RGIII won't play until he's 100%

Washington Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan took a lot of flack for playing rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III while he was not completely healthy last season. In the end, RG3 ended up getting hurt even worse as a result, tearing his right ACL, which required reconstructive surgery. Shanahan was unapologetic for playing Griffin at the time, but now he has changed his tune, claiming that Griffin will now only play if he is 100 percent healthy. The 60-year-old head coach also said the team won’t allow Griffin to push himself too hard in rehab either. The Redskins’ prized rookie was injured in a playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks in January. Shanahan has been criticized for not removing Griffin from the game earlier when it was obvious that the young quarterback was struggling to even walk. Shanahan has claimed Griffin continually said his knee was fine, despite visual evidence to the contrary. Griffin needed his right ACL reconstructed for the second time (the first surgery came in college during his sophomore season at Baylor), and had to have his LCL fixed as well. Shanahan claims he has learned from the experience and his view on things has changed. On Wednesday he had the following to say about Griffin and injuries in general: “…every situation is different. Sometimes you make the right call, other times you don’t, but at the end of the day you’re always hoping you learn from your mistakes, whatever they are. So at the end of this year, (as) we go into next year, one thing we’re going to make sure of is that Robert never plays if he’s not 100 percent.” In our opinion, Shanahan is completely to blame for Griffin’s knee injury. Anyone who watched him play against Seattle in that playoff game could see RG3 was struggling. It was the head coach’s duty to be the adult in the situation and pull his young starting quarterback from the game. Griffin is the guy the Redskins are building their entire franchise around, they can’t afford for him to be injured. He’s absolutely right that Griffin shouldn’t be on the field unless he’s 100 percent.