evident that Robert was ailing. Offensively, we lost the swagger we seemed to have during that winning streak.
I wholeheartedly believe that going forward, if we want to be elite and not just good, it needs to be more about the WASHINGTON REDSKINS - not Robert Griffin...(and while we're at it, lets scrap the RG3 chants). I love the man as much as the next guy does, but I hope that yesterday was a lesson learned going forward that never can one man do it alone long term in the game of football. No one man will ever be greater than the collective. We looked downright desperate as a franchise clinging to QB who was basically walking on one leg and believing that we were hopeless without him.
For an organization that showed so much fight over the course of a seven week stretch, Robert and Mike alike sure looked like two frightened turtles taking cover under their shells from the second quarter onwards yesterday.
My apologies if any or all of this has been spoken about today. I just feel like every ounce of positive energy that we've mustered of late was snatched away in the blink of an eye and I haven't had the will or spirit to read the board carefully today.
I love this board and the people here - you and I all deserve better.