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Griffin III: No Finger-Pointing in the Locker Room (Redskins.com)

Lanky Livingston

Guest
Love this kid. Redskins are going to be just fine.

Griffin III: No Finger-Pointing In Locker Room
Posted Sep 10, 2013

Brian Tinsman
Lead Writer, Editor
Redskins.com
@Redskins

Although it may be a small sample size, NFL quarterbacks have a poor track record starting in Week 1 after not playing in the preseason.

In the last 15 years, only three NFL quarterbacks have started in Week 1 after taking zero snaps in the preseason: Tom Brady and Peyton Manning in 2008, and Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III last night.


And despite going into only his second NFL season, Griffin III statistically out-performed both Brady and Manning in their Week 1 returns.

Both Griffin III and Manning completed 30-for-49 pass attempts in losing efforts, with Griffin III outgaining Manning by 72 yards. He also threw one more touchdown than Manning in his return.

Manning bounced back from the Week 1 loss to win 12 of the next 15 games, leading his team to another AFC South title and a seventh-straight trip to the playoffs.

Clearly, good things can still happen after disappointing starts.

Griffin III proved as much last night, taking the first three quarters to get his bearing before becoming RG3 in the final 18:36.

Over the first 41:24, Griffin III completed just 10-of-21 passes for 92 yards, with two sacks and an interception.

Getting the ball back at the 3:36 mark of the third quarter, Griffin III and the offense turned it loose, as he finished 20-for-28 for 237 yards and two touchdowns.

His 126.9 quarterback passer rating in the fourth quarter ranked fourth among NFL quarterbacks in Week 1. It also pulled up his 22.2 passer rating through the first three quarters to a 77.7 for the game.

The victory in last night's performance is that Griffin III came out unscathed and further along his road to recovery.

Historically, others have not been so lucky.

While Brady got the start in Week 1, 2008, he completed just 7-for-11 for 76 yards before tearing his ACL and missing the duration of the 2008 campaign. It was his replacement, Matt Cassel, who led the Patriots to victory in Week 1.

But any attempt by the media to spin last night's loss was dismissed during Robert Griffin III's postgame press conference.

As far as the Redskins quarterback was concerned, to call a loss by any other name would be making excuses.

“I think that’s an excuse. I’m responsible for the way I play. I didn’t play very well in the first half so that’s just the way it is," he said. "I’m not going to sit here and say I was rusty.

"I have to be accountable, I’m going to be accountable for that."

Griffin III has always been his own harshest critic, but didn't wallow in last night's defeat, instead saying the team was looking forward to correcting Week 1 mistakes.

"You move on from it," he said. " didn’t play well in the first half. We came back and played better in the second half. We just have to do it for 60 minutes."

Following a bizarre sequence of poor ball security and failed execution across the board, Griffin III chalked Monday Night's loss to a perfect storm of dysfunction.

"We had a serious case of the 'can’t-get-rights,’ just penalties, hurting ourselves," he explained. "I don’t throw picks, [running back] Alfred [Morris] doesn’t fumble and [kicker] Kai [Forbath] doesn’t miss field goals and all three of those happened tonight."

One of the more uncharacteristic plays of the evening came in the first quarter when an errant pitch to running back Alfred Morris in the end zone led to a Eagles safety.

After the play, Robert patted Morris on the helmet coming off the field and insisted after the game that the result of the play was his fault.

“I’ll take the heat for that. I’m never going to point the finger at anybody. I pitched the ball, he didn’t catch the ball, and that’s my fault," he said. "He’ll tell you the same thing. He’ll tell you it’s his fault, and I’ll tell you it’s my fault, and you’ll decide whose fault it is from your perspective.

"We’ll get that right. We don’t fumble pitches, and he doesn’t fumble the ball and I don’t throw picks."

Griffin III trumpeted the sentiment echoed throughout the Redskins locker room that the offense let the defense down when they couldn't stay on the field.

At halftime, the Redskins defense had already been on the field for 20:20, running a total of 53 plays against Chip Kelly's up-tempo offense.

"We can’t put our defense in those kinds of situations, having them on the field the majority of the game," Griffin III said. "There’s no finger-pointing going on in that locker room. If you start pointing fingers at each other, that’s when you start having a team that’s separated, and we’re never going to be that way.

Click link for the rest.
 
Operation Get Right


I know I've been critical of Griffin in the preseason, some of you undoubtedly think I've been unreasonably critical and you may be right, but there's still so many things to love about him

Like I said in the random thought thread after the game Monday night:

Not concerned.
 
I could care less about finger pointing and players tapping their chest and saying "its on me". BS We all saw all the mistakes and poor execution the names and their numbers. It was all in our face. All I care about is players showing some pride and playing for each other. We are going to need players to show up on time, play heads up ball, and don't quit. But there are plenty of concerns and I'll simplify this for you.

Our defense shows an inability to tackle and cover. Aaron Rodgers will torch them.

