Robert Griffin III already has enough problems to worry about with his Washington Redskins 3-7 and only scoring seven points in a home loss to the 2-win Tampa Bay Buccaneers. What he doesn’t need is NBC piling on by editing a postgame quote to make it look like he was throwing his teammates under the bus following the game.
During a montage for a “Sounds of the Game” type of segment played during “Football Night in America,” NBC showed that brief clip of RG3.
“Great quarterbacks … the Peytons, the Aaron Rodgers … those guys don’t play well if their guys don’t play well,” RG3 could be heard saying.
Given Griffin’s seemingly shaky status among his teammates, that clip sounded juicy and like he was throwing his teammates under the bus. I was planning to write up that angle of the story, but decided I definitely needed to hear the full context first. And I’m glad I did.
Via The Washington Post, here is what Griffin was asked and here was his response:
On the difference from 2012 to now in his performance:
“We were playing good team ball. It takes 11 men. It doesn’t take one guy, and that’s proven. If you want to look at the good teams in this league and the great quarterbacks, the Peytons and 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.”
The context makes a huge difference. Griffin gave a completely reasonable response to the question.
Additionally, Griffin did blame himself for not playing well and he emphasized keeping the locker room together.
“We can’t throw knives and stab each other in the back. I think we have good people in our locker room, men of God that are going to stick together and stay strong. So when you ask me that question, and I say all of 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. I need every man in that locker room, players and coaches, to look themselves in the mirror and say, ‘What can I do better?’”
This is all on NBC. That was some poor, irresponsible editing by them, and it was completely unfair to Griffin.
In other news, that was a sweet hat RG3 was wearing:
