Chris Cooley: Washington receivers, linemen disliked RG3 – NBCSports.com
AP

Robert Griffin III is done in Washington, and he’s taking some shots on his way out the door.

Chris Cooley, the former Washington tight end who now covers the team on local radio for ESPN 980, said Griffin was disliked by teammates who felt that they got the blame for offensive failings that were really Griffin’s fault.

“The offensive line did not like Robert Griffin,” Cooley said, via the Washington Post. “A lot of the receivers did not like Robert Griffin. The offensive line had a problem with Robert, because they were considered for a year-and-a-half or two years a terrible offensive line that couldn’t protect a quarterback. A lot of that isn’t true. A lot of that was Robert. A lot of the sacks were put on Robert. Want to believe it or not, they were, okay? Football-wise, they were: it was Robert. Robert never took [responsibility] for that,” Cooley said. “Robert continued to let his offensive line eat the blame. They don’t like it. They hate that, man. That kills them. Perception is the only thing an offensive line has, because 99 percent of people watching football have no idea what an offensive line’s doing. Receivers didn’t like playing with Robert, because they didn’t get the ball.”

Cooley is right about Washington’s linemen taking unfair blame: As we’ve pointed out before, Griffin took far more sacks than Kirk Cousins while playing behind the same offensive line.

Cousins eventually beat Griffin out for the starting job, and Griffin didn’t take kindly to that.

“I just think it plays into so much of how much Robert disliked anyone ever challenging what he was,” Cooley said. “And when people started to challenge that Kirk might be the guy, it became even worse. It became even more awkward. Let me stop with that.”

If Griffin is ever going to become a franchise quarterback again, he’s going to have to win a training camp competition, and he’s going to have to show he can be a team leader. In Washington, Griffin didn’t do that.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.