“Stop comparing the RG3 situation to Strasburg, they're totally different white guys who just happen to throw for Washington.”

[Title Credit: @TheFakeESPN, Photo Credit: JuanElway.com]

{Current Mood: That awkward mood where you should feel bad posting the picture you just posted but can’t bring yourself to do it because it’s photo-shopped brilliantly enough to make you chuckle out loud upon viewing it}

I had a (correct) feeling that he wasn’t ready.

Not to kick a guy when he’s down, but the reason I couldn’t see the Washington Redskins going much further than the divisional round of the playoffs was because I didn’t feel that RG1+2 was ready to lead this team any further than that. Of course, I at least thought they would make it past Seattle at home but had I picked the Seahawks, they lost, and Griffin owned them like he did on the first two drives before hurting himself again, I would’ve felt much dumber than I did for picking against Russel Wilson much like people have been doing his entire career to this point only for him to make them look foolish, just because of what Griffin, Alf, and the Redskins offense brings to the table.

And, for the record, I can already see myself regretting my impending selection of Atlanta to beat Seattle this weekend on the basis that Wilson will fold under the intense pressure of having to win a playoff game in the Georgia Dome as a visiting rookie. But I’d rather be wrong about this instead of picking Seattle only for Wilson to finally realistically choke when I back him, especially since my gut is telling me to take Atlanta (it also told me to take Indy and the Redskins but let’s just ignore that). But since Seattle are underdogs, and karma will see to it that Green Bay slaughters this Seattle team at Lambeau in the NFC Championship game as payback for “InterTouchdownCeption-Gate,” I already know that this will be a situation where playing the right side (Atlanta) will somehow backfire.

Anyways, back to Young Griff. You may be wondering why the word ready was highlighted before. It’s because there are differing degrees of being ready to lead your team past a certain point in the playoffs.

Griffin was absolutely ready to lead his team to victory over Seattle because he has the unique skill-set to run the kind of the kind of innovative offense that the Redskins installed: one that a lot of teams in the NFL aren’t ready to defend, including Seattle on the game’s first two drives.

You can’t ignore the fact that Pete Carrol was as ready as any head coach in the NFL to be able to scheme against and slow down this unique offense. He was a disciple of Monte Kiffin who originally developed the kind of attacking, downhill, 4-3 Under defense that Seattle implements and that is necessary to defend option-based attacks (credit: grantland.com).

You also can’t ignore the fact that Carrol wasn’t initially ready for the wrinkles that the Shanahans added to Chris Ault’s Pistol offense when they brought him in during the off-season to learn all they could about this innovative offensive system that helped Colin Kaepernick become the only quarterback in the history of Division I FBS college football to have passed for over 10,000 yards and rushed for over 4,000 yards in a collegiate career. Kaepernick is also the only Division 1 FBS QB to have passed for over 2,000 yards and rushed for over 1,000 yards in a single season three times in a career (consecutively) (Credit: Wikipedia… don’t judge me).

On the other side of the coin, when reports began to surface that Dr. James Andrews never cleared Griffin to return to action in the game where he initially injured his knee, I knew that RG1+3-1 wasn’t ready to lead his team to victory.

I’m not just talking about the fact that he obviously wasn’t physically ready to compete on one leg, I’m talking about the fact that he wasn’t ready to do what a true leader would’ve done in this situation: Swallow his pride, admit that him playing at less than 100% would hurt his team’s chances to win, and sit out in order to preserve a promising career.

He seems like a good kid with good intentions and I do admire the fact that he toughed it out and tried to play through the pain. But, at some point, you have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and do the right thing for your team as well as for yourself.

The allure of all the publicity and universal praise he would’ve received had he willed his team to victory in his state couldn’t have been lost on this 22-year old kid. And that could, subliminally, be the biggest reason that Griffin decided to tough it out although you will likely never hear him admit it in this lifetime. It’s tough to fully blame a young kid who has already been featured in various commercials for potentially having that mindset.

A lot of the blame for what could have been for this Redskins team should deservingly fall on the shoulders of Mike Shanahan for failing to realize that listening to the advice of a world-renowned orthopedic surgeon would’ve been a good idea. The fans may not have liked it and there’s a chance that they could’ve fallen flat on their face and missed the playoffs entirely had they gone with Kirk Cousins for the last few games. But after watching Young Griff almost single-handedly revive a franchise, you have to overrule the authority of your franchise player and do what’s best for the team.

Griffin isn’t the victim here because he obviously thought he was in good enough condition to play and should’ve taken the high road, admitting to himself and his team that he was nowhere near ready to compete at a playoff level, especially considering that if he, in fact, tore his ACL, it wouldn’t be the first time in his football career that he’s done it.

The fact that, on half of a leg, Griffin was able to will his team to the playoffs by defeating a Dallas team that has a terrible habit of choking in clutch situations got a lot of people believing that this team could make a magical run, likely including himself. But when you decide to play in a gigantic knee brace that obviously limits your mobility, is noticeably uncomfortable, and keeps you from being as effective as you need to be to win the most important game of your life, that’s on you for thinking you could will your way through one of the best defenses in the NFL en route to the Georgia Dome (even if your coach is too stubborn to do the right thing and keep you from suiting up).

Compounding the matter even further is the fact that Griffin very likely saw what happened when Joe Webb was forced into action against the Packers when Christian Ponder was unable to suit up. As bad as the Vikings looked with an unprepared Webb under center, it not only would’ve looked worse had the team given Ponder the start considering the severity of the arm bruise and the fact that he could barely even lift his arm on the day of the game, but they could’ve gotten Ponder seriously injured in the process.

Another question that no one will ask but is worth at least mentioning: What does Griffin’s decision to play through as much pain as he was in say about his faith in Kirk Cousins to lead the team to victory in his absence? I know all great players want the ball in their hands with the most important game of the year looming, but you have to believe in the moves that the organization made to ensure that the guy they chose as their second string quarterback could get the job done if the situation called for it. That’s part of being a leader, a team player, and a guy who is ready to take that next step and become the type of leader that this franchise needs.

Having to sit out your first playoff appearance due to injury is a terrible thing as I’m sure Ponder can attest to, but if he comes back next year at full strength and the Vikings are able to go further into the playoffs and possibly win it all, it will have all been worth it. At this point, we don’t know if Griffin’s stubbornness caused him to suffer the kind of injury that could see him out of action into next season.

It’s not as if Cousins didn’t have game experience either, but having to re-tool the offense to suit a less mobile quarterback was probably of greater concern to the Shanahans than the health of their franchise savior. If you get paid the kind of money that those guys get paid to make that sort of thing work, you have to make it work.

And if you really want to be the savior of the franchise, you have to be ready to realize that you can’t do it while you’re rehabbing an injury that could have easily been prevented had you just known your limitations.

I don’t know his limitations nor will I pretend to, but it’s safe to say (in hindsight, of course) that Griffin really screwed up here whether he knew how badly he was injured or not.

It’s a mistake that a lot of young players would make, especially one who has amassed the cult following that RG9-7+1 has, but I just hope that this mistake didn’t cost Young Griff a valuable chunk of his career. Just because Adrian Peterson can recover quickly from a serious injury and not miss a beat doesn’t mean that Griffin will do the same. And this should worry Redskins fans everywhere.

Deuces,

-Ray-

P.S. Here's another quick picture to brighten everyone's spirits because I'm a caring guy.