On Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013, Redskins QB Robert Griffin III addressed the media after afternoon practice at Redskins Park in Ashburn, VA.
.
On wide receiver Pierre Garçon's comments that the knee brace is slowing Griffin III down:
"I mean, like I said, I love Pierre. If he wants to race I'm more than willing to do that. Pierre is going to be Pierre, and I can't really say anything about what he says."
On how he feels he has improved from Week 1 to Week 2:
"Me personally, just my technique and doing what Coach and them have been asking me to do; I feel like I made strides in that area. Now it's just about going out and playing. For us as a team it takes 11 guys to all execute and we haven't been doing that these first two weeks. We got better at it the second game, but we fell behind the 8-ball again. So we just have got to make sure we don't get out to those slow starts and that's been an emphasis this week and it will be an emphasis the rest of this season."
On if he has changed his leadership style:
"I mean, not too much of a change. We just need energy out there on the field, period. Especially when you are one the road, the crowd isn't going to give you any energy so I take it upon myself to be that guy. I've never been a hype man, but Lil Jon is a Redskin fan and you can learn a little bit from him so I'll be the hype man if I need to be the hype man and help get everybody motivated. That's what you have got to do as a quarterback; you have got to motivate guys, you have to inspire them to go play great, and if you feel like the team doesn't have enough energy at the time, you create that energy and that's what we're going to do. We're going to get back to ballin' out and we just have to get our swagger back and I think that's what we're going to do."
On how he feels with regards to his accuracy and timing:
"I feel like, just as a group, we've all been off a little bit. We'll figure that out and we'll get it going. We've been hitting in practice, in the games at times we are hitting, so I don't think it's necessarily a problem. It's showing up, especially on third down, we just have got to execute better and we will."
On if he has experienced anything similar to the disappointment of these first two weeks in his career and how he overcame them:
"I mean, there's going to be times in your career, no matter what level you play at that you are going to struggle and you've just got to keep a strong mind and don't let it get you down. It's kind of like, what's a man to do when he goes to work every day and does everything the right way and it just doesn't come out the way he wants it to? You can either give up and go do something else or you can keep pushing forward, and I think that's what we're going to do. We're going to keep pushing forward, keep working. If we feel like we can fine-tune things here and there that's what we're going to do. It's just about doing it now. There's nothing that we can say that is going to make it better; we have to go do it, and that's what we have to do on Sunday… I can't give you a specific instance in my career, from seventh grade on. It happens, and you are always going to be faced with adversity no matter what you do in life, and it's how you respond to it. I think the response that this team will have will be a great one."
On how the team's swagger has disappeared:
"People are going to pat you on the back and say how great you are, and then when things turn south, people's true colors come out. For us, it's just about getting back to that grit that we are. We run the ball and we stop the run. There is two things this team has always done, and these first two games we haven't done either of those very well or even had the chance to run the ball on offense because we've fallen behind so quickly. I think that's where we have to get our swagger back. Guys just have got to go out there and play free. We know our assignments and we know what we have to do, it's just about going out there and doing it."
On how he can create more energy on the field:
"I can run more [smiling], but other than that, I'll do whatever we have to win the game. That's always been my mindset. I'm the quarterback, so if I have to create that energy, if I have to spit a rap line in the huddle, sure, whatever, I'll do it. Just whatever it takes to get that energy, I'll do it."
On if he felt his running last year created a spark:
"I think it creates a spark. I think it creates a spark for the team. The one thing I can't do and the mistake I can't make is just to go out there and try to run. That's what I said after the game. It's not about just going out there and running to prove other people wrong or prove other people right, or whatever you want to do, you have to do it when the time arises and I haven't had those opportunities in these first two games and hopefully I'll get that opportunity in this game and it will be a spark for our team."
On his reaction to the calls for quarterback Kirk Cousins to start:
"It doesn't do anything for me. People outside of here don't know what we go through every day. They don't know what's going on in this team. It's like we said after the game amongst ourselves, if they are not for us then they're against us, and we don't have to worry about what they say or worry about what they want us to do. We know what we have to do and that's how you approach that."
