Watching Robert Griffin III go down with an ACL injury during the NFC's first-round playoff game was a hard pill to swallow for Washington Redskins fans. Griffin had led Washington to their first NFC East title in 13 years and was set to be the long-time future of the franchise. However, after the quarterback went down with the injury, it was unknown what his playing career would look like. Well according to Dr. James Andrews, Griffin's recovery has been "unbelievable", allowing fans to breathe a bit easier.
Andrews, a well-known sports injury doctor, performed surgery to repair two of Griffin's knee ligaments on Jan. 9 and says that the quarterback is ahead of schedule in his recovery process.
"I've been real mum on talking too much about RG III. He wants his recovery to be fairly private, but I can tell you he's way ahead of schedule. His recovery has been unbelievable so far," Andrews told ESPN.
Griffin first suffered a sprained LCL in Washington's Week 14 win against the Baltimore Ravens but was able to return two games later. He then tore his LCL and ACL in the first-round playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Since his surgery, Griffin has expressed his desire to be playing Week 1 on the 2014 NFL season and is doing everything possible to make that happen. Head coach Mike Shanahan says that Griffin is going through rehab every day, sometimes for six to eight hours, but will not give a timetable as to win the star quarterback will play again.
"For me to tell you anything at this time is kind of ludicrous. All I can tell you, though, is when you've got a guy who's got the flexibility that he has, he's got the strength, he's got the desire to be the best at what he does, usually good things happen," Shanahan said.
This is not Griffin's first time recovering from an ACL tear. He suffered the same injury while playing at Baylor and was able to come back stronger than before. He later went on to win the Heisman trophy before leaving for the NFL. Redskins' fans are hoping he turns out like Adrian Peterson and returns better than ever.
Griffin had a 68.6 competition percentage in 15 games played last season, throwing for 3,200 yards and 20 touchdowns. He only had five interceptions. He won The Associated Press 2012 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award after seeing the best passer rating by a rookie quarterback.