Cam Newton and the Panthers are quietly becoming one of the top teams in the NFL. (Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports)
It’s funny how athletes love “the media” when everything is going good. It’s an entirely different story when the going gets tough and players begin flapping their tongues. At that point, “the media” simply reports what someone says, and when the you-know-what hits the fan, suddenly it’s “the media’s” fault for blowing things out of proportion.
You’d think said players would realize how ridiculous they sound, but apparently not. After all, “the media” is an easy target.
Take the case of the Washington Redskins. Following their loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 11, quarterback Robert Griffin III received some criticism for his explanation after a last-ditch pass failed.
Said Griffin, “We had a certain concept with running and nobody got open so I was backing up, and in the situation where you get a sack there, it ends the game. I was trying to throw the ball to the back of the end zone. It didn’t get to where I wanted it to go.”
Griffin acknowledged his throw didn’t get to where he wanted it, but he also noted that “nobody got open.”
Wide receiver Santana Moss took exception to that in a radio interview on 106.7 the Fan in Washington.
Moss said, “As a leader, you understand that if you’re involved in the situation, whether you’re the receiver, the quarterback, the guys making the tackle, whoever. Regardless of the outcome, good or bad, you have to at some point, stand up and say me or I.
“If we’re going to win games, we need to win games with our guy saying, ‘At the end of the day, I didn’t make a play,’ regardless of if it wasn’t him. And that’s how I feel. Because that’s what we’re out there to do. I’m not sitting here to tell you why it didn’t happen, or who didn’t make the play for me to make a play. If I’m the guy, that at the end of the day has the ball in my hand, and we’re sitting there and the game is over because of me, I didn’t do enough to make the play. I didn’t do enough to help us win. And that’s what I would do.”
Moss then did what he criticized Griffin for doing: failing to take responsibility. He did that by pointing the finger at the team’s PR department for not giving players enough guidance in how to deal with the media. I’m not making this up.
He said, “(There) should be someone who’s doing whatever they’re doing for us, when it comes down to us doing these interviews, needs to step up and talk to the guys that’s doing these interviews, to know what to say and when to say it. Because I don’t feel like it’s being said enough, and it’s getting tiring.”
Back to Griffin, he concluded, “I don’t need to be going back and forth in the media about who didn’t do this and who didn’t do what. At the end of the day, I was seen with the ball in my hand last, as a quarterback I’m saying, and if it didn’t get done then I’m going to let you know it was me. Whether it was me or not. It was me. And I’m going to get better. And we’re going to get better together.”
Moss had to know the effect his words would have. It stirred considerable controversy about Griffin’s leadership.
Naturally, as the Redskins circled the wagons, put the onus on the media, once again refusing to take responsibility for the words he said that spurred the controversy.
Apparently with a straight face, Moss said, “Everything is positive, only negative thing is the people around us trying to make things negative. You can’t let people on the outside try to bring your shine down. They don’t know what you got going on, they just hear things and try to speculate and try to make things bigger than they are.”
Fellow receiver Pierre Garcon joined the fray, saying, We already know what the media is trying to do. It’s 100 percent untrue. Guys blow up things and make it more because of the area we live in.”
Cue laugh track.
Hard to Believe
It’s difficult to believe how far the Texans and Falcons have fallen this season, but it shows the fine line that exists between winning and losing in the NFL.
In Houston, it seems unlikely that quarterback Matt Schaub will return, and it’s probably the best result for him. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for him, and it culminated with him being booed for simply warming up prior to the team’s Week 11 game against Oakland. When he was on the field, the boos got so loud, he had to go to a silent count. Now, there are some smart fans.
Three days after the game in a session with the media, Schaub cut it short when the only questions were about the fans.
Said Schaub, “I can’t control how people feel or how they react. They’re fans — that’s what they’re there for, good or bad. We just have to handle it and find a way to win.”
Backup T.J. Yates said it was a tough situation for Schaub. “That’s not fun to come into, especially for him,” Yates said. “He’s done so much around here. That hurt him. He’s not going to say it, but it’s going to affect anybody that’s in that situation.”
As for what will happen after the season, Schaub said, “I don’t know (where) the future lies. I don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s been very hard. There is no question. We’re sitting here 2-8. It’s not anything that any of us anticipated. Our expectations and our standards are much higher.”
A Nice Meal
While his teammates celebrated after the Carolina Panthers’ Week 11 Monday night win over the Patriots, quarterback Cam Newton had a quiet meal with his family at … Waffle House. Seriously.
“Popped orange juices,” Newton said.
Newton explained he’s “on a first-name basis” with the employees there, and noted his signature meal: “I order scrambled eggs, hash browns and cheese grits in one bowl with a light waffle, … extremely light waffle. Ah, man, to die for.”
