The sports media cracks me up sometimes (not literally, thank goodness). Often times it seems that many members of the sports media are about as fickle as politicians during election season when it comes to how coaches and players interact with them. When players and coaches read directly from the book, entitled, "Sports Cliches 101," media personalities seem to yawn and not talk about these seemingly over-rehearsed comments. Then when some sports personalities, like San Antonio Spurs coach Greg Popovich gets rather blunt with his responses, many in the media will almost say in unison, "It's nice to finally talk to someone who just tells it like it is." However, there are still other tell-it-like-it-is comments which seem to receive a great deal of backlash, where these same media talking heads simultaneously utter, "Whoa! He did not just say that! Can you believe that?"
The latest such case revolves around Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III's post-game comments after his team fell to Tampa Bay 27-7 on Sunday. He's taken a great deal of heat from many in the media, whom have claimed that he threw his teammates under the bus, that he wasn't taking responsibility for his own mistakes, and should never have uttered such commentary. For the record, Washington is 3-7, tied for last place in the NFC East with the New York Giants, and has about as good of a chance to get the first pick in the upcoming NFL Draft as they have of making the playoffs. Given that bit of information, here were some of Griffin's post-game quotes:
- "It doesn't take one guy. That's proven. If you want to look at the good teams in this league, or the great quarterbacks - the Peytons, 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. I'm gonna be there for them. I promise that. I'll give it to them every day. I'll never quit on them. I need them to do the same. And I know they will. I believe they will. I mean, what else am I supposed to believe? I believe in my teammates. We'll get it done."
- "All the sacks are on me. Period. You have to, as players, we're 3-7. Everybody in this room knows that. Everybody in that locker room knows that. We can't do what 3-7 football teams do; we can't throw knives and stab each other in the back."
- "And I think we have good people in our locker room, men of God that are gonna stick together and stay strong. So when you ask me that question, and I say 'All the sacks are on me,' it's because I'm looking myself in the mirror and saying, 'I can do better. I have to do better.'"
- "And I need every man in that locker room - player, coach, everyone - to look themself in the mirror and say, 'What can I do better?' So if one of my offensive linemen were up here, or a back or a receiver and you asked them that question, I would expect them to do the same. Take responsibility for it."
- "Try to find a way to get it out. Try to find a way to change the protection to pick it up. Even if everyone in here, or everyone watching, says there's no way you could have done that, I could have done better. Much better. And I will."
- "We didn't play well. I didn't see the field as well as I would have liked. We had turnovers. I can't throw interceptions. We had false-start penalties, holding penalties. It was bad ball out there today. It's not that we looked past Tampa Bay, because we can't afford to look past anybody."
- "Fact of the matter is we're not a very good football team right now, and we've got a long way to go. And every guy's gotta look himself in the mirror and say that to himself."
- "You can't sit at your locker or be out on the field and say, 'Well it's not my fault. I'm a baller. I'm an All-Pro. I'm a Pro Bowl player.' Because right now, we have no Pro Bowl players. We don't. We're not playing that way. I'm not playing that way, the line's not playing that way, our receivers aren't playing that way, the backs aren't playing that way, our defense isn't playing that way, our special teams isn't playing that way. And we all know that."
- "Coach has reiterated that to us many times. And guys have to accept that. Accept that we have a long way to go. Accept that we have to get better. And it starts in practice - walk-throughs, film - you gotta do more. You gotta do more, and you gotta get better."
Following these comments, many in the media decided to cherry-pick certain remarks and lay claim that Griffin threw his teammates under the bus while not taking any responsibility of his own.
Washington head coach Jay Gruden then decided to respond by saying this:
"First of all, Robert needs to understand he needs to worry about himself. No. 1, and not everybody else. It's his job to worry about his position, his footwork, his fundamentals, his reads, his progressions, his job at the quarterback position. It's my job to worry about everybody else.
And yes, everybody else needs to improve. There's no question about it. But it's not his place. His place is to talk about himself, and he knows that. He just elaborated a little bit too much, and he'll learn from it. He's 24 years old, he wants everything to be perfect around him, and [Sunday] was far from perfect.
If we start pointing fingers and throwing stones, we have no chance. So we're going to squash all this stuff now and continue to get better and beat San Francisco."
Griffin, seeing many in the media taking some of his comments out-of-context, responded with the following tweet on his Twitter account:
"It's unfortunate that anyone would take a piece of my press conference and say I threw my teammates under the bus. I would never throw my teammates under the bus! I take responsibility for my play and will play better."
First of all, while Jay Gruden may have been at least partially accurate in saying that Griffin elaborated a bit too much, he was also being honest. It's not like any of Griffin's statements were earth-shattering revelations. To this point in the season, Washington is 3-7, in last place in the NFC East, and two of their three wins have come against teams with a combined record of 3-17 (Jacksonville and Tennessee). Looking at their schedule ahead, they could very well finish 3-13 or 4-12 (depending on if they beat the 3-7 Giants on the road). Washington ranks 22nd in the league in scoring offense and 24th in the league in scoring defense (out of 32 teams).
Secondly, I find it kind of comical that Gruden would criticize Griffin's comments and say, "You worry about yourself and I'll worry about everyone else," considering the fact this has resulted in a 3-7 record.
Perhaps Griffin shouldn't have been so brutally honest with the media on Sunday, but to take his comments out-of-context and overblow them as being the central point of Washington's problems is a joke, and not a very funny one. The least of Washington's worries should be about a quarterback saying that their 3-7 team isn't very good and they need to improve in all areas (including his). The real concern for the team should be that his critical comments were actually truthful. Just because a 3-7 team believes they're better than their record indicates, that doesn't make it true. They're still 3-7.
