Robert Griffin III

Robert Griffin III says he got 'pushed in the back' when he suffered his injury

Published Sep. 14, 2016 6:12 p.m. ET

foxsports

Critics were quick to point out that Robert Griffin III didn't slide when he suffered his latest injury during the Cleveland Browns' Week 1 loss to the Eagles last Sunday.

But Griffin said Wednesday that the shoulder injury he sustained wasn't the result of his insistence to stay on his feet.

"It was just an unlucky situation,'' he told cleveland.com. "I got pushed in the back -- maybe not the hardest push -- but I was running full speed, and I didn't have an opportunity to slide before that. I felt like I could get out of bounds. That didn't happen."

Griffin was injured in the fourth quarter, when he took off from the Browns end zone on third-and-14. He raced toward the sideline when he was pushed by Eagles cornerback Ron Brooks and crashed into Jalen Mills.

"I watched the play,'' Griffin said. "I did get pushed in the back, and at the last second, (Mills) came off of Gary (Barnidge) and hit me and I didn't have an opportunity (to protect myself). That's why I think what happened happened, because I didn't get a chance to truly protect myself and that's when I got hit underneath my shoulder pad.''

Griffin suffered a fractured coracoid bone in his left shoulder and was placed on injured reserve for at least eight weeks. But he rejects the idea that he was trying to bowl over the defender on the play.

"(But) not everybody wants to look at that,'' he said. "They want the sexy story. They want to say that I'm not protecting myself. It's just something that happened and it's unfortunate.''

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Robert Griffin III

Cleveland Browns

National Football League