The Commanders have been through the emotional ringer in the past 24 hours after learning that teammate Brian Robinson had been shot in a carjacking on Sunday.
Fortunately, it looks like Robinson — who sustained two gunshots, one in the glute and one in the lower leg — is recovering quite well after surgery, at least as well as one can from such a devastating situation.
Terry McLaurin
"The first thing you were just thinking is like, 'Is he okay?,'" McLaurin told reporters after practice Monday. "Especially when you hear somebody get shot multiple times."
"BRob has been somebody who's come in here and he's fit in right away, just the way his personality is infectious, the way he comes around here and is excited to come to work," he said. "Always asking to see what he can do better. He's kind of been somebody I've been able to mentor a little bit."
"My main concern was just was he going to be okay," he said. "Not football at all. Once we found that out, that it was non-life-threatening injuries, I just started praying for him and his recovery, not just physically but mentally, his support system around him and then just for the guys that are affected in our locker room by that. So it's good to hear from Coach Rivera and other people that he's gonna be okay and make a quick recovery. It's very fortunate. But I know he's going to take his time to get back and just glad that he's just healthy and alive."
Asked how he handles such adversity, McLaurin said, "You can't really predict it so it seems like situations like this or some of the things that we've been through as a team over the last couple years have just kind of been out of nowhere, and so it's hard to just predict stuff like that that's happening."
"But when it does happen," he said, "we try to come together. We try to reach out to the people who are affected. I'm a big believer in prayer, I'm a big prayer person, so I'm gonna continue to pray for those people in those situations. You know, life is hard. It really is. And I think, in our position where we're kind of at a higher standard and we play a kid's game but get paid a lot of money, a lot of eyes and attention on us, people kind of forget that we are still human sometimes and things do affect us on and off the field."
"We just try to support each other and be a unit as much as we can," McLaurin added. "I think we have a great support system from our coaching staff and the other guys in this locker room. You've got a lot of guys and resources you can lean on. I think that's really important when you're going through a lot of adversity. And just as a leader, I try to put myself in a position to make myself available to help in any way that I can."
"Just as a whole, he's a good human being and he's a really great competitor," McLaurin said of Robinson. "And so it's just going to be good to see his face again when he's back."
Carson Wentz
"Obviously it's heartbreaking," Wentz said. "But obviously there's positive news as of late and how he's doing. But yeah, caught us all off guard yesterday obviously on and off day, but reached out, shot him a text right away. Reached out to Coach Rivera right when I heard and Coach kept me up to date on kind of how he was doing and after he had visited with him and went over there. I think it's a wake-up call to everybody, just like, there's real-life problems out there in this world. But thankfully Brian's doing well, I'm told, and look forward to seeing him."
Asked if receiving news like that sort of jolts you out of football mode, Wentz said, "No doubt. It's sobering, for sure. You hear that news and it's like... this isn't even football anymore. Someone was shot. This is a real-life off-the-field thing that someone's going through."
"And again, we're fortunate with how he's doing," he said. "And again, that's all what I've been hearing, but things could have obviously been a lot worse. But yes, it is very real life. It takes you away from football real quick. These are real-life issues that we're all going through and we're not immune to it."
Jon Allen
"It's sad. Young guy, you never want to see something like that happen," Allen said. "By the grace of God, he's okay. It's not life-threatening and he's gonna be okay, so that's really what's the most important thing right now."
Asked if Monday's practice felt like a normal day, Allen replied, "As a professional athlete, there's gonna be distractions that come across the board. But that's what we get paid to do. We get paid to deal with the distractions and we get paid to do a job, and that's what we're gonna do."
"Coach Rivera had a team meeting about it," Allen said. "He talked about the situation. He said he's doing okay. And we move forward."
Asked if he'd spoken to Robinson, Allen said, "I sent him out a text, but at a time like this, I'm not worried about him responding to me. I just want to let him know the team's thinking about him and we're praying for him."
Allen learned of the situation from his brother. "I had no idea," he said. "And then I got on Twitter — which, I hate that place — but I got on Twitter and I read the report."
