Watching Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III get knocked out of the game against the Atlanta Falcons with a concussion was hard to watch but necessary to happen.
Everyone in the media saw this coming from the day he was drafted. When the Cincinnati Bengals got to him a few games ago, I was convinced that he was going to get bounced out of game very soon. This franchise quarterback has a lot of positives, but of his very few negatives one is that he is not smart with his body – at least not yet anyway.
The play during which he suffered his concussion could have been avoided.
He needed to use his speed to get out of bounds instead of trying to get that extra yard. In golfing terms, he should have laid up instead of going for it. Griffin going for it is natural to him because that is what he did frequently at Baylor. The obvious problem is that this not Baylor. You are not going to outrun these grown men on defense who are trained to bring pain while dislodging the ball from the person who has it.
Courtesy: usatoday.com
Seeing Griffin woozy on the sidelines – and not knowing what the score or quarter of the game was – had me thinking of that child who puts his hand on the hot stove. Knowing that the red means the surface is hot, the child still puts his hand on the stove just to see how hot. After the child burns himself, he tends not to put his hand on the hot stove again.
If Griffin is as smart as we all know he is, then the Atlanta game should serve as his hot stove experience. More heat is coming in the form of Jared Allen of Minnesota. Then, next week at the Meadowlands with the Giants, it’s Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Mathias Kiwanuka and Jason Pierre-Paul, followed by the pain pit that is the Pittsburgh Steelers.
I really do hope RGIII learned his lesson because at this point, he is too valuable not to have on the field. When he left the game against the undefeated Falcons, the game was still very much up for grabs. No other quarterback on the roster can do what he does, so his value to the Redskins is not going after an extra yard. It is finishing each game running off the field under his own power.
Stay away from the hot stove, young man!
*Also posted at: http://www.masnsports.com/holder_on/2012/10/hand-on-the-stove.html *
