ESPN’s Robert Griffin III apologizes for his word choice during Jalen Hurts analysis

Robert Griffin III has successfully made the transition from the football field to the studio, taking over for Hall of Famer Randy Moss on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown.

But the former Heisman Trophy winner used a racist term for Black people ahead of Monday’s game between the New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals, when the discussion turned to Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who is having an MVP-caliber season.

While touting the Eagles as a the best team in the NFC, Griffin, who is Black, used the derogatory word in describing critics of Hurts.

Griffin’s cohosts on Monday Night Countdown didn’t flinch, and the show kept moving. But after the Patriots defeated the Cardinals, 27-13, Griffin apologized on social media for his remark.

“Was trying to say “those Bug-A-Boos” in reference to haters and doubters,” Griffin wrote on Twitter late Monday night. “Regardless of my intention, I understand the historical context of the term that came out of my mouth and I apologize.”

ESPN did not have additional comment beyond Griffin’s tweet.

This isn’t the first time Griffin’s style has drawn negative attention. Earlier this season, he took to Twitter for an ill-advised joke about former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown, who settled a lawsuit from his former trainer accusing Brown of sexual assault and allegedly exposed himself to a woman at a hotel pool in Dubai. The tweet was later deleted, and Griffin wrote in response to one critic, “I do not condone his behavior or sexual harassment.”

There’s a divide happening at ESPN between on-air analysts like Griffin and the network’s analytics department, which has drawn the ire of Eagles fans for placing the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs ahead of the Birds in their power rankings (though Philly is the top team in the NFL, according to a different ESPN power rankings list compiled by its reporters).

Throughout ESPN’s lineup of shows on Monday, analyst after analyst lined up to praise Hurts and the Eagles after their blowout win Sunday against the New York Giants.

“The Philadelphia Eagles show up every week with their A-game,” former defensive back turned analyst Ryan Clark said on Get Up Monday. “They have a quarterback that’s playing the best football in the entire league. He’s up there with the Mahomes, with the Tua Tagovailoa’s. He’s that type of player.”

ESPN’s analytics department also still thinks the Cowboys have a better chance to win the Super Bowl (22.5%) than the Eagles (21.3%), but oddly, they think the Birds have a better shot of making it to the big game. Go figure.

On Sunday, Eagles defender Brandon Graham had two words to say about ESPN’s predictions following the team’s blowout of the Giants.

“[Bleep] them!” Graham said.

Hurts wasn’t the only Eagles player who had a big performance Sunday.

Miles Sanders rushed for a career-high 144 yards against the Giants, becoming the first Eagles running back to top 1,000 yards in a season since 2014, when current FS1 host LeSean McCoy finished the season with 1,319 yards.

Sanders also made a couple of notable blocks during the game, including one where he pancaked Giants linebacker Azeez Ojulari. After the game, Sanders revealed to reporters his excitement after that play also involved an ode to a 1998 Adam Sandler film.

“I had a plan to yell like The Waterboy, because I was mic’d up today,” Sanders said. “I hope you all hear it.”

Thankfully, the Eagles shared the audio of Sanders’ Waterboy impression on social media Monday afternoon.

Sandler, who spent months in Philadelphia filming Hustle for Netflix, saw the footage and weighed in.

“Love you buddy,” Sandler wrote on Twitter.

Sandler is working on two films for Netflix. He is staring in Spaceman, a deep-space adventure film developed and directed by Johan Renck (HBO’s Chernobyl) based on the 2017 novel Spaceman of Bohemia. He’s also starring in an untiled film directed by Josh and Benny Safdie, the brothers behind his intensely uncomfortable turn as a gambling addict in Uncut Gems.