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Dan Graziano absolutely nailed it last night: http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/47914/rg-iii-should-have-come-out-of-the-game

 

These were exactly my thoughts watching the game. Keep in mind the 'Skins had just gone up 14-0 when Griffin initially re-injured the knee late in the FIRST QUARTER. Cousins comes in that game earlier, I think that the Seahawks have a much tougher time winning that ball game.

 

LANDOVER, Md. -- He should have come out of the game. It's really that simple, and it's not hindsight.

 

Anybody who watched Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III hobble through the second and third quarters of his team's season-ending 24-14 playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday at FedEx Field could see that (A) he was badly hurt and (B) he was hurting his team's chances.

 

 

Wild-Card Weekend Coverage

Sando: Lynch, Seahawks travel well

Graziano: RG III should have come out

Hensley: Ray Lewis, Ravens deliver

Seifert: Battle-tested Packers ready

Kuharsky: For now, Houston redeemed

Walker: Bengals have way to go

Wild-card photo gallery

AFC playoff preview:

Ravens-Broncos

Texans-Patriots

NFC playoff preview:

Seahawks-Falcons

Packers-49ers

It's not a second-guess. I sat next to John Clayton all game, and he can assure you that I was saying the same thing in the second quarter and the third quarter that I was saying in the fourth, when Griffin's injured right knee finally collapsed like a tower of Legos and the situation went from clear to absurdly obvious.

 

"If you didn't pull him out then," Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said, "then you should get fired."

 

Clearly, but prior to that point there were many at which Shanahan could and should have made the decision to pull Griffin and replace him with backup Kirk Cousins. He admitted after the game that the choice was difficult and that he wasn't sure even in retrospect that he'd chosen well.

 

"Very tough decision, and you've got to go with your gut," Shanahan said. "I'm not saying my gut is always right. I'll probably second-guess myself."

 

He should, because his gut was wrong. Deciding to keep Griffin in the game when he was clearly (A) injured and (B) not helping Washington move the ball was the decision that ended this Redskins season and could put part of the next one in jeopardy. Asked after the game if he thought he might have torn his right ACL -- something he did in college and therefore knows how it feels -- Griffin said, "Honestly, it's up in the air for me right now."

 

Griffin was defiant after the game, as he had been with Shanahan when he insisted that his coach allow him to go back in. He said that even if the fresh injury was an ACL tear, he'll simply "come back healthy from it." But he was clearly determined to stay on his tough-guy message, not sit and think and reason about smart decisions and long-term consequences.

 

"I'm the quarterback of this team," Griffin said. "My job is to be out there if I can play. And to answer the next question, no, I don't feel like me being out there hurt the team in any way. I'm the best option for this team, and that's why I'm the starter."

 

[+] Enlarge

nfl_g_rgriffin_dj_300.jpgHarry E. Walker/MCTRobert Griffin III injured his knee after a bad snap led to a fumble deep in Redskins territory.

He's a charismatic and convincing young man, and this mattered during the game when Shanahan asked him whether he could keep playing. According to Shanahan, Griffin fed him the old line about the difference between being hurt and being injured and said, "Give me the chance to win this football game because I guarantee I'm not injured."

 

"That was enough for me," Shanahan said.

 

The problems (plural) begin with the fact it wasn't true. Griffin was injured. He entered the game injured, still wearing a brace to protect against further injury from the ligament sprain he suffered four weeks earlier in Baltimore. On Sunday morning, a USA Today story quoted Redskins team physician James Andrews saying he was "a nervous wreck" letting Griffin play so soon after the injury. When Griffin clearly aggravated the injury on a first-and-goal pass attempt in the first quarter Sunday, alarm bells should have been going off, and Griffin's bravado should not have been enough to silence them. Not for the coach who traded three first-round picks and a second-round pick to get him, and who's charged with the care and maintenance of his long-term health.

 

This is easy for me to say, yes, but that's the point. I had no stake in the Redskins winning or losing Sunday's game. Shanahan did. This necessarily intensifies the difficulty of making the right decision with regard to a player's long-term health. Shanahan admitted as much, though he also insisted that, "If we felt it had something to do with Robert's career and injury, we wouldn't have left him in the game."

