Update: Shanahan & RG3 "rift"

[keggerz]

Yesterday, at his weekly press conference, when asked if he likes and understands his current recovery plan, RG3 said, " I can't BS that answer. No, I don't like it, but there is some part of it that I do understand. I don't understand all of it. But tat the end of the da, he [shanahan] gave me his word. We talked privately. I know the plan. I am not telling the whole plan because he doesn't want the whole plan known and I understand that as well. I don't understand the whole plan at all. I can't lie about that, but when you give your word to somebody, that's all you have, so I'm just banking that they will stay true to their word and I'm staying true to mine. I'm doing everything they have asked me to without any gripes other than with you guys [media] and that's just the way you have to do it."

 

Last night on twitter I said that I wasn't a fan of RG3 publicly disagreeing with his head coach. I get what he is saying, but I think he went about it the wrong way. Do you think we'd ever hear Peyton Manning or Tom Brady say what RG3 said? I don't think so. He aired dirty laundry and as a team leader, he shouldn't have done so.

 

RG3 only talks to the media on Mondays, Shanahan addresses the media every day after practice. Today, prior to Shanahan addressing the media, the Senior Vice President for the Redskins said someone was going to address the media prior to Shananan. He then added, there will be no questions.

 

That someone was RG3, and he said, “I just needed to address something that was said, or something that’s been going along in the media since I had my press conference yesterday. I just want everybody to know if there’s any questions about if there’s a rift between me and Coach [Mike Shanahan] or if there’s a conflict, there is no conflict. Coach is Coach. I’m the player. Coach has a plan and I’m abiding by that plan. I’m doing everything the coaches are asking me to do. I trust those guys. They want me to have a long career and that’s what part of this plan is about.

 

“Yesterday, I voiced my opinion about it because I was asked about it. That’s been twisted and turned and tried to put against this team and that’s not what we want. Like I said, Coach is Coach. Kirk [Cousins], Rex [Grossman] and Pat [White] have done a great job all offseason with the team getting in and out of the huddle and making plays, and it’s an honor for me to be in the quarterback room with those guys.

 

“That being said, I’m excited about tomorrow.”

 

After RG3 exited, stage left, Shanahan was ushered out a few minutes later to address the media. He was asked about RG3 making a statement and he said, “I was just told that Robert just spoke to you. I had no idea that that was going to happen.” He was then asked if he thought RG3 needed to make a statement, he responded with, “Well, first of all, I’m not sure what he so I don’t know if he needed to clear anything up. But the one thing that is interesting about a relationship with the head coach and the quarterback is the constant communication. We’ll have lots of talks and that’s just part of a quarterback and a coach maturing their relationship as time goes on. But that happens all the time in the National Football League and I did not know that Robert was going to speak to you. Obviously [senior Vice President] Tony [Wyllie] just told me that he did. So whatever he said, I hope it was good. Hopefully, you guys enjoyed it.”

 

Prior to finding out that RG3 was going to make a statement I had planned to ask Shanahan, "Yesterday you said, you love it when somebody wants to be out there. That's a good problem to have as a head coach.", Is having a star player publicly disagree with the HC’s plan a good thing? How does that affect the locker room.", but when RG3 address the media that sort of changed things up for me, so instead I tweaked my question. I asked Shanahan, "Coach, you addressed the relationship between you and Robert, but when your star player and one of the team leaders publicly disagrees with you, how does that impact the locker room?" He replied, after pausing for 3-4 seconds, with, “Well, when you take a look at the coach’s responsibility and the quarterback’s responsibility, each person, they’re in a leadership role. Robert is an energetic guy that wants to play. He shared that with you how bad he wants to play. I do talk to Robert. I talk to him different ways that I think that you can lead or different ways to handle different situations. I will throughout the year but it doesn’t change a person’s personality. Me and John Elway use to have knockdown, drag-out fights all the time. That is a part of being a competitor and that is another reason you have great relationships with your quarterbacks. That’s part of the process. You want that strong mindset, but at the same time, when I look back at my experience dealing with all these injuries, I think I have got a good feel what a guy can do and what a guy can’t do and what it takes to get him ready for his first game. That is what I hope to do.”

 

Here is the link to the full Shanahan presser: LINK (my question is at 14:31, the beginning of the video also has RG3's statement)

 

EDIT: After seeing the Shanny quote about him and Elway on SportsCenter, I decided to do a google search for, "me and john elway used to have knock-down, drag-out fights all the time." Was pretty cool to see multiple articles with excerpts of what Shanahan said in response to my question.

Edited August 14, 2013 by keggerz

[BA Baracus]

Nice

[stethant]

Very cool

[buddahj]

Keep up the good work Steve.

[Trots]

yawn

[keggerz]

Nice

Very cool

Keep up the good work Steve.

Thanks, guys...I'll do my best.

[keggerz]

yawn

You should get more sleep

[keggerz]

RG3 saw his first 11-on-11 action of training camp today...he was 7-10 with an interception (rush OLB dropped into coverage)...

All told he played 16 snaps in 11-on-11 against the scout team.

 

Here's Shanahan's press conference where he addressed how Griffin III looked etc.

Edited August 14, 2013 by keggerz

[C-3PO]

"rift" acronym for Redskins Is F-ing Terrible.

[stethant]

Last year Shanny came under a lot of scrutiny for playing RGIII when he was clearly hurt and shouldn't have played. This year, RGIII is "mad" at Shanny because he is being cautious. This looks like a publicity stunt to make Shanny look responsible.

 

+1. Exactly my thoughts.