Robert Griffin III spoke with reporters after Monday morning’s practice.
On how sharp he and the team have been:
“I think from a team standpoint, I think everybody is excited to be back out here. You know those first couple of days of camp are always the toughest because you’re not used to practicing every day – the long days, long hours and not getting much sleep. But I think everybody is pretty much acclimated now. As far as I go, I felt good out there. It’s not easy to sit around and watch, but … I call it “Operation Patience” and that’s what I’ve got to be. I’ve got to be patient.”
On the difficulty of remaining patient:
“I say jokingly that I have to be compliant. Coach isn’t going to let me go out there and do that kind of stuff. I don’t feel like I’m pushing it, or if I was to do it that I’d be pushing myself or pushing my leg. I feel like I’m ready for that, but we’re being real cautious right now and taking it slow. That’s what Coach wants to do, so all I do is I go out there and prove to my teammates, prove to the coaches, to the fans that I’m ready to go. That’s my only goal. I spent all offseason trying to master the offense. You can never truly master an NFL offense, but I feel like I’m pretty close and being a student of the game, watching film, all those things, so I’ve just got to take it as they give it to me and I got a few reps in the walkthrough today. That’s a little bump up from last week, so we’ll just keep going like that.”
On rehabbing during his honeymoon:
“We tried to keep that private, but it didn’t work. Over in France, I worked out at their ‘football Americano’ facility in Nice. It’s spelled ‘nice,’ but it’s said ‘neese.’ So it was cool to go out there to play and throw with those guys. They were real receptive. They came out a few days for me and worked out with me, gave me a lot of bodies to throw to and kept me in rhythm and I come out here and I feel like I’m right in tune with the guys out here. So I’m real appreciative to them, but I stayed true to that. I said I would and those are the little small victories that you have along the way. You say you’re going to do something so you end up doing it.”
On the attention from fans after practice:
“That’s why we’re out here. That’s why we’re in Richmond, to showcase what we’re here for, the team that we have and just give the fans support from us that we feel like they deserve. They’re the reason that we make so much money and get to play the game that we love for a living, so I don’t really worry about that [post-practice safety]. There’s security here, so if things really do get out of hand, you’ve just got to lean on those guys, but I try to sign as much as I can after the afternoon practices and really show the fans that we do care.”
On how much his knee brace is restricting him:
“It’s not. Last year, it was a concern because I didn’t play with a brace or have to rehab with a brace all year. So when you put it on, it does kind of restrict you a little bit more because you’re not used to it. Now that I’ve rehabbed with it and everything – similar to my situation at Baylor, I wore it the whole year – you get used to it. Your leg gets stronger and you can carry that extra weight.”
On if he is mindful of his knee during 7-on-7:
“I don’t think I’m mindful of it. I don’t really worry about my leg anymore. I just play football. And that’s a sign that you’re getting ready. Consistently, I forget my brace like I did on the first day and everybody made a big deal out of that, but I feel great. It’s just about Coach wanting to be real cautious with me and that’s understandable. I’m just taking it that way and I feel good in 7-on-7.”
One the next step:
“We’re going to ramp it up a little bit. They’re going to give me a few more reps in walkthrough every day, and then after that it’s just about him [Coach Mike Shanahan] putting me in to the team reps and him trusting me in there that I’ll be smart and them trusting that I can make the moves to avoid guys. I feel like I can, but once again I have to defer to Coach and let him make that decision.”
On the strength of the receiving corps:
“One of the strengths is we have most of the same guys back, so that familiarity with those guys is going to be great. We’ll have a lot of timing, a lot of rhythm together. And then having Pierre [Garçon] out there is a plus. I think everybody adds something a little bit different. Santana [Moss], the obvious thing people want to point to is his experience, but he’s still an electric playmaker. We’re going to try to showcase that this upcoming season. Pierre. He’s angry, and we all know that. You guys might not see him on game day as much as I do up close and personal, but he’s an angry guy. And Aldrick’s [Robinson] got the speed. [Leonard] Hankerson’s got a little bit of everything. Josh [Morgan], we like to call Josh a ‘goon.’ Don’t mess with him on game day either; him and Pierre are like goon brothers. We’ve got a lot of guys that do a lot of great things. And together I think collectively they can be one of the best.”
On how it felt to plant his leg when the injury first occurred compared to now:
“I think that’s one thing we all pointed out when watching film. After the knee injury, it was a lot harder to plant off the back leg. As the games went on, it got a little bit better and a little bit better, until the Seattle game when it got re-hurt. So that’s one thing that the coaches have been paying attention to, I paid attention to it in rehab, and I feel like I’m past that. I feel like I can plant off my back leg just like I did before the injury.”
On if he will continue to wear the knee brace:
“I don’t know if I’ll wear it forever. I know I’ll wear it the rest of the season. After the first time I had the injury, I wore it for a year and I thought I’d wear it the rest of my life. The next year came around, and I took it off, and we won a Heisman and did a whole lot of other things. It just depends on how the leg feels. I don’t plan on wearing it past this season, but that all depends on what happens.”
