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Robert Griffin III lay prone on the soggy FedEx Field playing surface on Sunday as the seconds passed. One, two, three ... still no movement.With the trainer assisting him, Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III (10) staggers off the field after being hit in the third quarter at FedEx Field, Landover, Md., Oct. 10, 2012. (Preston Keres/Special to The Washington Times)
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Finally, he stood, woozy and staggering a bit. Athletic trainers arrived. Eventually, they asked him the simplest of questions.
What was the score? What quarter was it? Easy for any lucid person inside FedEx Field on Sunday. But when Griffin could not produce the correct answers, one of the Washington Redskins' greatest fears became reality.
In just his 19th quarter of professional football, Griffin, Washington's star quarterback, had experienced the one -- the hit from which he could not pop up from the turf, an impact great enough to force him out of a game.
The Redskins' face of the franchise, the lifeblood of their offense, was concussed. Griffin was just trying to make one of his typical electrifying plays. Instead, he missed the decisive moments of Washington's 24-17 loss to Atlanta, which included two interceptions by his replacement, fourth-round rookie Kirk Cousins.
And so the Redskins (2-3) not only lost another winnable game, they proceed without immediately knowing when Griffin will return to the field.
"Thank you for all the prayers & support," Griffin tweeted at 7:04 p.m. Sunday. "I'm ok and I think after all the testing I will play next week."
Griffin, per NFL protocol, must pass a series of concussion tests before he can resume playing. Coach Mike Shanahan called it a "mild" concussion, so the team is optimistic he won't miss much time.
Whenever Griffin plays again, though, he will be armed with experience the Redskins hoped he would avoid but figured he would acquire at some point. In fact, the hit could very well be a seminal moment in his career.
"We talked about protecting yourself," Shanahan said. "Every game he goes in, he's going to learn, and that's why it takes you two to three years to really feel comfortable with [defenses] that can play in the NFL, to slow the game down a little bit."
Source: Washington Times | Rich Campbell
