Keenan Robinson not surprised by Redskins’ discord
New York Giants linebacker Keenan Robinson (57) participates in a drill during training camp at Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Friday, July 29, 2016. Credit: Steven Ryan
Linebacker Keenan Robinson isn’t surprised that his former team is 0-2, nor is he surprised that there is already grousing coming from the Redskins’ locker room.
“It’s the same old story,” Robinson said on Tuesday.
Robinson spent four seasons in Washington before signing with the Giants (and, he said, turning down a long-term contract offer from Washington after the 2014 season). Part of the reason for his departure, he said, was the caustic atmosphere within the franchise.
“When I was there, three out of four years, it was the same thing,” Robinson said. “Once they get down, they start pointing fingers. And that’s true. That’s 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.”
Robinson said the Giants can take advantage of that discord.
“They’re going to be desperate,” he said. “We have to use that to our advantage. We have to know that they’re going to be taking deep shots and that they’re going to try and get the running game going. They want to get the run game going to get the pass going.”
Robinson even went so far as to downplay his own NFC East title in 2015.
“Last year we made the playoffs because [Tony] Romo didn’t play [for the Cowboys] and because the Giants lost a bunch of close games,” he said. “We were only in the playoffs because of what happened across our division. We got lucky and won a few games at the end, but we really weren’t as good of a team as people thought we were.
“That wasn’t the spot I wanted to be in for the next four years or five years,” Robinson added. “I felt like there were better opportunities out there.”
He believes he has found it with the Giants.
“We have an organization that has won Super Bowls in the past 10 years,” he said. “I feel like where I am is perfect and I feel like I fit right in.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