On if he considers this week a must-win game based on how it could affect the trajectory of the season:
"You never want to say it's a must win game this early in year, but we want to win this game just like we want to win every game. That's the approach we will take towards it. Our goal is to be 2-2 by the bye. It's going to take a lot of hard work to make that happen, and it started on Tuesday, our day off, and guys have locked in and they are ready to go for this game, just like I thought they were for the past two. But, like I said, we can't keep talking about it. I can answer you guys' questions all day, it's not going to change anything that happens on Sunday. We just have got to go play."
On Head Coach Mike Shanahan saying the offense will evolve as the season goes on:
"We really haven't had a chance to get into our game plan the first two games. That's everybody's fault – offense, defense, special teams. we have to play as a team, as a well-rounded football team, and we haven't thus far. When we get those opportunities, and we will, then you will see more of last year's offense come back into play just because we'll get deeper into our game plan."
On if he wants to run more:
"I tell you what, if you would have told anybody we were going to throw the ball 49 and 40 times the first two games, they would have thought you were stupid. So, it's not that I want to run more, I just feel like that's what we need. If that's what it takes for us to win games, then I'm willing to that. There wasn't anything that I was like, 'I'm going to shy away from that,' coming into the year. Like I said, if that's going to spark us, then I'm willing to do it."
On the team name:
"Me and all these players in here, we're not the authority to speak on that issue. We can't tell you anything from that standpoint because we have no authority to talk about that. It's not a team directive or anything, I just don't know what to say."
On if the rehab/recovery process has changed his picture of his post-playing career:
"I'm not worrying about post-career. I'm preparing for Detroit, I'm not worrying about that stuff afterwards. I want to play in the NFL as long as I possibly can. If I could play until I was 60 then I'd do it, but I'm not worried about that at all."
On his ability to make positives out of broken plays with his legs after the injury:
"I don't think there is much of difference. I go back and I watch the film, too, more in-depth than a lot of people do. I try to look and see in certain situations, if it's a sack or just a negative play, was there a chance for me to make something happen in this area? A lot of times they haven't presented themselves. That's not an excuse or anything like that. I want to go out there and make plays for this team, and I have to trust everybody on this team to go out and make plays, too. Sometimes I don't have the opportunity to do what I did last year, and I don't feel like the knee brace or anything like that is holding me back."
On if he is actually reading the defense on the zone read plays thus far:
"Most of it is zone read, reading that defensive end. You're going to give him different looks to try and keep them off-balance, but a lot of times it is zone read."
On if he will approach the coaches about adding more running plays to the "menu" of play calls:
"They've been in the menu, we just haven't had the chance to run them because of the circumstances of each game. We can keep asking these questions in different ways. They're there. The plays are in. We're ready to run them. I'm ready to run them. We just haven't had a chance to do it because we've fallen behind too much."
On Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh:
"I played against him one year at Nebraska. Great player, plays with a motor, plays with a lot of aggression. I've got to trust my guys up front to go block him and [Lions defensive tackle] Nick Fairley, if Fairley plays, and go from there. All the other stuff, that stuff gets decided on the field. You can't really worry about that and that's all you can say."
On when he realized that more running may be necessary:
"It wasn't an epiphany or anything. It was just a thought. We're all trying to figure out ways to help us succeed. For me, if that's one of the ways that'll help us succeed, than I'm more than willing to do it."
On if his knee brace restricts his agility:
"The knee brace is going to protect you, but I've gotten out of stuff this season, just like I did last year, in the pocket when it breaks down and I don't feel like it's holding me back."
On his reaction to criticism from analysts and fans:
"When it comes to the fans, for us as a team right now, fans are there to support us. That's what this team needs. We need the support of our fans. We don't need them trying to tear this team apart, and that's all you can say about that."
.
.
.
