Redskins Head Coach Mike Shanahan says that Robert Griffin III will be seeking a second opinion on the MRI heard round the world that showed damage to his ACL and LCL.
“Robert [Griffin III] will fly down tomorrow to see Dr. [James] Andrews,” said Shanahan. “He’s going to have some more tests and a physical exam. I’m not sure right now the extent of his knee [injury].”
According to Mark Maske and Mike Jones of the Washington Post, the MRI conducted on Griffin’s right knee suggests that he has suffered at least partial tears of his ACL and LCL.
Griffin played the NFC Wildcard game against the Seattle Seahawks already nursing a sprained LCL in the same knee, wearing a brace during the game. On a pass attempt in the first quarter it looked like he re-injured his knee. Shanahan has been scrutinized for sticking with Griffin at that point instead of turning to fellow rookie quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Shanahan explained to the media that he checked on Griffin’s status throughout the game, but Griffin informed his coach that he was hurting and not injured.
“He tweaked it a little bit on that sideline. I went up to Robert and I said, ‘Are you OK?’ He said, ’Yeah, no, I’m fine.’ He said, ‘I got it re-taped.’ I said, ‘Do you have a good feel for it?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, I feel good.’ He was OK right away.”
The answer that most players and coaches will provide is that if you’re hurt you can still play, if you’re injured you can’t. Griffin told his coach at the time that he was just hurt.
The second knee injury that Griffin suffered which appeared to do the most damage came late in the fourth quarter on a botched shotgun snap where his knee buckled beneath him on the turf.
As Shanahan alluded to in his press conference, it’s unclear if the damage is from the new injury from Sunday’s game or if it’s from the old injury suffered during the Ravens game.
“I’m saying right now, I really don’t know,” said Shanahan. “Dr. Andrews is going to take a look at Robert. A lot of times, you look at an MRI… In my understanding, when you have an ACL injury, an LCL injury, you’ve had former injuries; they want to take another look – another physical exam to make sure they’re not looking at old injuries on the MRI.”
On Saturday, Dr. Andrews told USA Today that he never cleared Griffin to return to the game against the Ravens after he suffered the first injury to his knee; however, Griffin came back into the game just four plays later.
“You have to think about what’s going on in the game. Robert comes off the field. He comes off and he starts running around. I asked him the same question. When Robert starts running around, I’m looking at [quarterback] Kirk [Cousins] being in the ballgame. When Robert runs back on the field, I look over at Dr. Andrews. I said, ‘Is he OK?’ and he said, ‘Yes, he’s OK.’ When you ask him that and he says he’s OK, you don’t ask him, ‘Did you look at him? Did you watch him run around? Did you give him a test?’ He said he was OK, so that’s why he went back in the game.”
It also appeared that the condition of the field could have played a significant factor in the injury. There wasn’t much grass for support, looking more like green dirt. Both Shanahan and Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said the playing field conditions were unacceptable.
“You like a perfect field. It wasn’t a perfect field. We all know that,” said Shanahan. “Sometimes we put sod down and it was worse after we put the sod down – especially new sod.”
While there’s been talk about switching from grass to field turf, but regardless of the solution for the future, the natural surface on Sunday’s game was unacceptably bad. Either way, the outlook does not look good for Griffin heading into the offseason, as he now potentially faces a long rehabilitation similar to what Adrian Peterson faced at the end of last season.
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