Daily Madden: Washington Carrying Extra Baggage Into Levi's Stadium

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - As the 3-7 Washington Redskins prepare for Sunday's game against the 49ers, coach Jay Gruden is apologizing for his public comments this week criticizing the play of quarterback Robert Griffin III.

"It's not a healthy situation," John Madden told the KCBS Radio morning crew. "They drafted RG III and kind of made a big deal out of it and made a big deal out of him, and maybe even spoiled him...This is pro football and some of the things that they did don't work, and now they're trying to put the juice back in the bottle."

Madden said he understands Gruden's frustration.

"What he said or what I saw that he said is that it's not about one person, it's about the team. The Redskins were going in that direction -- it was all, 'How's RG III, can he do this, can he do that?' And there's a lot of other things that go into making them a team, and I think that was the point that he was trying to make."

Madden said he doesn't think benching RG III at this point in the season is the way to go.

"When you get a talent like RG III, I think that you have to develop him and you have to play him and you can't put a band-aid on it. I mean they already tried the other ways. Remember last year with six games to go they shut him down, and I thought that was wrong... At some point he's going to either play or not play, he's either going to have to show that he can do it or not do it. But I don't know that the answer is just keep taking him out." (6:25)

(Listen to the John Madden segment live weekday mornings at 8:15 and Monday and Friday mornings at 9:15 on KCBS All News 740 AM/106.9 FM.)