RG3 defends injury play: 'I got pushed in the back'

Robert Griffin III has taken a lot of blame for leaving the Cleveland Browns without a starting quarterback, but he says it's not his fault.

Griffin injured his shoulder crashing into Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Jalen Mills on Sunday, and will miss at least eight weeks with the injury. While it appeared he had room to slide, get out of bounds, or do something to avoid taking the hit, the quarterback disagrees.

"It was just an unlucky situation,'' Griffin told Cleveland.com on Wednesday. "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 has a history of taking unnecessarily hard hits and not protecting himself properly. When questioned by media, he doubled down on his stance that the injury was unavoidable.

"I watched the play,'' he said. "I did get pushed in the back, and at the last second, the defender (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 says he won't rush to return from his injury, but hopes to get back on the field before season's end.