Robert Griffin III twists his injured knee on a bad snap in the second quarter of the ‘Skins game yesterday against the Seattle Seahawks. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
The ‘Skins will find out later today just how badly quarterback Robert Griffin III injured his knee during Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks, but the early reports are not particularly optimistic.
A preliminary MRI examination conducted after ‘Skins’ 24-14 loss revealed that Griffin likely suffered at least partial tears to the anterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments in his right knee, The Washington Post reports. Griffin sprained the LCL in a game last month against the Baltimore Ravens. That injury prompted him to miss the following game; when he returned in the final week of the regular season, he was outfitted with a knee brace.
But a tear is much worse. And if Griffin’s ACL is damaged, it’ll be the second time he’s torn that ligament. Griffin tore it in 2009 during his sophomore season at Baylor University and underwent reconstructive surgery.
After Griffin first appeared to re-injure his knee in the second quarter against Seattle, many observers started asking why head coach Mike Shanahan did not bench the star rookie right then. It wasn’t until late in the fourth quarter that backup quarterback Kirk Cousins was brought in to finish the game, but by that point the ‘Skins’ offense had been bottled up. Shanahan defended his coaching at a press conference yesterday:
“Robert’s our franchise quarterback, and I’m not going to take the chance on his career to win a game,” Shanahan said. “But I also know that when you’ve got the belief in a guy, and you feel he can play at a certain level, and the doctors are telling you that he’s okay to go in, then you’ve got to do what you think is right.”
Griffin will be examined further today by Dr. James Andrews, a renowned sports orthopedist in Pensacola, Fla., who told USA Today last weekend that despite conflicting reports, he did not examine Griffin before his re-entry into the game against the Ravens.