 

I say they got that wrong, and that letting your franchise quarterback stay in a hyper-intense football game on a sloppy field when he's favoring an already-injured knee is a high-level mistake. I give Shanahan credit for admitting that he may have made the wrong decision; I just believe it's clear that he did. In hindsight, for sure, and from the consequence-free comfort of the press box while it was ongoing. But the fact that it was hard for Shanahan to see the right decision does not excuse him from failing to make it. He gets paid $7 million a year to make the biggest decisions for the Redskins, and he whiffed on this one.

 

 

RG III's Performance Vs Seattle

Already hobbled by a knee injury, Robert Griffin III was not the same after making a running throw with 3:23 left in the first quarter. 1st Quarter Rest of Game ESPN Stats & Information Comp-Att 6-9 4-10 Pass yds 68 16 TD-Int 2-0 0-1 Total QBR 97.1 5.9

"I wasn't lying to him. I was able to go out and play, period," Griffin said. "If he had pulled me out, I would have been highly upset, but that's his prerogative. That's his choice. But he kept me in."

 

I believe Shanahan will kick himself about that decision for a long time to come, and for many reasons. What's amazing is that in failing to make the correct long-term decision he also failed to make the correct short-term one. The Redskins were moving the ball as if in their wildest dreams against the Seahawks in the first quarter, rolling up 129 yards on 20 plays and racing out to a 14-0 lead. Griffin got hurt at the end of the second touchdown drive, and in the final three quarters combined the Redskins gained 74 yards on 34 plays. Regardless of what Griffin says, his inability to move inside or outside the pocket mattered. Redskins tight end Logan Paulsen admitted that "It took a few things out of the playbook."

 

Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman said, "He wasn't able to take as many shots downfield."

 

There was a stadium full of people who could tell the Redskins' offense was impotent with this shell of Griffin operating it, yet Shanahan didn't decide to go to Cousins (a guy who has shown he can win games in Griffin's place) until it finally appeared that Griffin might not be able to get up.

 

"It was hard to watch RG III," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. "He was gallant."

 

No one's disputing that. It's Griffin's job to be gallant and tough and determined and all of the great things everybody was calling him after the game for his refusal to leave it. But it's Shanahan's job to make the clear-headed decision to overrule the 22-year-old superstar who wants to believe he's invincible. I do not know if Cousins would have done better against the Seahawks' defense in those final three quarters. I do feel confident in saying he couldn't have done worse. And even if he hadn't been an improvement, we wouldn't be sitting here right now thinking about how many games Griffin will have to miss in September and October if he has in fact torn his ACL.

 

"I can agree with you on that," Griffin said. "I think I did put myself at more risk by being out there. But every time you step on the football field, you're putting your life, your career and every single ligament in your body in jeopardy."

 

 

Inarguable. But that's why decisions like this one can't be in the hands of the player who wants to play. They need to be in the hands of the people responsible for making sure he's OK -- now and for the future. And on this day, Shanahan, a great coach who understands that responsibility, made the wrong decision. He paid for it with a season-ending loss, and he went home hoping -- but not certain -- that the bill is fully paid.

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Is there any word on what he did to his knee....? It looked gawd awful on TV....I hope they didnt' fuck this kid up for good with this bullshit.

 

C. Wagon.

 

I don't think it's as bad as it looked.... I think the cast he was wearing had slipped down which made his leg like more bent than it really was.

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You can't make decisions as a coach based on what kind of public scrutiny you may or may not receive. The decision, as Graziano said, put in jeopardy RGIII's long term health as well as the short term success of the team last night. It was a horrible decision on all fronts. Also, the Cutler criticism was unfair and moronic anyway. What teammates would want to see, though, is a player TRY to get on the field... as long as you really want to be out there, but are overruled by the coach... they'll know that you tried to be out there. Of course, RGIII tried. Shanahan shouldn't have listened to him. As Graziano said, you are paid $7 million to make the tough decisions. That was an easy decision, especially after it was clear RGIII was gimping around AND wasn't able to plant when he threw, and balls were just sailing on him... "So my quarterback can't run OR throw... I think I'll leave him in the game, which could also threaten his career." That was the decision that Shanahan made.

