There has been no shortage of controversy surrounding Mike Shanahan’s decision to bench Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III for the rest of the season. Between speculation that Shanahan is intentionally trying to get himself fired and reports that RG3 is furious, the situation has turned into a full-blown circus. And now, Michael Irvin has attempted to introduce the race element.
During halftime of Thursday Night Football, Irvin and the rest of the NFL Network panel discussed the mess in Washington. Deion Sanders said he thought RG3 “needed a little humble pie.” Irvin basically said the Redskins wouldn’t be handling the situation the same way if they had a white quarterback.
“You are tearing him down,” Irvin ranted, via Dan Steinberg of DC Sports Bog. “I doubt that any man can come back from this, walking around three weeks around these guys that you have to lead. And I don’t want to hear about teammates either; we understand as teammates and players, quarterbacks do get special treatment.
“You don’t see people arguing when Peyton Manning or Tom Brady gets (special treatment) — I don’t want you arguing when this kid gets it. He’s the quarterback, and the rest of us brothers have to understand that and treat him as such. I’ve got an issue with all of it. … You think they could do this to Andrew Luck? Let me ask you that, you think they could do this to Luck?”
First of all, comparing RG3 to Peyton Manning or Tom Brady is so absurd we don’t even need to bother getting into detail over it. Brady and Manning receive “special treatment” because they’re Super Bowl MVPs, league MVPs, and future Hall of Famers.
Moreover, I refuse to believe that Shanahan’s decision to bench Griffin has anything to do with the color of RG3’s skin. Would the Redskins do the same to Luck if he was their quarterback, had played horribly, had a 3-10 record this season and was coming off his second reconstructive knee surgery? Yeah, I think they probably would.
