Robert Griffin III stepped back onto the football field this week, just months after undergoing reconstructive knee surgery for a torn ACL back in January. Both he and Washington Redskins head coach have received flack for the decision made to keep Griffin in the game despite the quarterback being clearly injured. Both has numerous times that there is no love lost since that day, in fact both Griffin and Shanahan are exchanging praises as the quarterback intends on coming back for Week 1 of the 2013 season.
Shanahan is not angry at Griffin; he is totally smitten over the quarterback.
"If Robert plays like he did in 2012 the rest of his career, he'll go down as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game," Shanahan said.
That is high praise for someone that has played just one year in the NFL. There is no question Griffin was incredible last season, but it remains to be seen how he will come back from his recent knee injury. As he stepped onto the field for OTAs, his leg was wrapped in bulky brace. He completed a 90-minute workout, throwing to a group of receivers. It was the first Griffin had been seen on the field seen working out since the injury.
Shanahan did not dare offer up a timetable of when Griffin will be back to full strength. The quarterback has been rehabbing aggressively and Dr. James Andrews reports he is well ahead of schedule. Griffin has stated his goal is to be back by Week 1, preferably getting to participate in training camp beforehand.
Shanahan specifically has received a lot of attention after making the call to keep Griffin in that fateful playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks. The head coach insisted that Griffin told him he was fine. Shanahan has since said that he plans to not follow that method going forward.
"I've been doing the same thing for 20 years as a head coach. What you do is, you talk to the doctors, and you get what they say and see if there's something wrong with the knee, or you talk to the player. Then, after you talk to the doctor and the player-and you're not back there talking to the guy the whole time-but after you do talk to the doctors and they give you a thumbs up, and you talk to the player, you go."
Both Shanahan and Griffin said they were not sure how the injury would change the offense. The coach intends to let Griffin be the quarterback that he is, instead of forcing him into something that he is not.
