RG3: Rams played dirty in win

Updated: September 24, 2012, 3:08 PM ET
ESPN.com news services





A few days have gone by, but it's still too raw to let it rest. Griffin is going to handle the ball a lot this year -- he already had 20 rushes in addition to 55 pass attempts -- so the Redskins don't want him taking any extra hits, especially ones he feels aren't clean.




The Rams aren't losing sleep over Griffin's comments.

"We're going to play our own style of football and I'm sorry he didn't like it," said Jo-Lonn Dunbar, a fifth-year linebacker who signed with the Rams during the offseason. "I hope he has a good day."

Rams running back Steven Jackson agreed with Griffin about one thing: He has not been in the league long.

"It's not the Big 12," Jackson said, referring to the league of Griffin's alma mater, Baylor. "I don't think we're a dirty team. I think we're a team that's hungry, young and eager to make a turnaround in the franchise."

Rams coach Jeff Fisher was more measured in his assessment of the rookie's comments. He said the Rams play hard until the end of the play and nobody should expect anything different. After all, he said, hard hits are part of the NFL and he's also no longer concerned about the Redskins.


-- Robert Griffin III, on the hits he took vs. Rams

"If he took issue with how we played, so be it," he said. "I'm not concerned about that. I'm more concerned about the Bears."

Bears coach Lovie Smith deflected talk of any dirty play by the Rams, the Bears' next opponent.

"You want me to say a team is dirty before we play them?" Smith said. "Is that what you're asking me? I see a team that plays hard, that's what I see. There's a lot of things going on; I know they're running to the ball defensively, playing hard. Offensively, they're playing until the whistle blows. That's what we're seeing. We play the same way, so I see a hard-fought football team."







Griffin, who has a deal with adidas, upset the league office when he covered up the Nike swoosh with the letter "H" to spell the word "heart" on his official team warm-up shirt before the opener against the Saints.

So he instead wore a plain gray T-shirt over the warm-up shirt when he took the field before the Saints game. Asked if he was covering up the swoosh because of his adidas allegiance, he laughed.




But Griffin didn't play any football in Japan. His mother declared it off-limits.

"My mom wouldn't let me play football as a kid," he said. "She didn't want me to get hurt. I didn't play until I was in seventh grade."

Which means his mother probably wasn't happy with that Rams game, either.


CB Josh Wilson has been cleared to practice after sustaining a concussion against the Rams. He was officially listed as limited Wednesday. Asked how many concussions he's had, he answered: "I think that's a funny question. I don't remember." ... WR Pierre Garcon (foot) and S Brandon Meriweather (knee) were also limited.

Information from The Associated Press and ESPNChicago.com's Jeff Dickerson was used in this report.