On his relationship with offensive lineman Will Montgomery:
“Will, the center. Love the guy. He’s definitely a rocker; he’s a rock music kind of guy. You know, great relationship. He’s a guy that’s been in the league a little bit now, and I appreciate his experience because he gets those guys in the right places, going to the right guys, ID’ing the guys. He makes my job a lot easier at the line of scrimmage so I don’t have to worry about too many things. I definitely love the way he plays, and I appreciate his work ethic. I feel like he’s in better shape this offseason coming into the year than he was last year, not that he wasn’t last year. I think that speaks volumes about a veteran, who comes in and continues to get better and feels like he needs to put that work in. So I appreciate what he’s done.”
On if the physical or mental side of recovering from a knee injury is more difficult:
“I think initially it’s the physical side, because there’s a lot of pain a lot of days. It’s just a nagging pain. The pain never goes away, so it’s not the worst pain you’ve ever felt at any particular moment after about two weeks, but it’s just always there. You have to be mentally tough enough to just overcome that and keep pushing through. The mental side, I think, you work on that throughout the whole rehab process. Cutting, jumping, planting on it. By the time you get out to the field, that side’s past you. I feel like, physically, I have no pain, I have no swelling. I thank God for that, because not a lot of guys get blessed to have that this far into their rehab and getting back on the field. And then mentally, there’s no mental obstacle for me at all.”
On the coaching staff’s expectations and timeline for his next step:
“I think there is a timeline. It’ll be about another week of what we’ve been doing and slowly but surely getting more reps in the first practice and then after that week then it’s probably a little more ‘see what happens,’ because they’re going to eventually put me back in those team reps, give me more reps in practice. That’s what I really look forward to. I’m using this last week to continue to take those mental reps and do that kind of thing but after that for me I look forward to being back out there next week, maybe not doing the whole practice but getting a few reps here and there. That’s kind of what they’ve told me. It kind of just depends on how things go. I think if I can show them after six straight days of practice that my knee is fine, they’ll be a lot more receptive to putting me out there.”
On if he was given a timeline:
“Like I said, after this week the timeline is pretty vague, but there’s definitely a plan for this week and maybe a plan for the beginning of next week, and after that it’s kind of just ‘wait and see.’”
On last week’s exaggerated slide:
“It was fun. Coach said he wanted to see me make instinctive moves so I didn’t really plan on scrambling but once everything broke down I just scrambled out of the pocket, saw a running lane and just thought everybody would love it if I just slid in practice for once, so I went ahead and did that. I find it easier to slide in football pants than shorts. So, it was a little harder but I slid and everybody liked it.”
On being at a point where he can set and reset in the pocket:
“I don’t think you can replicate it in the preseason. I think by the time I get those full-speed team reps and the coaches see me do that, just instinctively, I think they’ll be more comfortable with me out there. But it is something that I have done in rehab. Step up, reset, get to your next read, it’s stuff I do in 7-on-7 every day. You have to reset. When it comes to a pass rush, I don’t think you can really replicate that – full speed, guys trying to kill you. It is not anything that I worry about, but I feel like it is a part of playing quarterback. You have got to be able to step up in the pocket, reset, and get the ball out.
On his relationship with wide receiver Pierre Garçon now having played a full season together:
“I think it will be great for me and him to both stay healthy the whole season and be able to play together. I think it is not just beneficial for us but it’s beneficial for the team. Pierre brings a certain kind of attitude to the game along with myself. I think that rubs off on everybody. Like I have said in the past, he is my new [Tennessee wide receiver] Kendall Wright. I am going to lean on him and he is going to lean on me, we are going to make things happen. I look forward to us putting up some big numbers and going from there and helping this team win.
On if he feels like he missed an entire offseason:
“I don’t feel like I missed the whole offseason. Apparently and obviously I did, but timing-wise, rhythm-wise, I don’t feel that way. The first 7-on-7 session, I was able to go seven-of-eight right off the bat. There was a lot of adrenaline pumping in that just to show everyone that I am OK. My teammates come and pat me on the back and tell me that they like what they see and that it’s good to have me back. That is what you play for. You play for your teammates and I am just glad that they can see it. I know how I feel and they know how I look so we’ll just go from there.”
On which player has impressed him the most thus far in camp:
“Probably [wide receiver] Aldrick Robinson. He is a guy I actually played high school ball against him. It is good to see those guys make it, guys that you know. I think he has stepped his game up to the next level. He is a guy that we definitely have to get on the field a lot more. Very dynamic, very fast, the one thing he has really improved is his consistency catching the ball, especially in traffic. I think he can attest to that and you can see it out there in practice. He has just looked phenomenal. He is probably the guy that has impressed me the most, but a lot of guys out here are doing a great job. I think it is just good to see [running back] Alfred [Morris] still practicing as hard as he did last year and to see Pierre when he goes and do the things that he does is impressive.”
