If he was reluctant at all to do as many commercials and put himself out there the way he did considering he remains unproven: “You’re only unproven if you think you’re unproven. I’m not proven but I don’t think I’m unproven either. The only thing I made sure I stayed with is companies I truly believed in and wasn’t just doing things to get money. It was a great experience.”

If he talked with guys like London Fletcher about whether or not he was doing too much: “I talked with my guys about that stuff. We wanted to make sure I wasn’t doing too much before I played but the situations that arose seemed fine. If it wasn’t good I’d have definitely felt it in the locker room but when all the guys showed up most were laughing about them or said they were cool. I think it rubbed the team the right way.”

Putting outside interests on the backburner now: “I’m not going to awards shows or doing commercials during the season. All that’s done. I did my work in the offseason whether it was with marketing or football and just making sure I stayed in shape and stayed on top of the playbook. I made sure I did that while making sure I handled my business.”

The reaction to him in D.C.:  “To me it’s similar to the situation I was in at Baylor. The program had been starved for success for a long time. We made sure we took care of business and the program got back on top. It’s on a larger scale here but I’m not going to put unnecessary pressure on my shoulders when I know it’s a team thing.”

The comments made by the New York Giants’ Osi Umenyiora, saying he’d call him Bob: “That’s Osi for you. One of my coaches at Baylor called me Bob. No one really calls me Bob. If that’s what he wants to call me that’s fine. He doesn’t have to call me RG3 at all.”

Trying to match Cam Newton’s stats: “I don’t really pay attention [to stats]. There’s too much to them. I was never a stats guy. I don’t believe in them. You have to do what you have to do to help your team win. I don’t try to compare myself to anybody else.”

His nerves the night before training camp: “I think I was more anxious, maybe a little nervous for minicamps and OTAs but now that we’ve been through the offense and had a taste of how fast the game is and what I need to do as a quarterback to help the team win I feel a lot more comfortable. There’s nothing else going on outside of football anymore.”

Staying mentally sharp during his time off: “I made sure I spent the right amount of time in the playbook but I didn’t try to kill myself with it either. For the most part it was seeing what I liked and writing down questions for the quarterback coach. It definitely paid off for me. We’re definitely going to do things that I like and the receivers like.”

Embracing the idea of being the face of the franchise: “It’s a blessing. Nobody gets a chance to come to the Capital City of the United States and be the quarterback in that town. The fans are starved for success but I think the players are starved for success as well. Whether we’re ranked first or fourth in our division I don’t think anyone really cares. We know what we have to do to be successful and you let your play be the talking. I’m proud to be part of the franchise.”

Contact with offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan during the break: “Enough contact that we didn’t get in trouble I guess. We talked. I tried to keep it to a minimum because I knew this was coming and guys can get burnt out and if you’re constantly calling your coach he can get burnt out as well. I tried to respect that they were on vacation but if I had a question I called him up.”

His weight: “I’m 225 today. It doesn’t matter to me what my weight is… as long as I’m anywhere from 218 to 225 I should be fine.”

What he’s checked out in D.C.: “Not much because wherever I go it’s a crazy scene. I went on a bus tour in D.C. I went to see the U.S. National team. That was fun. But … I tried to stay out of the city, make sure I stay focused and grounded rather than always being the focal point of everything. Sometimes you need to sit back and sit on the couch and drink Kool-Aid.”

Running vs. sliding or lowering his shoulder when he runs: “I’ve told people this from the get-go. If I Need to slide or run out of bounds I’ll slide or run out of bounds. But if it’s fourth and 1 with six seconds left in the fourth quarter I don’t care who that linebacker is, you better believe I’ll try to get in the end zone. It just depends on the situation. If it’s in the first quarter I’ll slide and run out of bounds with the best of them, but if the game’s on the line don’t expect me to slide or get out of the way. I don’t look at that as a shot to my pride. I’ve done it before. This is the NFL. They’re bigger, stronger and they hit hard.”

Shutting down his Twitter feed: “As far as getting rid of it, probably not. As far as tweeting, not too much tweeting. We don’t plan on losing any games, but you can’t tweet when you win and not when you lose so you might as well not tweet all together.”

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