Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III said it was about getting back to being himself, not a shot at his coaches, when he said his focus was on “not letting anybody else tell me how to play this game.”
That’s why he was running more against the Cowboys Sunday night, trying to open some things up for a Redskins offense which wasn’t built for a pure drop-back passer to begin with.
“I felt that’s what I have to do,” Griffin said, via Mike Jones of the Washington Post. “That’s what I’ve always had to do. You’ve got to use every ability that you have. Broke the pocket a couple of times, broke the pocket and hit some guys downfield as the defense was closing in on me, and then there were times when you just take off and go, and a healthy mix of that and a healthy mix of just executing the plays that are called.”
The part about not listening to anyone came up during his postgame interview on the team’s radio network, but he said Wednesday it wasn’t intended as a dig at coach Mike Shanahan, offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, or anyone else.
“It just means, you can’t lose faith in who you are,” Griffin said. “You can’t lose confidence in what you’ve done to get you to the level where you’re at. Kyle will say on a number of plays, ‘You never forget what got you to where you are,’ and that’s all I’m saying. It wasn’t a shot at anything else, or at the coaches or anybody. It was just saying, ‘I’ve got to be the guy that I know that I am.’ ”
Griffin said he’s heard all the concerns about his safety, but trying for extra yardage rather than tip-toeing out of bounds was part of what made him a weapon last year, and part of what he wants to get back to.
“The league does evolve, but at the same time, I have to be that guy. There’s no pressure. None whatsoever,” he said. “You’ve just got to go out and play football, and that’s what I was talking about after the game: just getting back to being me. I know how to play the game. Listen to your coaches, go through that whole thing, and just go out there and play and have fun. And that’s what it’s about.
“It’s not that there’s pressure to be a certain guy, have a certain amount of numbers. I couldn’t care less about the numbers as long as we win. If we win games, all is good.”
At the moment, the Redskins aren’t doing that, so all is not good. That leads to putting his performances under the microscope, and wondering when he’s going to once again look like the quarterback who was so effective a year ago.
