Cleveland Browns

Robert Griffin says seeing Hue Jackson 'break down' makes him want to win for his coach

Published Dec. 9, 2016 12:56 p.m. ET

Nunzio Ingrassia

Robert Griffin has been forced to sit and watch from the sideline as the Cleveland Browns racked up loss after loss. Griffin appears ready to go Sunday against the Bengals after missing the past 11 games while rehabbing a shoulder injury.

And he says he has extra motivation.

Griffin told reporters Wednesday that watching Browns head coach Hue Jackson tear up after Cleveland’s 27-13 loss last Sunday gave him more incentive to break the team’s winless string.

"It's paramount,'' Griffin said, via the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "It's [Jackson's] former team, but I just think when you see coach break down like that, as a player in this locker room, we already wanted to play hard for him, but it makes you want to play harder for him and win for him because he doesn't deserve to be 0-12.

"Just like I said, these guys in this locker room don't deserve to be 0-12. Talking about is not going to do anything about it but I think seeing that emotion from coach lights a fire in everybody, so we've got to go out and prove it on Sunday.''

The Browns are trying to avoid becoming the second team in NFL history to go 0-16, joining the 2008 Detroit Lions for the dubious distinction. Picking up that first win Sunday would probably be all the more sweet for Jackson, who spent the previous two seasons as the Bengals offensive coordinator.

Griffin, who signed a two-year, $15 million deal in March, has just one game under his belt with the Browns, going 12 of 26 for 190 yards and an interception in Cleveland's season-opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.