Griffin shows he can't run, can't avoid a pass rush, and can't throw with any zip on the ball. Opponents namely Green Bay, will tee off on Morris because they know this Griffin is no threat now.

Gruden said we were never a team that can come from behind, and that appears to be the way the season is going to go. Either Griffin learns to win the 4th with clutch play like Elway, or we always play catch up, and that eliminates Morris.


OK, off my sky is falling soapbox.
Looking at the schedule, its way more daunting when thinking now about the limitations on offense and the lack of a tackling/covering defense.
 
...Gruden said we were never a team that can come from behind, and that appears to be the way the season is going to go. Either Griffin learns to win the 4th with clutch play like Elway, or we always play catch up, and that eliminates Morris.

And this is my biggest concern about Griffin, we had 4 possessions with 12 minutes left in the game down by only 13 points. Philly's defense was primed to give us the game. The clock management was non-existent, the urgency to get the team lined up and ready to go was not there.
 
And this is my biggest concern about Griffin, we had 4 possessions with 12 minutes left in the game down by only 13 points. Philly's defense was primed to give us the game. The clock management was non-existent, the urgency to get the team lined up and ready to go was not there.

I had this concern, but then someone pointed out the early rust we exhibited and said maybe it was intentional. Slow things down and execute correctly; clearly they needed it, because with the slowed-down tempo they almost won the game.
 
I had this concern, but then someone pointed out the early rust we exhibited and said maybe it was intentional. Slow things down and execute correctly; clearly they needed it, because with the slowed-down tempo they almost won the game.

Not to be disagreeable Lanky, but that is an excuse. I have seen it from him and the Shanny's before.
 
Not to be disagreeable Lanky, but that is an excuse. I have seen it from him and the Shanny's before.

Well yeah, it is an excuse. They were rusty due to lack of playing time as a unit, and it showed. They slowed the tempo down to get them in a rhythm.
 
Rusty qb. Younger Dbs making mistakes by learning early in the season. A slow start for formerly injured players like Davis and Orakpo.

Where is the surprise here?

People have to get over their 12 year old dreams of an effortless season.

It's going to take work and some guys like Rambo and Amerson getting experience to help this team win.

I think 3-3 at the bye is realistic with a jump when the suspended players return and as the stars round into top form.
 
Rusty qb. Younger Dbs making mistakes by learning early in the season. A slow start for formerly injured players like Davis and Orakpo.

Where is the surprise here?

People have to get over their 12 year old dreams of an effortless season.

It's going to take work and some guys like Rambo and Amerson getting experience to help this team win.

I think 3-3 at the bye is realistic with a jump when the suspended players return and as the stars round into top form.

Well, the bye is week 5, so 3-3 is gonna be really tough! ;)
 
Rusty qb. Younger Dbs making mistakes by learning early in the season. A slow start for formerly injured players like Davis and Orakpo.

Where is the surprise here?

People have to get over their 12 year old dreams of an effortless season.

It's going to take work and some guys like Rambo and Amerson getting experience to help this team win.

I think 3-3 at the bye is realistic with a jump when the suspended players return and as the stars round into top form.


I'm with you... but I will say, this is going to be a serious test to the character and leadership of this team. This week is huge. I think we come out strong and we fight HARD. Going into GB is not going to be easy, but I think we pull this out... We pull this game out in GB and there is absolute NO reason we got into the bye week any less then 3 - 1. After GB we have DET at home, then we head west to Oakland.
 
ST, I wouldn't be so quick to guarantee a win against Detroit. They had some early bonehead plays, but looked good against the Vikings. They held AP to 94 yards. I know that doesn't sound like much, but 77 of them were in one play. Is this the year the Lions finally get a win in DC?
 
Oh I never guarantee'd it.. I said if we can go INTO GB and win, THEN there's no reason we dont win that game. It's going to take a great effort to do it, and if we've got what it takes to pull it off IN GB, there's no reason we can't beat Detroit at home.
 
I only believe what I see and only half of what I hear. I saw that Griffin wasn't himself. I heard him say rusty is no excuse. From that I conclude that if he is 100% healthy like he says he is, then what we see is what we'll get now, he's lost something but is it permenant. Now, if he is not 100% and he isn't totally healed (his rusty remark) then I feel better about that because he'll have upside and improvement as he heals.

I don't know for certain where he's at right now, but the next time he gets up limping get Cousins in there. And yes, I did see him get up off the field and limp mon. night.
 
Cooley did a good segment on injuries on his show. I'm sure this is common sense but basically...

It doesn't matter what the doctors say. It doesn't matter how you feel. It doesn't matter how you do drills and how you practice.

You have doubts until someone hits you. And you treat it differently until you're put in a spot where you're forced to let instincts take over and after the play think: man, I did do those old moves again.

He's fine. Hasn't lost anything. Just needed to get back in the swing of things. Call it rust, call it lingering mental issues after and injury, call it whatever.

He'll be fine in the grand scheme of the season.
 

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