The New England Patriots are a finely tuned machine, a relentless, frictionless work of mechanical art designed for winning without conscience. The Washington Redskins are an expensive, poorly built, erratically functioning contraption which, even in the best of circumstances, succeeds only in firing bullets into the feet of whoever tries to run them.
Robert Griffin III, the Redskins' ever-beleaguered quarterback, got an up-close look at the difference between the teams last August, when the Patriots visited the Redskins' training camp in Virginia for some joint preseason workouts and scrimmages. Speaking to the NFL Network, Griffin noted that those practices had a significant impact on the way he views his team as a whole.
"What you do learn from watching [Tom Brady], and then watching the Patriots organization, you get a big-picture look at it," Griffin said. "Man, honestly, they operate like a high school football team. You remember in high school, how the coach calls everybody up, everybody runs up, gets on a knee and looks at the coach like what he is saying is the most important thing in the world? That's how the Patriots are."
(Pause here to cast Brady, Bill Belichick, Gronk and the rest in "Friday Night Lights." Matches up fairly well, huh? All right, back to RG3.)
"They're attentive. They run on and off the field. They run after practice. They do what they have to do -- and everyone understands, whether they like it or not, this is what it takes to win championships. And they won the championship."
Of note: Griffin asked Brady for some tips, and Brady declined, noting very correctly that both men were still active in the National Football League, and thus giving out pointers to one's enemy may not be the wisest course of action.
Griffin is at a crossroads in his career. He'll soon learn whether the Redskins will pick up the final option year in his rookie contract or allow him to become a free agent after this season. While it's likely that this will be Griffin's last currently-guaranteed year in a Redskins uniform, he and Washington could do much worse than to imitate the teachings of New England.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.
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