ASHBURN, Va. -- Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III didn’t quite understand the penalties and neither did his coach. But Griffin said he’ll try to fix whatever the officials say he’s doing wrong.
Against Cleveland, Griffin was flagged for two false starts after using a hard count to try and draw the defense offside. Griffin’s shoulders thrust forward a little bit, prompting the flag.
Griffin and coach Jay Gruden remain baffled.
“I can yell at you guys and I’ll move a little bit,” Griffin said. “I don’t want to say whether a good call or not. He called it and he threw the flag. For me I have to make sure I’m standing still as a statue, if they’re paying that much attention to it.”
Gruden said he’s not sure why it would even be a penalty.
“My point is when you yell, ‘Hut’ real loud your shoulder might move a little forward,” Gruden said. “If the defense doesn’t jump I don’t know why it would be a penalty. It’s just another point of interest. They’re trying to bear down on it for some reason. To me that was a ticky-tack call.
"If the defense jumped then maybe they talk about it and maybe the quarterback did a sudden movement to bring him across. In a loud stadium in order to annunciate your words sometimes you have to move your chest to yell. That’s what he was doing. You have to make sure there’s no sudden movement with his hands or move his head and shoulders. That to me is a little insane.”