MRI Reveals Robert Griffin III’s Ankle Not Fractured
The Washington Redskins received a huge blow when star quarterback Robert Griffin III was forced out the team’s Week 2 win over Jacksonville after falling awkwardly along the sidelines.
Early reports were that Griffin had suffered a dislocated ankle, a potentially season-ending ailment. This was obviously terrible news for Griffin, who saw his second season become a massive letdown when it was clear that he had not recovered from the torn ACL he suffered in 2012.
Today, however, Griffin has apparently received an encouraging diagnosis, as John Keim reported that his MRI came back negative for a fracture:
Rg3 says MRI showed no fracture
— John Keim (@john_keim) September 15, 2014
That could mean that Griffin could return in roughly 6-8 weeks, but with backup Kirk Cousins coming in to lead the Redskins to a 41-10 shellacking of the lowly Jaguars, he may have already lost the job at that point.
There have been whisperings in Washington that new head coach Jay Gruden had already faired Cousins over Griffin to lead his pro-style attack, and indeed Griffin had looked erratic and out of sorts in the offense. Check out what Gruden had to say to the Washington Post after the win:
“We’re sick about it, but now we have to move forward. That’s what you do in the NFL when people go down, you have to have good backup plans. That’s why Kirk is here. We feel very strongly about his role as a quarterback.
I feel like we can win any game with Kirk Cousins . . . Kirk is a special guy. He started four games last year and didn’t have great success, but obviously has a skill set that I feel like is very much suited for what we do. He can handle it mentally, and obviously, physically. I feel that he can make every throw in the book and we are going to move forward with Kirk.”
So with Griffin dodging a bullet but still faced with an uphill battle, it sounds like Washington may have wanted him replaced anyway. While several of the teams’ players reportedly stuck by Griffin as the team’s leaders, will that change in four weeks if the Redskins keep winning?
