Robert Griffin III may play football but he believes he can learn a thing or two from a baseball player. The Washington Redskins second-year quarterback, who admittedly doesn't know how to slide very well, joked that he'd be willing to enlist the help of fellow second-year D.C. athlete Bryce Harper, who patrols the outfield for the Nationals and knows how to slide when he rounds the bases.
"I mean, if Bryce [Harper] wants to do that, I'm definitely up for that," Griffin told ESPN about a possible future lesson. "Bryce, we can do that if you want to, buddy."
The Nationals season wraps up this weekend with a visit to the Arizona Diamondbacks, so Harper may have some free time on his hands.
Harper, who helped the Nationals to 98 wins a year ago in his rookie season and their first division title since moving from Montreal, won't be enjoying a playoff appearance this year. Griffin, who also had a stand-out rookie campaign a year ago and led the Redskins to a division title, is hoping to avoid a similar fate as he looks to dig his team out of an 0-3 hole.
Griffin's coaches want to see him get low and avoid hits to protect his knee that was surgically repaired on Jan. 9, but Griffin has had struggles doing so and perhaps Harper, 20, could be of some service.
RG3's inability to slide was evident in Washington's 27-20 defeat to the Lions last Sunday when he attempted to slide after a four yard gain and instead flopped to the ground like a fish out of water. Griffin later attempted to dive head-first when the pressure was on rather than slide in leg-first to down himself like most quarterbacks in the NFL do.
That particular slide was detrimental, not only for his health, but also because the ball slid out from under his arm upon impact because he was only able to carry it in one, dangling arm.
Griffin admitted after the game that his sliding is not up to par.
"The problem is I'm not a great slider," Griffin said, according to ESPN. "I know how to slide, but I don't know how to baseball slide and I think that's what they're talking about. But there is just more of an emphasis on sliding feet-first as opposed to going forward, since that rule is in place. It protects you as a quarterback going backward, going feet-first, so that's what you've got to do, so just make a mental note of that and try to slide feet-first."
So far for Griffin, his sophomore campaign has been a little tougher than his rookie one.
After putting up a completion percentage of 65.6% and throwing for 3,200 yards with 20 touchdowns and five interceptions a year ago, through the first three games of this campaign Griffin has gone 88-for-139 (63.3%) while passing for 975 yards with five touchdowns and four picks. He's just one-shy of the amount of picks he threw the whole year last season through three games of this season.
Griffin's running game has also been hindered as after scoring seven touchdowns and gaining 815 yards on 120 attempts last year, he's carried the ball for 62 yards on just 15 carries and hasn't yet reached the end zone as the team's offense has struggled.
RG3 will look to turn around a pedestrian start to the season Sunday when the Redskins visit the 1-2 Raiders in Oakland. If he struggles to slide again, perhaps bringing in Harper will become less of a joke and more of a necessity.
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