RG3: I'm the best quarterback in the NFL

There is a fine line between genuine confidence to do something and an act of delusion we craft in our own minds to protect ourselves from inevitable failure. Which side of that perilous line Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III is standing on, only he knows.

Speaking with WJLA-TV (Washington), Griffin said he is the best quarterback in the NFL. 

Everyone, breathe.

Normally, when someone makes a statement of that grandeur, it falls on them to prove it. Or not.

"I don't feel like I have to come out here and show anybody anything or why I'm better than this guy or better than that guy," he said. "It's more about going out and affirming that for me, I go out and I play, I know I'm the best quarterback on this team."

The best on the team? In terms of natural physical ability, most likely. As a trained pocket passer and game manager, most likely not. Nevertheless, after one excellent season, one dreadul season, and one season seen mostly from the sideline, he's convinced in himself.

"I feel like I'm the best quarterback in the league and I have to go out and show that," he said. "Any athlete at any level, if they concede to someone else, they're not a top competitor, they're not trying to be the best that they can be. There's guys in this league that have done way more than me, but I still view myself as the best because that's what I work toward every single day."

Saying that you don't have to prove anything to anyone, and then saying that you have to go out and show everyone what you can do is what normal people call a contradiction. But not, apparently, for the best quarterback in the NFL, whose mere greatness overpowers the logical fallacies of mere mortals.

Griffin said the pro game is unlike what he thought it would be in some respects. More ruthlessness and backstabbing, he says. More of a business, he says. Being the best in the league, one wonders why he didn't think of that before.

"But at the end of the day, when you put your helmet on, your shoulder pads and your pants and your cleats and you get to go out there and run around on the field, it's still that same game that you played as a kid," he added.

Running around on the field like a kid is precisely the kind of play head coach Jay Gruden has been trying to dissuade from his quarterback's mind this spring and summer. The fate of the Redskins will depend upon it.