ASHBURN - After being unavailable to the media on Monday, Redskins quarterback Rex Grossman spoke to reporters on Wednesday for the first time since being named the starter.
Grossman won what was a "close" competition according to head coach Mike Shanahan. Most believed Grossman's counterpart, fifth year man John Beck, would get the nod come Week 1 against the Giants, but Shanahan went with who he thought had the better preseason with Grossman.
Not surprisingly, Grossman expressed his confidence in ability to win the job.
"Throughout this whole thing I wanted to play well, and have no regrets about my play." he said. "My confidence would waiver a little bit every once in a while, and [I] wasn’t real sure what they were going to do [with the decision], but I wanted to play well, and I felt real good about how well I played in the preseason games and in practice."
One issue that was evident during the competition was how "fair" the competition was. Experts and pundits believed that Shanahan wanted Beck to win the job, and would give him every opportunity to win it. However, Grossman still won out, and believed Shanahan was fair during the entire process.
"There's been times in the past," he recalled. "Where you can't quite trust what [the coaching staff] were actually saying. But I have a pretty good relationship with Kyle [Shanahan] and Mike's a stand-up guy, so I took them at their word, and I trusted it. "
This Sunday's start will be Grossman's first Week 1 start since the 2007 season, completing what has been a long road back to being a fulltime starter, which is what he was with the Chicago Bears.
"I didn't take [the starting job] for granted, in Chicago," Grossman said."But anytime something gets taken away from you, and you get it back, you have a different outlook [and] a different type of approach and respect to the position you're in."
Indeed, this represents a second chance for Grossman, who has been ridiculed for his inconsistent style of play so far in his career. But with Washington, he sees a new opportunity to prove his doubters wrong, and help the Redskins in the process.
"To be the starting quarterback of the Washington Redskins is a huge thing," the ninth year pro said. "I fully understand it, and it’s my goal to take it and run with it. It’s a very exciting time for me, and I feel great about it."