Robert Griffin III: Keep doubting me
ASHBURN, Va. -- Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III took to Twitter on Wednesday night to say he'll once again prove his doubters wrong.
It all started when the quarterback was being criticized about not sliding -- or doing so awkwardly -- at the end of plays in which he ran the ball during Monday's preseason victory against the Cleveland Browns.
Just want y'all to know I will keep working on getting down and not take those bigs hits. Got it right the third time
- Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) August 19, 2014Others then piled on with deeper examinations of Griffin's playing style.
Griffin, however, responded with a tweet about how he has responded to doubters throughout his playing career.
They doubted in High School They doubted a turnaround at @Baylor They doubted a Heisman was possible Keep doubting. It's nothing New.
- Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) August 20, 2014Some fans liked Griffin's message. Others chastised him for being so visible, wanting him to keep quiet.
Earlier this offseason, coach Jay Gruden said of Griffin: "He wants everybody to love Robert, and that's not going to be the case at the quarterback position."
Griffin did not say his tweet was in response to any one thing.
"I said what I needed to say, there's no need to look into it," Griffin said Thursday. "It's right there on Facebook, it's on Instagram, it's on Twitter. It is what I believe and what our household deems necessary to go out every day and be successful. That's all I've got to say."
Griffin is not the only quarterback on social media -- Seattle's Russell Wilson (4,986) and San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick (6,628), for example, have tweeted more than Griffin (4,445). Others, such as Andrew Luck, do not.
Griffin is comfortable in the spotlight and an extrovert -- he probably signed more autographs than any other Redskins player during training camp. In his first two seasons, the Redskins limited his news conferences to after games and once during the week. He's now available every day, a change the Redskins trumpeted and one Griffin likes.
His socializing extends to Twitter, though he tweeted only 17 times in the past week.
"To each his own," Griffin said. "There's 1.1 million people on Twitter that want to hear what quarterbacks and guys have to say. It's not that we tweet all the time, but anytime we tweet something, it gets blown up."
Griffin happens to have 1.17 million followers. But he says social media is a way to escape. He doesn't go out much, save for the occasional movie.
"We spend a lot of our day focused on football so when we get a chance to unwind, whether it's watching reality TV or being on Twitter for five minutes a day, that's not subtracting from what we do on the field and in the film room," Griffin said. "A lot of guys have to find ways to unwind and relax for 10 to 20 minutes out of the day and that's the way we do it."
