RG III Will Start Season Opener
For nearly a year now, one of the biggest questions looming over the opening of the 2013 NFL regular season has been: Will Robert Griffin III be healthy enough to start week one for the Washington Redskins? Fortunately for football fans, that question has finally been answered.
According to ESPN.com, on Wednesday, sources close to the phenom quarterback confirmed that RG III will be under center for the Redskins on Monday Night Football on September 9, as Washington opens up the season at home against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The news should more than delight Skins fans, who saw the rookie Griffin go down awkwardly in Washington’s playoff game against the Seahawks last season, with what turned out to be several torn ligaments in his right knee.
Griffin’s speedy recovery following the injury gave fans and bettors hope that he would be ready for the opener, but there was still plenty of uncertainty hovering over one of last season’s breakout stars. Griffin still hasn’t played in the preseason, but has participated fully in practice without any incident for the past two weeks, which seems to be enough evidence for Washington to throw him back into the fray.
Griffin does have one more doctor’s visit scheduled on Thursday to get final medical clearance, but the meeting should be a simple formality, as the same team doctor already cleared Griffin months ago. The plan is to re-examine Griffin to ensure the knee has healed properly and that the team is satisfied with his progress.
Griffin is certainly satisfied and has felt ready to play for a while now.
“I would say I’m 100 percent, but you can’t put a number on it,” Griffin told ESPN980 Radio in Washington earlier this week. “No one ever knows when they are 100 percent or what percentage they’re playing at. The biggest thing is, I’m not below 100 percent.”
While Griffin suiting up for week one is exciting, Redskins fans still have to be concerned about re-injury. Knee ligament tears are possibly the toughest injuries to fully recover from and since we haven’t seen RG III back in action in a real game yet, there’s still no telling how that knee will respond.
As RG III has in training camp and in the preseason, I would tread lightly regarding bets on the Redskins until we see Griffin at full capacity. It might take a couple of weeks to see if he’s the same, so it may be wise to hold off investing too much in that knee before we know for sure.
