Fallout From Griffin's Injury

Something that bothered me at the Ravens game is worth bringing up again.

Check out the ESPN highlights from the game at around the 2:15 mark of this YouTube:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91kWLFxvFcg[/media]

After RG3 completes the pass to Garcon to get down to the 15, its obvious to anyone watching that he's in obvious pain, so much so that he can barely field the snap--luckily it wasn't picked up by a Raven--and has to intentionally ground the ball.

At the time, the Redskins still had two timeouts left.

For God sakes, either use one of those timeouts after the Garcon catch to replace Griffin, or at the very least have a wide receiver get behind center for a play to spike the ball.

Granted, Shanny has to receive a lot of credit for the seven-game streak. But between this, what happened Sunday, and Shanahan's clock management at the end of the Carolina and Seattle games where he showed no urgency to stop the clock, and I have to wonder how much he's paying attention sometimes.
 
Once some time has passed, and more dust has settled, I believe the big picture will be a little clearer, and some tough realizations will come to light. Here are a few questions that will face this organization.

1. RG3 is 22 years old. After tomorrow, he will have already has his second serious reconstructive surgery on his knees. How many pro football players have survived three, without seeing a serious reduction in speed and mobility? I assume, and hope that Shanny was aware that he already had one surgery in college when he allowed him to play late in the Seattle game.

2. Can we suddenly forget the option/running attack with RG3 in the future? Has the risk of a third surgery all but killed that? Is RG3 now reduced to being only a pocket passer, with an ability to scramble out of trouble? Will we now mold him into an Andrew Luck type, inside of a more conventional offense?

3. He suffered one concussion and one serious knee injury this year. Can we allow this to happen again in his next season if we want him to last even several more years in Washington?

4. Who is going to decide when he is ready to play again? Certainly, we can't allow RG3 to make that decision. Can we ever again trust or allow our current HC to make that call? It's pretty amazing, but are we now going to need a chaperone for our own HC on this matter?
 
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Lanky Livingston said:
Actually, that is 100% wrong. The brace is designed to stabilize the knee, hence the reduction in mobility. It literally holds it in place so it is harder to move.
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you couldnt be more wrong and Rg3's injury would be the proof. braces HELP but they dont replace healthy joints or everyone would wear them all the time and everyone would play through sprained knees.

to be honest, (and you can go back and look) I said I would be very quick on the hook with RG3 because he should never have been allowed to go back in the ravens game and I wouldnt have played him in the cowboys game if he was even limping slightly. I believe that a wild card game in his first year as a skin is not even close to as important as his career over the next 12 years will be. yet again I am being proven right while our 7 million dollar a year coach looks like a moron. and believe me, I am not happy about that.

Fact cousins at 100% better be better than Griffin at 25% or why draft him?

Fact we would have had a better chance at moving the ball with cousins in the game anyway so playing Rg3 was double stupid.

fact Griffin limped off the field barely able to walk, any intelligent coach would have pulled right then.

Fact Griffin now has a torn LCL which could not only shelf him for up to 12 months (likely recovery time) but could drastically affect his speed and cutting ability.
 
Lanky Livingston said:
I just think that the whole LCL dilemma started with the Ravens game, so its a bit hypocritical to call for Griffin not to play Sunday if you wanted him to play the previous two weeks. Just my 2 cents.
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Lanky, I can't speak for anyone else but I want him to play every week.

Unless he's too hurt to go. Then I don't want him to play.

He was too hurt to go for most of the Seattle game. It was obvious. Or at least it should have been.
 
Henry said:
Lanky, I can't speak for anyone else but I want him to play every week.

Unless he's too hurt to go. Then I don't want him to play.

He was too hurt to go for most of the Seattle game. It was obvious. Or at least it should have been.
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I'm speaking to those who say Shanahan ignored the "future" of the franchise. Well, if you're looking to the future, you shut him down after the Ravens game, no questions asked.
 
Rymanofthenorth said:
you couldnt be more wrong and Rg3's injury would be the proof. braces HELP but they dont replace healthy joints or everyone would wear them all the time and everyone would play through sprained knees.
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Maybe I misread your post - I thought you were saying the brace reduces the stability of the knee (which is flat-out wrong), but maybe you were saying the injury reduces the stability of the knee.

to be honest, (and you can go back and look) I said I would be very quick on the hook with RG3 because he should never have been allowed to go back in the ravens game and I wouldnt have played him in the cowboys game if he was even limping slightly. I believe that a wild card game in his first year as a skin is not even close to as important as his career over the next 12 years will be. yet again I am being proven right while our 7 million dollar a year coach looks like a moron. and believe me, I am not happy about that.
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Well, we are in agreement. This is my argument for those clamoring about taking him out of the Seattle game, as they should have wanted him shut down after the Ravens game. If we're looking to the future, you don't play him at 80%, 70%, whatever. You let him heal.

