Following up on the ongoing story. ... Turns out head coach Jay Gruden's decision to send Robert Griffin III back to the bench in favor of Colt McCoy shocked some teammates.

"Anytime you see your starting quarterback (get benched), obviously, you're just like, 'Man, that (stinks),'" fullback Darrel Young told CSNWashington.com after practice Wednesday. "I feel for him. I know what type of guy he is. You always want the best for a guy.

"Coach said from Day 1 that he was going to put us in the best situation and do what's right for the team," Young continued. "And this is what he feels is right for the team. So that's the direction we're going."

Running back Roy Helu said he heard about the decision while eating breakfast at work.

"I was surprised," Helu said. "It's not an easy thing playing quarterback in the NFL. If you're not playing well, just being in the spotlight, I sympathize with him."

"It was surprising," added tight end Niles Paul. "I had no control over it, but I know that it's a business at the end of the day. Coach Gruden is the head coach and whatever decision he makes, we all support. (Gruden) said he wanted put us in the best position to win and he feels like this is a decision he had to make."

Teammates said they weren't worried about RGIII bouncing back.

"He's taken it as a professional," quarterback Kirk Cousins said. "He's been upbeat today, stayed positive, worked very hard in practice, was involved in meetings. He handled it how you expect a professional to handle it."

Meanwhile, on Thursday Griffin met with reporters for the first time since he was supplanted by Colt McCoy.

“It was coach’s decision,” Griffin said, via Tarik El-Bashir of CSNWashington.com. “I’m here to help this team win.”

Asked to explain his level of disappointment over the decision, Griffin repeated himself. The same way he did last week.

“Like I said, it was coach’s decision,” Griffin said. “I’m here to help this team win.”

Will he use the situation as motivation?

“Be ready to play,” Griffin said. “I’m here to help the team win anyway I can.”

As Profootballtalk.com suggested, he won’t be helping the team by playing, at least not for now.

As for the future?

Griffin may not have any fans left in Washington, but there are still plenty within his own division.

Speaking Wednesday morning on NFL Network, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones gushed about the quarterback, basing a large part of his memory on a crucial Week 17 game where the Cowboys fell to Washington back in 2012.

Griffin had 100 passing yards and 63 rushing yards.

"Well, I'm a fan of RGIII," Jones said. "Right on this field two years ago, or maybe it was three seasons ago, he put on a show and had a game that just floored me. And they won, and they won in large part because of his play at quarterback. I thought 'my goodness, and we're going to have to be playing this guy for years and years.' And so he's got it.

"Once you see a player do it, especially if you see him do it two or three times, you know he can do it. And of course he's a driven young man. I'm a big admirer of RGIII."

The big question from all the Griffin fallout will be whether or not his demise was system-based, or whether Kyle Shanahan was truly a brilliant offensive coordinator. Griffin was an electric quarterback that had plenty of fans suggesting he was better than Andrew Luck. At one point, that was viewed as a difficult decision.

But now, it seems like there will be plenty of admirers coming out of the woodwork if Washington indeed tries to get rid of him.