By Tarik El-Bashir
CSNwashington.com
It’s no secret that Robert Griffin III is a target for opposing defenses. But the Rams occasionally crossed the line, the Redskins quarterback said Wednesday.
“There was some extra curricular stuff after plays,” Griffin said. “They were doing a lot of dirty things. The game was unprofessional.”
Asked whether the replacement referees should have done a better job controlling the post-whistle activity, Griffin jokingly turned to the team’s public relations staffer to check if he would be fined for answering the question.
“From what I experienced against the Saints compared to that game,” Griffin said, “it was definitely unprofessional and it does need to get cleaned up.”
“It’s something you can respond to,” the rookie quarterback continued. “But you can’t go into a game, saying, ‘Well, if they’re going to let it go, then we got to be the first ones to do it. You don’t do it that way. It’s just something you can respond to and hopefully ... the Bengals will be a lot more professional.”
After one play, Griffin said a Rams defender told him they were going to “hit [him] every play.” To which Griffin responded, “Isn’t this football?”
Two plays on a first quarter drive stood out as potentially dirty. On the first, Griffin was flagged for intentional grounding as he was about to get sacked by Jo-Lonn Dunbar. The Rams linebacker delivered a forearm to Griffin’s head as the two fell to the ground. On the other, Griffin was driven out of bounds by high hit from safety Quintin Mikell. As Griffin returned to the field, he could be heard on the telecast screaming at the referee, “He was leading with his helmet.”
“They say they want to get the quarterback out," Griffin said. "They were definitely going after me.”
“They made it a point … to hit me,” he added. “Some of the shots were cheap, of that nature. It’s nothing I can control. Teams are going to try and hit me because they don’t think that I can take a hit. I think I’ve proved over my career that I can. It’s football.”
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