Fact cousins at 100% better be better than Griffin at 25% or why draft him?

Fact we would have had a better chance at moving the ball with cousins in the game anyway so playing Rg3 was double stupid.

fact Griffin limped off the field barely able to walk, any intelligent coach would have pulled right then.

Fact Griffin now has a torn LCL which could not only shelf him for up to 12 months (likely recovery time) but could drastically affect his speed and cutting ability.
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I still don't know. Shanahan pulls Griffin and we lose, most fans are talking about how Shanahan blew it. Griffin pulls himself, most fans are railing him like they did Jay Cutler. Bottom line, if the docs clear him and he clears himself, I think you have to play him.
 
Well, what's done is done, and even though I know this debate will rage on into the offseason at this point I am trying to look at the bigger picture here. Why was Shanahan seemingly unwilling to go to Cousins? What has he seen that made him decide that Griffin injured was still the better option? Kirk came in at the end and started throwing some nice tight passes, IMO that alone ought to have backed the D off enough to get Morris producing again, so forget all that "warrior" hoorah, why wouldn't you pull Griffin earlier?
 
ThatDaveGuy said:
Well, what's done is done, and even though I know this debate will rage on into the offseason at this point I am trying to look at the bigger picture here. Why was Shanahan seemingly unwilling to go to Cousins? What has he seen that made him decide that Griffin injured was still the better option? Kirk came in at the end and started throwing some nice tight passes, IMO that alone ought to have backed the D off enough to get Morris producing again, so forget all that "warrior" hoorah, why wouldn't you pull Griffin earlier?
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I don't think his decision had anything at all to do with Cousins. We've gone to Cousins before, with impressive results. I think Shanahan's decision to leave Griffin in there had everything to do with Shanahan's appreciation for what Griffin did for us this season, his contributions that exceeded all expectations, and knowing how badly Griffin wanted to stay in there and pull out his first playoff win. I don't think it's complicated - Shanahan was trying to respect Griffin's wishes. I really believe that's where the mistake was made.
 
Apparently there will be yet another opinion at 4pm on the CBS pregame show, from the same doctor who did Tom Brady's surgery. Boomer Esiason tweeted about it, saying "just HOW BAD is RG3's knee? WAIT UNTIL BLAH BLAH WEIGHS IN ON IT!"

Sensationalism at its best.
 
Well, the most obvious truth in the world is that no one will know for sure whether this was a bump in the road, or a career-altering injury until we see him play again. Any speculation, particularly when you're talking about a guy like RG3 who has, in one season, nearly re-defined the position, is nothing but talking-out-of-my-ass speculation.

It's a cliche, but the truth is, only time will tell.
 
Evidently, Florio at PFT seems to be pretty sure that he has the 'inside' dope that Griffin is compromised and he will be facing a degenerative problem with cartilege damage.
 
I'll believe all this crap when it comes from someone in Washington. So far all we've gotten is knee jerk armchair speculation from people that haven't seen film of Robert's knee. They know as much as you and I do about RG3's knee...which is close to nothing. And Florio isn't one to admit when he wrong, in fact when he gets a theme he runs with it until he bleeds it dry, facts be damned. He's been critical of Shanny since the game itself so no shock he's pushing this bigtime.

I for one am going to ignore almost all RG3 speculation from here on out. It doesn't help, isn't enlightening and won't affect the progress one way or the other. I'm content to wait and see.
 
Bulldog's Twin said:
Evidently, Florio at PFT seems to be pretty sure that he has the 'inside' dope that Griffin is compromised and he will be facing a degenerative problem with cartilege damage.
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Every one of us faces a degenerative problem with cartilege damage in our knees BT :) Human knees just aren't designed to last the lifetimes people are now leading. Even sedentary non-athletes wear their knees out. That curve of degeneration is just a lot steeper with athletes. There are so many exceptions in medicine, it's foolish for Dr.'s not directly involved in RG3's treatment to be making predictions.
 
yes, if the Redskins alter their scheme to allow for that to happen.

part of the problem now is that in addition to Griffin you have the team's two best receivers, Garcon and Fred Davis, looking to rehab from injuries as well and no one knows exactly WHO is going to be ready when.
 
I hope we make grabbing a promising, physical TE a priority in the draft. I have no faith in Fred Davis. We need to give Griff a truly reliable safety valve. That alone would probably reduce the need for him to take off on foot.
 
how about cornerback? free safety? right tackle? how about a true nose tackle that can push the interior line like Ngata does?

I agree we need a healthy target at TE, but it would seem at least to me that RT and CB are the top priorities in the draft as they are going to cost more in free agency.
 
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