Kirk Cousins takes over as Washington Redskins starting quarterback. (photo by Brian Murphy)
Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden briefed reporters Monday about the severity of quarterback Robert Griffin III’s injury.
“Robert has a dislocated ankle. It is not a fracture. We’ll know in a few more weeks as far as how long he’ll be out. We’re going to send his results of the MRI to Dr. [Robert] Anderson, a foot and ankle specialist and get it casted up and we’ll just go from there.”
There was no ligament damage to Griffin’s ankle, and the injury will not require surgery. There was no consideration to putting Griffin on season-ending IR.
As for speculation on whether the field caused the injury, Gruden said, “I think it was just an awkward angle. He was rolling out and he saw DeSean late and he stiff armed the linebacker and I think he just landed awkwardly on his ankle. I don’t think the turf had anything to do with it. It was just an awkward angle. It was a great throw by him to get it out, but I think it was just an awkward, one in a million type injury.”
Gruden was asked about how the injury will affect Griffin as a pocket passer. “It’s injury and injuries happen. It’s obviously a step backwards for him as far as him getting injured and missing time because you don’t get time back and the reps that you lose from being injured are unfortunate.
He was coming along great. He had a great first quarter of the game. He was 2-for-3 and the only incompletion was the one that should have been reversed, in my opinion. So, he should have been 3-for-3 and had two rushes for 20 yards. He’s playing at a high level in that game, a lot of great energy and it’s an unfortunate circumstance, but he’ll recover and we’ll cross that bridge when it comes when he does recover.”
As far as a timetable for Griffin’s return, Gruden said, “I think it’s too early to tell as far as the timetable is concerned. All we know is it’s not a fracture. We’re going to put the cast on it for a couple weeks, get more results [from] Dr. Anderson, see what he says and go from there.”
Gruden was asked what will happen when Griffin returns if Cousins plays well in his absence. If Cousins is playing well when Griffin returns, Gruden said, “Well, we’ll cross that bridge when that comes. Right now, we’re going to prepare with Kirk Cousins as our starter and Robert’s going to rehab, and all decisions after that will come after that. But right now, we’re going to go try to do the best we can and get Kirk ready to go and beat Philadelphia.”
When asked on concerns about Griffin’s durability, Gruden said, “No, it’s unfortunate. It is. The more injuries mount on him, it just becomes more of an issue I guess from a lot of people that think his durability is in question, but this is an unfortunate injury.
You know he had an unfortunate knee injury and this was a fluke deal where he’s rolling out and got his ankle caught in the ground in an awkward way. I don’t think it speaks to his durability. I think they’re just fluke injuries and they happen from time to from to certain players. Hopefully when he recovers from this, it’ll be the last one he ever has.”
Gruden was asked about how, as a coach, he handled losing his starting quarterback in Week 2. “Well, you’re sick about it because you spend a lot of time with Robert getting him ready and you watch how much passion he has for the football game and how seriously he takes his job and what kind of will he has to succeed. He’s such a great kid on and off the field that you hate something like this happen to somebody and it’s really a sad deal because I know how much he wants to be great.
But, this is just a bump in the road for him. It’s another little bit of adversity he’s going to have to overcome. Part of being a quarterback, like I said, is your mental toughness and your ability to overcome adversity, and he’s done it in the past and he’ll do it again. We have total faith that he’ll bounce back and be as good as ever soon.”
Gruden spoke about Griffin’s reaction to his injury. “He is a class act and I know he is disappointed and he put on a face for you that it is not going to bother him, and I don’t think it will bother him. I think he is going to rehab this thing and get back on the field very soon and be ready to roll. It is still going to take a little bit out of him, he is disappointed and like I said he put a lot of time and effort into this.
All football players do, and when their season get cut short or you have to miss some time to an injury, it’s frustrating. Jordan Reed is going through the same thing right now. He is frustrated, [nose tackle Barry] Cofield is very frustrated. They’ve all worked extremely hard to get on the field and when you have an injury, it is part of the game and part of the business. The only thing you can do is put a positive spin on it, take the time off, get yourself ready to go mentally and physically and come back stronger than ever and I think Robert will do that.”