Robert Griffin III accuses media of rushing to tear Arch Manning down

After watching the media spend years hyping Arch Manning, Robert Griffin III believes they were just waiting to pounce on his first sign of weakness.

Manning had a bad Week 1 performance, completing just 17 of 30 passes for 170 yards as his Texas Longhorns fell to Ohio State. It was a bad first road start for a Heisman favorite earning millions in NIL dollars, it was a bad first start for a potential No. 1 draft pick, and yes, it was a bad first start for a quarterback named Manning.

It was just one game, but after the nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning failed to live up to the hype against Ohio State, the media was quick to express disappointment in the Texas quarterback’s season opener. And according to Robert Griffin III, the media turning on Manning was by design.

“This is just the epitome of the media building him up just to tear him back down.”

– @RGIII breaks down the reaction to Arch Manning’s performance against Ohio State. pic.twitter.com/tGXAftbnDQ

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) September 2, 2025

“With Arch Manning, this is just the epitome of the media building him up just to tear him back down,” Griffin said on The Dan Patrick Show. “And there’s a lot of people jumping ship on him.”

Griffin acknowledged Manning struggled in his first game of the season. And he acknowledged it’s okay for the media to say he struggled. But Griffin believes the media was a little too eager to pile on Manning because of his last name.

“For Arch, that Manning name on the back of your jersey is gonna add extra scrutiny to everything that he does,” Griffin continued. “But I don’t think that now he just doesn’t know how to play football at all…I think people piling on him now are really just trying to take shots at the Mannings, that they feel like they’ve never had a true chance to do, and I don’t think that’s right.”

Obviously, Griffin didn’t listen to much New York sports radio during Eli Manning’s tenure with the Giants. Because if he had, he would have heard the New York media taking plenty of shots at Manning, while Giants fans called for the former No. 1 overall pick to be benched in favor of the late Jared Lorenzen.

It was just the third start of Arch Manning’s college football career. It was his first-ever road start, and it came against a top-three team. He’s allowed to struggle, but that doesn’t make his Week 1 struggles any less of a story.

This wasn’t a case of the media hyping Manning just so they could relish the opportunity to rip him. If anything, the media is now rooting for Manning to bounce back. Arch Manning having a great season, winning the Heisman and playing for the national championship before getting drafted No. 1 overall is a better story than if he ends up being the first Manning quarterback to be a bust.