National Football League

Redskins' RG3 jokes about NFL's $10K T-shirt fine

Published Aug. 23, 2013 8:37 p.m. ET

foxsports

At least Robert Griffin III can laugh about his latest run-in with the NFL's fashion police.

The Washington Redskins quarterback cracked a joke Friday about his $10,000 fine for wearing an ''Operation Patience'' T-shirt before a preseason game.

Griffin was accepting the team's offensive player of the year award at the Redskins' annual Welcome Home Luncheon. He was introduced shortly after an auction that raised money for charity.

''Those auctioneers did a good job,'' Griffin told the crowd. ''I would've given them 10 grand, but the NFL took it away from me this week.''

Griffin adopted ''Operation Patience'' as his slogan as he slowly increased his practice work during training camp after major knee surgery. He wore a white T-shirt with those words in capital burgundy letters as he warmed up before Monday night's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The NFL said the T-shirt was ''unauthorized apparel.''

It was the third time Griffin has run afoul of the NFL's dress code. He was warned for covering up the Nike swoosh on his official team warm-up shirt before the regular season opener last year, then he was fined $10,000 for wearing Adidas apparel at a news conference after the Redskins played the Cleveland Browns in December.

Griffin has a sponsorship deal with Adidas, but the league has an agreement with Nike.

Griffin dressed in a suit and tie to collect his award Friday - no clothing controversies this time. He did refer to another slogan he's been using recently: ''Coaches coach, players play,'' his philosophy for resolving his disagreements with coach Mike Shanahan over how much he should be allowed to practice.

''Coaches coach, players play, and all of us together, we can do great things,'' Griffin said. ''We can go win championships, and that's what we're planning on doing.''

---

AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org

---

Follow Joseph White on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP