Shanahan Decision Not to Take Out RGIII

[amm0409]

I feel like iv had a bad dream.

Now Im thinking RG3 just went out there to prove something before a doctor like Andrews could say No to the coach. Each and every game he played after the ravens game he wasn't the same. Is there somewhere along the lines He should have been pulled? At least thats what Im thinking. Should someone told him sorry your sitting? Im glad his a warrior thats awesome. Heck he would of played after he had a concussion, but they stopped him. Something just doesn't feel right. Especially when you can see a person obviously limping not throwing well and has the history and upside of a future, ugh..
I know Iv played through injuries etc... Like a sprained ankle once you sprain/twist it, its that much easier the next time.

[Oldfan]

...Just because a doctor says he's not at risk to reinjure, that doesn't mean that he's not injured and thus ineffective. ...

Why would Shanahan trust a doctor telling him there was no risk to re-injure when RG3 had just reinjured his knee in the first period?

This decision was not primarily about winning a football game. It was about the future of the player and his value to the franchise for years into the future.

It was a mistake to play Robert against the Eagles hoping a knee brace would prevent re-injury and it was a completely stupid decision to leave him in the Seattle game after the first period re-injury.

[KDawg]

This decision was not primarily about winning a football game.

It should have been. Because if it was, he wouldn't have been in the game to hurt himself and it would have protected the future. All he had to do was make a sound football decision. He didn't. It cost us on the football side AND the medical side because of it. Poor choice from Shanahan.

[KingGibbs]

[KokoMike]

Shanahan is the decision maker. When he negotiated his contract, he demanded and got full authority. With authority comes great responsibility. That responsibility was his. It still is.

Shanahan chose to not make a decision and let things happen. I am really ok with that. I am ok with RG3 playing, at least initially. I am ok with Cousins being put in for a short period or the rest of the game.

It is a huge problem IMO that Shanahan has all these reasons for his actions that put responsblity on others, and he doesn't say, it was his decision. Period.

Putting the blame on the player like Shanahan did, and/or the doctor, and/or others (he did say there were others) and raising the question about whether he will trust RG3 again, is plain nonsense. Implying that RG3 lied to him is worse than nonsense.

Seriously, how many of you have had a boss who asked your opinion about a situation that involved some risk, made a decision/non-decision (taking into account other people's opinions, too), failed, and then blamed you and/or others for the decision. Did you have the same respect for them after that? Did you trust them as much again?

That is the leadership issue here, IMO. I would have rather Shanahan just take responsibility. I would have more respect for Shanahan if he did.

Just my honest opinion.

Hail to the Redskins.

[thomasroane]

...That is the leadership problem here. I would have rather Shanahan just take responsibility. I would have more respect for Shanahan if he did.

What about Robert taking responsibility? I'm coming around more to B-Mitch's point that Robert should have taken himself out; he knows his body better than anyone. That doesn't take Shanahan or the Medical staff off the hook. But ultimately, Robert needed to come to the realization that he wasn't helping himself or the team. And he should've said let Kirk finish the game. Only he truly knew how bad he was hurt. He turned down a custom made brace. He was wearing a sleeve in practice when he should've been wearing the brace. And it's quite possible that he may have injured it some time before the game. He was considerably slower at the beginning of the seahawks game than he was in the eagles and cowpies game.

[KokoMike]

Just a couple of additional observations from the game. My seats are on the lower level behind the Skins bench.

During the game, particularly in the second half, RG3 warmed up on the sidelines, throwing passes, maybe 5 separate times. That was very unusual, IMO. He was throwing passes maybe 20 yards, lightly, going through the motions. In my opinion, he was checking the mechanics of throwing. His arm was fine, so IMO, he was checking to see how his knee felt. I guess he thought he could deal with it. I saw no coaches paying attention to him when he was doing this at any time. Since it was unusual IMO, I did try to see if any coaches were looking at him. None.

RG3 came out very late from the halftime break. Cousins had already thrown maybe 15 passes or so warming up. RG3 jogged right over there. Threw one or two passes lightly, and then threw the next and last pass maybe 15 yards over the receivers head.

Cousins never warmed up on the sidelines during the game, as far as I can remember.

At one point, maybe late in the third quarter or early in the fourth, when the Skins defense was on the field, and RG3 sitting on the bench by himself, some coach who I am not familiar with walked over to Cousins, grabbed his arm to talk with him face to face, eye to eye. Cousins immediately began doing arm windmills, but never picked up a ball. RG3 did look up from the bench and see this, at least he faced this from only 20 feet away directly. I assumed at that time that the coach told Cousins that he should be prepared to come into the game immediately. Soon thereafter, RG3 was injured.

[Rocky52Mc]

My final say in this is: None of us know what goes on behind closed doors. If you think for one second what you hear when there's a mic in front of their mouth is what is real or legitimate you're flipping WRONG. How many of you acted nice in front of friends parents growing up? Or your own parents? Only to drive off to a strip club and cuss and laugh and get drunk or whatever it is you might do that some people would not respect all the time.

THAT'S all there is to it. These guys are a ****ing team, responsibility is owned up to in PERSON face to face with an individual, not to the media, NEVER to the media. If you're being a leader to the media, you're most likely a coward in the locker room.

I have absolutely ZERO problem with what occurred during the Playoff game in the form of game planning and decisions. The whole entire time we were up the offense was making mistakes. Robert was being inaccurate and sort of hurting his own game, WR's were dropping passes. Garcon dropped some, Hankerson dropped some, some guys ran some odd routes. The defense gave us a chance to win. It wasn't until Montgomery started snapping WAY to low all the sudden and it wasn't just once or twice, he was getting dough rolled by Red Bryant as the game went on. We had there defense figured out until the cheap shot on Griffin, so **** it. We go for next year.

You want to know leadership? Trent Williams sticking up for the team in front of Sherman. Darrel Young wanting to punch sherman for talking to Shanahan. If you can't figure out THESE CLUES!? Your'e CLUELESS. This team respects Shanahan above all else, BECAUSE HE'S A ****ING LEADER.

As cool as Cousins was against the AFC East, he struggled against Atlanta with a chance to tie, and threw 2 picks. Seattle was starting to get pressure on us even without Chris Clemons. That was an issue, and Kirk was getting surrounded when he was in the pocket as we were overmatched without the proper play action material. It was the right call to keep RG3 in.

[KDawg]

You want to know leadership? Trent Williams sticking up for the team in front of Sherman. Darrel Young wanting to punch sherman for talking to Shanahan. If you can't figure out THESE CLUES!? Your'e CLUELESS. This team respects Shanahan above all else, BECAUSE HE'S A ****ING LEADER.

Nice expletive laced rant, but what does this have to do with a coach making a mistake? Because someone is a leader that can't make errors that they will be called out on? I consider myself a leader. I've made mistakes. I've been called on them. Part of coaching.

As cool as Cousins was against the AFC East, he struggled against Atlanta with a chance to tie, and threw 2 picks. Seattle was starting to get pressure on us even without Chris Clemons. That was an issue, and Kirk was getting surrounded when he was in the pocket as we were overmatched without the proper play action material. It was the right call to keep RG3 in.

Agree to disagree with you. But, I don't follow your logic here. We didn't have proper play action material because he came in so late. If RG3 would have been pulled much earlier due to an injury OR due to poor performance due to an injury, the playaction becomes a valid threat. Furthermore, how is keeping an injured player who is wildly ineffective the right call... ever? Just because he's RG3? That's not a good reason. The team comes before Griffin. Further evidence that Shanahan made the wrong call? Griffin passed for 18 yards in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarter combined. Cousins threw for 27 in his first few plays. Griffin, as much as he IS our franchise, and our leader, and the guy who got us there was obviously, to anyone watching, injured.

[Stadium-Armory]

Ohh goodie, Sally Jenkins just wrote a piece on it. I bet its positive and supportive:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports...y.html?hpid=z1

[sempre_victrix]

Anyone with half a clue and watching the game knew that he should not have been playing in the second half. He looked like he was in a 3-legged race on that "sprint" to the sideline for 9 yards.

The other question is what kind of confidence does this show in Cousins if he is not playing instead of a very hobbled Griffin? I guess we had all better hope that he shrugs it off for next season.

[Spear]

I say fire the doctors. I'm sure Snyder forks over fistfuls of cash to keep a Fantasy Doctor Team on the sideline, but just like spending to build a fantasy football team, it isn't working.

We send a hobbled Orakpo out there, cleared by doctors, but still not feeling right by his own admission and what happens? Re-ruptures the old injury.

Brandon Merriweather has issues from training camp, finally gets cleared several weeks into the season, only to go out on a collision during WARM-UPS. More weeks spent recovering and he's back for the Eagles where he lasts about a half before rupturing the knee that's been bothering him all along.

Now we've got Griffin, who gets his LCL whacked. Doctors clear him to go back in 2 weeks later, even though we've heard from other orthopedic surgeons that LCL tears almost always are accompanied by some other damage to the knee. he's back on the field in a brace. They even go as far as telling us the risk of further injury is low.

And we all know what happened.

I'm not saying the doctors are incompetent or careless; I'm saying it's not ****ing working and their presence is causing Shanahan to trust that they have all the answers and they simply don't. Bring back those trainers, Shanny. Guys who are a part of the organization and invested in the team and have relationships with the players. I was half-joking about the "Fantasy Doctor Team" before, but there might be some truth to it.

It's kind of a conflict of interest, anyway. If these guys could really prevent injuries, they'd be out of business. Just get rid of them, listen to your gut, and from now on, treat RG3's knee with the same care as a concussion. Pull him at the sight of anything greater than a slight hitch, because if he has any more problems with that knee in the 10 years we hope his career will last, he's probably done.

[Taylorfan2179]

He hasn't been 100% since Baltimore, but he has gone undefeated. He played in pain, if doctors required a second mri with contrast, do you really think they could have made that determination on the field? Do you think it's cool to give the doc a 5-8 minute window to do these tests? these inconclusive tests? where do they get that time from? Say RG3 is good to go, and during that time kirk throws game changing interceptions, what are the words regarding shanny then?

[Shabby]

the people complaining about RG3 staying in the game and getting injured are the same people that would complain if RG3 was taken out and Cousins came in and had a horrible game. Let it go already, theres shanny can do about it now.

[KDawg]

the people complaining about RG3 staying in the game and getting injured are the same people that would complain if RG3 was taken out and Cousins came in and had a horrible game.

No, they're not.