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/11/16/rgiii-distributes-blame-evenly-after-2nd-straight-3-7-start-to-redskins-season/
The latest such case revolves around Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III's post-game comments after his team fell to Tampa Bay 27-7 on Sunday. He's taken a great deal of heat from many in the media, whom have claimed that he threw his teammates under the bus, that he wasn't taking responsibility for his own mistakes, and should never have uttered such commentary. For the record, Washington is 3-7, tied for last place in the NFC East with the New York Giants, and has about as good of a chance to get the first pick in the upcoming NFL Draft as they have of making the playoffs. Given that bit of information, here were some of Griffin's post-game quotes:
- "It doesn't take one guy. That's proven. If you want to look at the good teams in this league, or the great quarterbacks - the Peytons, 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. I'm gonna be there for them. I promise that. I'll give it to them every day. I'll never quit on them. I need them to do the same. And I know they will. I believe they will. I mean, what else am I supposed to believe? I believe in my teammates. We'll get it done."
- "All the sacks are on me. Period. You have to, as players, we're 3-7. Everybody in this room knows that. Everybody in that locker room knows that. We can't do what 3-7 football teams do; we can't throw knives and stab each other in the back."
- "And I think we have good people in our locker room, men of God that are gonna stick together and stay strong. So when you ask me that question, and I say 'All the sacks are on me,' it's because I'm looking myself in the mirror and saying, 'I can do better. I have to do better.'"
- "And I need every man in that locker room - player, coach, everyone - to look themself in the mirror and say, 'What can I do better?' So if one of my offensive linemen were up here, or a back or a receiver and you asked them that question, I would expect them to do the same. Take responsibility for it."
- "Try to find a way to get it out. Try to find a way to change the protection to pick it up. Even if everyone in here, or everyone watching, says there's no way you could have done that, I could have done better. Much better. And I will."
- "We didn't play well. I didn't see the field as well as I would have liked. We had turnovers. I can't throw interceptions. We had false-start penalties, holding penalties. It was bad ball out there today. It's not that we looked past Tampa Bay, because we can't afford to look past anybody."
- "Fact of the matter is we're not a very good football team right now, and we've got a long way to go. And every guy's gotta look himself in the mirror and say that to himself."
- "You can't sit at your locker or be out on the field and say, 'Well it's not my fault. I'm a baller. I'm an All-Pro. I'm a Pro Bowl player.' Because right now, we have no Pro Bowl players. We don't. We're not playing that way. I'm not playing that way, the line's not playing that way, our receivers aren't playing that way, the backs aren't playing that way, our defense isn't playing that way, our special teams isn't playing that way. And we all know that."
- "Coach has reiterated that to us many times. And guys have to accept that. Accept that we have a long way to go. Accept that we have to get better. And it starts in practice - walk-throughs, film - you gotta do more. You gotta do more, and you gotta get better."
Following these comments, many in the media decided to cherry-pick certain remarks and lay claim that Griffin threw his teammates under the bus while not taking any responsibility of his own.
Washington head coach Jay Gruden then decided to respond by saying this:
"First of all, Robert needs to understand he needs to worry about himself. No. 1, and not everybody else. It's his job to worry about his position, his footwork, his fundamentals, his reads, his progressions, his job at the quarterback position. It's my job to worry about everybody else.
And yes, everybody else needs to improve. There's no question about it. But it's not his place. His place is to talk about himself, and he knows that. He just elaborated a little bit too much, and he'll learn from it. He's 24 years old, he wants everything to be perfect around him, and [Sunday] was far from perfect.
If we start pointing fingers and throwing stones, we have no chance. So we're going to squash all this stuff now and continue to get better and beat San Francisco."
Griffin, seeing many in the media taking some of his comments out-of-context, responded with the following tweet on his Twitter account:
"It's unfortunate that anyone would take a piece of my press conference and say I threw my teammates under the bus. I would never throw my teammates under the bus! I take responsibility for my play and will play better."
First of all, while Jay Gruden may have been at least partially accurate in saying that Griffin elaborated a bit too much, he was also being honest. It's not like any of Griffin's statements were earth-shattering revelations. To this point in the season, Washington is 3-7, in last place in the NFC East, and two of their three wins have come against teams with a combined record of 3-17 (Jacksonville and Tennessee). Looking at their schedule ahead, they could very well finish 3-13 or 4-12 (depending on if they beat the 3-7 Giants on the road). Washington ranks 22nd in the league in scoring offense and 24th in the league in scoring defense (out of 32 teams).
Secondly, I find it kind of comical that Gruden would criticize Griffin's comments and say, "You worry about yourself and I'll worry about everyone else," considering the fact this has resulted in a 3-7 record.
Perhaps Griffin shouldn't have been so brutally honest with the media on Sunday, but to take his comments out-of-context and overblow them as being the central point of Washington's problems is a joke, and not a very funny one. The least of Washington's worries should be about a quarterback saying that their 3-7 team isn't very good and they need to improve in all areas (including his). The real concern for the team should be that his critical comments were actually truthful. Just because a 3-7 team believes they're better than their record indicates, that doesn't make it true. They're still 3-7.
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/11/16/rgiii-distributes-blame-evenly-after-2nd-straight-3-7-start-to-redskins-season/
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