Much has been made of the knee injury to Robert Griffin III. When the Washington Redskin's franchise quarterback was hobbling around on the field during the team's playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks, many fans believed he should have been taken out. Clearly already in pain, Griffin took one more hit and an ACL tear was the result. Now, as the quarterback continues to rehab with the goal to return for Week 1, he notes that he regrets playing injured in the first place.
Playing through injury has become the topic of conversation surrounding Griffin in recent weeks. During the game, the quarterback stressed that he was healthy despite playing through pain. Griffin notes that if the situation came up again, he would take himself out of the game until he felt healthy and could return.
"Your survivor instinct kicks in. You're like, 'I'm a warrior. I'm a beast. I do all these things, I can push through adversity.' If I had another incident like the Ngata hit, I'm out of the game. You pull yourself out at that point. You learn from your mistakes," Griffin said.
Griffin said he wanted to help his team win and believed at the time he could fight through the pain. He has learned that it is more beneficial to sit until 100 percent healthy instead of attempting to play injured. The result was obviously a surgery to repair a torn ACL and LCL.
Head coach Mike Shanahan has also had a change of heart in regards to the Griffin injury. The coach took a lot of backlash for keeping Griffin in the game when he was clearly injured. Shanahan said that at the time Griffin told him he was fine and could play, something that clearly was not true. Shanahan has since said that when it comes to health, he will not listen to what his quarterback has to say.
Griffin has the goal to be ready for Week 1 of the 2013 season. Dr. James Andrews who performed the surgery on Griffin has said that he is making incredible strides to being at full strength and is way ahead of schedule. Washington Redskins can breathe a small sigh of relief.