 

After that early injury, this is what the Redskins offense accomplished until Cousins came into the game with five and a half minutes left in the 4th quarter:

 

 

punt

interception

punt

punt

punt

fumble (the last play of RGIII's day... led to 3 points for Seattle).

 

THREE first downs in that stretch, two of the three coming on Al Morris runs.

 

As a Redskins' fan, or anyone watching who was rooting for the Skins, you have to be frustrated and annoyed that RGIII was allowed to throw that game away for his team. For me, watching RGIII play that horribly because he could not even plant off of that leg, was embarrassing... a cringe-worthy decision by Shanahan.

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Yep and alot of guys, were on Ponder for not playing Saturday.

 

Who are these guys? The coach made the call. The coach is the boss. Bottom line, if coach says you're not playing, YOU'RE NOT PLAYING. Doesn't matter who gets upset about it.

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And oh yeah, none of us have even mentioned the field conditions, which were a complete mess... same field conditions in which he originally injured the knee, same field conditions that Adrian Peterson blew up his knee last year, they mentioned in the broadcast.

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Who are these guys? The coach made the call. The coach is the boss. Bottom line, if coach says you're not playing, YOU'RE NOT PLAYING. Doesn't matter who gets upset about it.

 

On the NFL network, they were saying he should of played. I think it was Eric Davis

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Wouldn't bother me if they won it all. I'd like to see a good D win it.

 

Not after that "we beat ourselves" bs I heard from them and other teams... and certainly I'm not over the 2003 Playoff game.

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I'm kinda rooting for Seattle at this point. I like how Wilson has performed at a high level for a majority of the year, taken on more of the offense as they've gone along, and has done it quietly, under the radar, without bitching about a lack of respect or a lack of notoriety in a year where Luck and RG3 dominated headlines amongst rookies.

 

But to get back on the topic, RG3 and the Redskins were severely fucked by their coaches in this one. There really is no debating it. And yeah, Graziano got this one straight on. As a guy who reads Graziano pretty much daily, this article was one of his more blunt, no-bullshit articles that took a definitive side and slammed a group of people fairly harshly.

 

If there's an ligament tear, and RG3 misses the offseason as a result, thereby keeping him out until the start of next season...this Shanahan fuckup will not go away any time soon...nor should it.

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The Giants v 9ers rivalry of the 90's with Joe Montana will forever prevent me for actively rooting for the 9ers

 

Yeah I remember Roger Craig talking about three peat after super bowl 24. Ummm sorry we spoiled that asshole.

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Wouldn't bother me if they won it all. I'd like to see a good D win it.

 

Then root for Seattle. I think they had the overall #1. I also agree with GMenroc on Wilson. Seems like a good kid but Caroll is definitely a little grating, same with Sherman.

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Then root for Seattle. I think they had the overall #1. I also agree with GMenroc on Wilson. Seems like a good kid but Caroll is definitely a little grating, same with Sherman.

 

I like Sherman and Browner, I wish our D was that agressive. They were not taking shit from Washington.

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Then root for Seattle. I think they had the overall #1. I also agree with GMenroc on Wilson. Seems like a good kid but Caroll is definitely a little grating, same with Sherman.

 

It's the mentality that Caroll brought from college, fuck the other team we are the best.

 

It's the same thing Rexxy tried to pull and failed in New York.

 

It's the same attitude that Strahan brought to the Giants, that they were always better but no respect.

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Then root for Seattle. I think they had the overall #1. I also agree with GMenroc on Wilson. Seems like a good kid but Caroll is definitely a little grating, same with Sherman.

 

 

I'm rooting for Denver now. Peyton is too good of a quarterback to only have one superbowl win.

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I'm rooting for Denver now. Peyton is too good of a quarterback to only have one superbowl win.

 

Yeah I'm rooting for Denver too, and if the pats make it to the super bowl ill probably root for them.

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