Washington Commanders

Former Redskins LB Keenan Robinson Sounds Off On Locker Room Issues

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

As if the start of the Washington Redskins 2016 season was not already interesting enough, former Redskins linebacker Keenan Robinson added another layer to the intrigue on Tuesday. The current member of the New York Giants weighed in on the recent rumors about some players being upset with Kirk Cousins. According to ESPN’s Jordan Raanan, that is the “same old story” from previous years.

When I was there, three out of four years, it was the same thing. Once they get down, they start pointing fingers. And that is true. That is what happens. And for the Redskins — I’ve only been on one team before I came here, and that was them — and all I saw was not the right way to handle it. I feel like they didn’t handle it the right way when I was there. They may be handling it different now. But when I was there, they started pointing fingers, people started talking. That’s how you get dissension in the locker room.

For us, we have to use that to our advantage. We have to do what we do, play our role, play football, play aggressive, play fast, play physical. We can’t worry about what their team is doing.

This is really the first most have heard about locker room issues with the Skins. The team appeared to be unified ahead of the 2015 season, when they made the postseason, but perhaps their success masked internal problems that could have emerged. After all, winning is what solves a lot of issues in sports.

For now, we have to take Robinson’s words with a grain of salt. The fact is that the Giants are facing off against the Redskins this week, and Robinson may just want to try to get in the head of his old team. What he says may be true, but ahead of the big Giants-Redskins game, his motives could be questioned.

At the same time, saying this may motivate the Redskins to beat the Giants. The team having their unity questioned may actually motivate them. And since Cousins took responsibility for his poor play, the frustrated players may have more respect for him heading into Week 3. It remains to be seen what will happen during the game, but Robinson’s comments will add to what should be a very interesting early season matchup.