by David Zizmor

SANTA CLARA–Last week when Washington was playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Washington completely folded and had an awful game. This was a team that Washington could win against but dropped that game especially since Washington was hosting but got their heads handed to them 27-7. Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III had a few words to say after the game in the post game conference.

Griffin said he didn’t have a great game, he said his teammates needed to step up and some people viewed that of him throwing his teammates under the bus. Washington head coach Jay Gruden chimed in and called him out on it. Gruden said that Griffin needs to grow up, mature and be better as well and be a leader.

Gruden said Griffin needs to worry about Robert Griffin and not worry about the rest of the players. There’s been a whole bunch of back and forth going on amongst the media members about Gruden and Griffin and more criticism about Griffin than Gruden. Partly because Griffin’s performance has been lackluster.

We remember two seasons ago when RG3 was a rookie he just had an amazing first season he was kind of the toast of the NFL. When he came out he had this amazing running and throwing ability but what ended up happening was he was always kind of a reckless runner. He doesn’t protect himself very well.

He doesn’t protect himself like 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, Griffin doesn’t have a good sense of when to slide, when to take the play out of bounds, when to get away from the hit. Griffin is not good at avoiding the big hits. When you watch Kaepernick he rarely takes a shot from the opposing defense.

As much as Kaepernick runs he doesn’t get popped, Griffin is the opposite he would run a lot and he would get hit hard. Then you saw him get knocked out of the at playoff game against Seattle a few years ago. Griffin never really fully recovered in that one even when he tried to come back last season.

This season Griffin came back, he definitely wasn’t running as much but he still got hurt for different reasons and he’s not entirely recovered and for that reason he’s not been able to fully come back. He doesn’t protect himself and his passing is not particularly good right now. He’s not a natural pocket passer and he didn’t stay in the pocket much when he was in college at Baylor.

David Zizmor covers the NFL for http://www.sportsradioservice.com