Three nuggets from RG3’s Monday press conference:
I.
Late in Monday's practice, Bryan Kehl picked up a fumble inside the five-yard line and took off for the end zone. It didn’t look like he was going to score an uncontested touchdown until RG3 flew into the picture and knocked him out of bounds just shy of the goal line.
Nobody else on offense made a move towards Kehl.
It was a totally meaningless play towards the end of the fourth practice of the year. But Griffin was trying to plant an idea in the heads of his teammates.
“I don’t want to scare the fans and let them think that I’m going to go run down linebackers 30 yards down the field, but it happened, so whatever. I think it’s more of a thing for the team to see I don’t give up on the play. I didn’t know that there was a fumble. Cooley probably would have been tackled before he fumbled anyway but to see that guy running and them blocking for him—why give him a free touchdown? I ran him down because I could and pushed him out of bounds.”
Note how he covers for his veteran tight end, saying that it wasn’t really a fumble.
Griffin said at the draft that he was going to lead by example. It will be interesting to see if other offensive players give chase the next time something like that happens.
II.
Raheem Morris was known as a players’ coach when he was with the Bucs. In fact, he may have been too friendly with his players; the conventional wisdom is that the Bucs lost their last 10 games, most of them in blowout fashion, due to a loss of discipline.
But he’s here as a position coach and he can trash talk and have fun with his players, especially those on the other side of the ball. So apparently he and RG3 have exchanged some barbs here and there.
So on Monday when Griffin scored on a run in a red zone drill, he zinged the ball in Morris’ direction as he walked back to the huddle. Here’s what RG3 said about it after practice:
“He definitely makes it fun. Raheem can get on you and he can talk some trash but when you get him, you get him. He tend to try to pick on me a little bit, so I scored those two touchdowns and threw the ball at him, almost threw the ball at him again. It’s just fun and games and off the field when you talk to him. He’s cool and he will try to help you be the best player you can be.”
I’ll bet there aren’t too many rookies out there zinging balls at defensive coaches.
III.
Yesterday, we had an article about how Rex Grossman is good with his role as backup and as a guy who can teach RG3 some of the finer points of the game and of his offense. Griffin appreciates the support:
“Rex is great. If you ask anybody on the team, offensive linemen, just anyone, they’ll tell you that Rex is a baller. And he goes out, he works hard and does what he’s supposed to do to try to help the team win. Unfortunately it didn’t work out for Rex and, you know, I’m here. But he’s definitely stepping up to the plate and helping me out and not being bitter about it at all. So I think it’s great to have a guy like that here just to give me little tips, just on how to do things. And it’s definitely been a big help for me.”
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