Santana Moss: “I let my Emotions get the Best of me”
After watching quarterback Robert Griffin III take off and scramble right, then take flight into the endzone for what was called a touchdown, the Washington Redskins were highliy excited. And for good reason, the play would have been the first rushing touchdown for Griffin since 2012 and would have put Washington in the lead at 17-7. After the play was ruled a fumble into the endzone, many Redskins players and coaches lost it.
“I let my emotions get the best of me, you know?” Santana Moss said after the game. “I’ve been around this league for a long time; I know better.”
Moss found himself locked into a verbal battle with veteran referee Jeff Triplette and members of his crew. Moss was voicing his displeasure with the call as the teams exited the field at halftime when he was flagged by Triplette, who claims the player involved used nasty language and pointed towards him.
“I know what I can and I cannot do,” said Moss. “I was heated that we had something taken away from us. I probably didn’t see it the way they saw it. I just went and spoke how I felt and got too close to the ref. I was wrong. I apologize for being wrong. I apologize for doing something that I knew better. I knew what was right and what was wrong. I don’t think I touched [Kemp] but he touched me. So I moved his hand away from me. It was wrong at the end of the day. So I apologize. And I’m apologizing to my teammates because I let them down.”
Triplette’s response after the game: “First we had an unsportsmanlike. The player’s language and pointing at the official was unsportsmanlike. Then a second act took place with another official. Language, very, very inappropriate language that was derogatory towards the official. That precipitated the disqualification.”
The officials ejected Moss and gave the Redskins two 15-yard penalty’s that were accessed on the opening kickoff of the second half…which turned out to be an on-side kick that New York recovered. Essentially, the Redskins went from being ahead 17-7 and having the ball coming back to them in the second half, to being tied 10-10. The team never truly recovered from the incident.
“It’s been 10 years of this. So I just got carried away and I let that get the best of me and I know better and I have to be better.”
