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Lions Ignoring Talk About Robert Griffin III In Days Before Thursday Matchup

By Ashley Scoby
@AshleyScoby

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) It's only the second week of the preseason, but there's already quarterback trash talk (or at least the interpretation of it) before the Lions take on the Redskins Thursday.

Robert Griffin III sat down with WJLA-TV and let fly the words "I feel like I'm the best quarterback in the league," which has set off a firestorm of debate and social media attention. His full quote with context is more about the mindset that a quarterback has to have to compete in the NFL, but in today's 140-character world, only pieces have gone viral.

"I feel like I'm the best quarterback in the league, and I have to go out and show that," he said to WJLA. "Any athlete at any level, if they concede to someone else, they're not a top competitor, they're not trying to be the best that they can be. There's guys in this league that have done way more than me. But I still view myself as the best because that's what I work toward every single day."

Darius Slay, the Lions' cornerback known for his brash confidence (he's called himself "The Earth" and "Big-Play Slay" before) didn't think RGIII's comments were all that outrageous. Speaking after practice on Monday, Slay likened Griffin's attitude to his own.

"That's how he's supposed to feel like. He's a competitive guy," Slay said. "I'm pretty sure every player out here loves the challenge. That's his goal to be one of the best and that's just like my goal to be one of the best."

The Lions travel to DC on Thursday to play Griffin's team, which went 4-12 last season. With a defense that was considered the third-best in the league last year by Pro-Football Reference, Detroit could make Griffin regret even saying anything.

But it's not personal: To Slay, it's his goal to "make a play on every quarterback to make everybody mad at me." And linebacker Tahir Whitehead said that the Lions are just tuning out all the talk about who may or may not be the best quarterback in the NFL.

"Just ignore the noise," he said. "If that's the way he feels then you've got to have that confidence as a player. But at the end of the day, like I said, we've just got to go out there and do whatever we need to do to get better as a team, go out there and fine-tune the things you need to get better at."

 

 

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