The Washington Redskins are playing their way out of contention in a shockingly wide open NFC East division. Their loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday dropped Washington to 3-7. Robert Griffin III has been rusty throughout most of the season as he continues to recover from offseason knee surgery, but he refused to take the blame for the loss to Philly.
After the Redskins’ comeback attempt fell short thanks in part to a brutal interception by RG3 late in the game, Griffin told reporters his team was “outcoached.” He then seemed to blame his receivers for not getting open on the play where he threw the pick.
“We had a certain concept with running and nobody got open so I was backing up, and in the situation where you get a sack there, it ends the game,” Griffin said, according to the Washington Post. “I was trying to throw the ball to the back of the end zone. It didn’t get to where I wanted it to go.”
Veteran wide receiver Santana Moss obviously did not appreciate RG3 going public with his assessment of what went wrong. Moss (and many others) believe Griffin needs to learn to take responsibility as a quarterback.
“If we’re going to win games, we need to win games with our guy saying, ‘At the end of the day, I didn’t make a play,’ regardless of if it wasn’t him,” Moss told 106.7 The Fan’s LaVar Arrington and Chad Dukes on Tuesday. “And that’s how I feel. Because that’s what we’re out there to do. I’m not sitting here to tell you why it didn’t happen, or who didn’t make the play for me to make a play.
“If I’m the guy, that’s at the end of the day have the ball in my hand, and we’re sitting there and the game is over because of me, I didn’t do enough to make the play. I didn’t do enough to help us win. And that’s what I would do.”
Moss is right. You would never hear Tom Brady or Drew Brees or Peyton Manning talking about getting outcoached or their receivers not making plays. The great NFL quarterbacks take responsibility for poor play, whether it was their fault or not.
“I don’t need to be going back and forth in the media about who didn’t do this and who didn’t do what,” Moss said. “At the end of the day, I was seen with the ball in my hand last, as a quarterback I’m saying, and if it didn’t get done then I’m going to let you know it was me. Whether it was me or not. It was me. And I’m going to get better. And we’re going to get better together.”
Hopefully, RG3 will learn that as time goes on. Great leaders place blame on their own shoulders. Coaches and teammates know who did their job and who didn’t, so there’s no need to point that out to the media. The excuses need to stop.
