Transcript of Robert Griffin III after Thursday's OTA (via Redskins PR)
“Fletcher’s real competitive. It’s good to see that he’s out here, even at that age, still a competitor.”
On what it means to him that coaches are adding plays to the offense that suit his strengths:
“I don’t want people to think I’m just an option quarterback. That’s something that I have to look at. Last year, I threw for over 4,000 yards… The base offense is still the base offense. The offense will not change to an option offense.”
On the perception that he is just a running quarterback:
“It’s not something that you can prove, I don’t think. I think perception is reality so it doesn’t matter how many yards you throw for, what you do in practice or what you do in the games. If you can run a little bit, you’ll always be smacked with that stereotype. It’s not something I’m trying to take on by myself. It’s just perception [that] has to change. Even through all the passing and stuff like that, perception still hasn’t changed. I’m not going to continue to try to beat my head on a wall. Whatever Coach asks me to do, I’ll do it, but you better believe I’ll be throwing the ball a lot more than I’ll be running it.”
On the moment when he felt settled as the starting quarterback:
“For me, the ‘a-ha’ moment probably won’t come until I’m retired. But as far as the offense and knowing what I’m doing, I think I had that ‘a-ha’ moment yesterday. The defense was getting after us a little bit. We came into the last session of the day, and we just tore them up so we continued that toward the beginning of practice, [today] and then it evened out as practice went on. It felt good to know that as long as you know where you’re going with the ball, as long as you’re aggressive and confident in what you’re doing, you can complete any pass and do anything. I think I had that yesterday, and it felt good to come out here today and show off a little bit.”
On convincing teammates that he can be a leader as the starting quarterback even though he is a rookie:
“I think I have. You’ve got to ask them if you want the real details, but what they’ve been telling me and how confident they are in me as a quarterback is a huge step. That’s all I want. I want them to trust me. I want them to believe in me so we can go out and win together because without them we can’t do it. I can’t snap the ball to myself, throw it and catch it. I need other people out there to help me.”
On building game management situations into practice as he learns the playbook:
“Oh yeah, that’s what it’s about. I told Coach yesterday that after every practice I was writing stuff down in my booklet of things that I needed to work on the next day in practice. After yesterday’s practice, I only wrote one thing, and that’s ‘Just play.’ At the end of the day, you know it. After a few weeks, you know the offense. You know what your checkdowns are. You know what everything is. You just gotta go out there and stop thinking about it. I just have to let it happen natural[ly]. In the two-minute situations and the four-minute situations where you’re having to take control of the offense kind of shows you that you do know. I think we put together two pretty good drives there in those types of situations. You guys come out here and get it on film, but we’re constantly working hard every day, even when you guys aren’t here. It was good to be able to show that.”
On trying to get a feel for the speed of the NFL without playing in a game yet:
“I think you feel it in OTA’s. One thing about practice is everybody takes more risks because in a game, if you jump a pass, and it’s the wrong guess, you lose a game for your team. In practice, it doesn’t happen. If you jump a pass and I throw a touchdown, it’s onto the next play. Nobody’s really ripping you except your coach. I think it’s not faster in practice by any means because on game day everybody’s a little bit faster. But I think I have gotten a little bit of a grasp of what it’s going to be like on game day just based off practice.”
On training camp moving to Richmond, where his grandmother lives, in 2013:
“It’s going to be cool. Change is a good thing, I guess. The coaches are trying to move it out there, Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder want it out there and that’s what we’ve got to do. It’s not like we have any say in that. It’s not like I said, ‘Hey, my grandma lives out there. Let’s move it.’ It’ll be fun. It’s just something we have to go with. We’ll probably have to stay with another teammate and learn about each other that way so it’s a good bonding experience as well. I’m all for it.”
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