The RG3/Jay Gruden beef has moved beyond Twitter, and is now on YouTube, as Griffin used the end of the latest episode of his podcast on Thursday night to call out his former coach for having ‘zero integrity and no balls.’
If you missed any of it, this all started Monday night when Gruden, watching the Eagles/Bucs playoff game, Tweeted, ‘If I ever put a QB through what Philly is putting Jalen through, I apologize. Pick up a blitz!” – to which RG3, among others, replied questionably, Griffin’s just “Say WHATTTT?” with a pic of him tilting his glasses down.
Gruden replied ‘You weren’t prepared, Robert,’ to which RG3 wrote ‘You told me you didn’t know how to coach a QB who could throw and run like me, so looks like you weren’t prepared Jay.’
The back and forth continued in Twitter and then onto our airwaves, where Gruden, a weekly guest on both The Chris Russell Show and Grant & Danny, said this (abridged) on the latter program Wednesday about his time with Griffin and why RG3 was phased out as Washington’s starter:
“We tried our best...His rookie year he had some splash plays with some very good games, can’t argue that, but it just did not transition to Year 2, 3, 4, or 4. For whatever reason, he just wasn't as good as the guys we had in the building…When you’re coaching football, you have to play the best player in your building at every position, and it wasn't just me who made that decision, it was everybody in the building on board that Kirk (Cousins) and Colt (McCoy) were better fits for what we were trying to do…that was the only reason we made the change – Kirk was, and is, just a better passer, a better player, and he's proven that.”
Well, now, we’ve got RG3’s rebuttal, coming at the end of Episode 18 of his podcast featuring Deion Sanders (video posted on YouTube, rant begins at 1 hour and 4 minutes):
“It’s very seldom in life you get opportunities to dunk on somebody who literally dunked on you, and I took the most of the opportunity,” Griffin said of beginning the saga, saying this after explaining in full: “Now, I’m not going to cuss the man out, but I will tell you the truth: there was a moment in 2014 when Jay Gruden went to a press conference and undressed me in a way that a coach should never undress his starting quarterback, after the media said I threw my teammates under the bus. The truth is, the only reason I said what I said is because Jay Gruden asked me to do that earlier in the week; he said that if the game didn’t go our way and we lost, I need you to go out and challenge the guys to be better, and do it in a public way.”
And the fallout of that was, apparently, one-sided.
“After I did that, not only did Jay Gruden not have my back, he came out and burned me in the media, and in front of my own teammates – so much so that Ryan Clark stood up and said, ‘hey coach, no need to beat around the bush, you can tell everyone who you’re talking about,” RG3 said.
And after finishing the explanation of the situation, RG3 called out Gruden again:
“Not only is it unbelievable that he doesn’t think I know where all the bodies are buried, it’s that he has zero self-awareness and zero integrity,” Griffin said. “Even though he asked me to do something, he didn’t have the balls to have my back. And that was the reason Jay Gruden wasn’t successful in DC. We won a division title, but almost everyone in the locker room hated each other, because attitude reflects leadership. I’ve moved on with my life, but if Jay wants to talk, we can talk – and the first thing you need to do, Jay Gruden, is take accountability for what YOU did, and what you DIDN’T do. Don’t play with me, because I will absolutely end any credibility you did have.”
The back and forth continued on Twitter Thursday night, and finally, RG3 made an invitation:
“I’m not playing any games, I’m retired. You have a free invite to come on the show and discuss. Face to face. I know where all your bodies are buried Jay. Don’t play with me.”
Where it goes from here remains to be seen, but perhaps our own Ryan “The Stallion” Clary, producer of Grant & Danny, has the best summation outside of the Michel Jackson eating popcorn meme: