In the interest of full disclosure, I’m a Philadelphia Eagles fan. But it would be gauche for anyone like me who works in Washington, DC not to be a Redskins fan – if only by default (i.e., as long as their success has no adverse impact on that of my team).
Of course most of us had come to regard the Redskins the way Chicagoans regard the Cubs, namely, as celebrated losers. That is, until the Redskins played well enough this season to finally host their first playoff game yesterday since 1999.
And, to be honest, their new franchise player, quarterback Robert Griffin III (aka RG3), brought so much excitement, and engineered so much success, that I even harbored thoughts of abandoning my hapless Eagles and their perennially hobbled franchise player, quarterback Michael Vick.
Well, so much for all that: because the Redskins not only lost yesterday’s NFC wild-card game to the Seattle Seahawks 24-14; they may have lost RG3 too.
No doubt you recall when he suffered what looked like a career-ending knee injury on December 9 in a game against the Baltimore Ravens. I saw it happen live and thought then that he should have been placed on injured reserved immediately to repair and rehab that knee in preparation for next season.
In fact, I had in mind what our Nationals Baseball team did to protect and preserve their franchise pitcher, Stephen Strasburg, when he suffered what looked like a career-ending elbow injury in August 2010: they pulled him from the rotation immediately; had him undergo corrective surgery; and then sat him out for an entire year to rehabilitate his arm.
By contrast, the Redskins kept RG3 in that fateful game until he could barely stand on his own two feet; rested him for one week; and then put him back in the lineup — despite it being painfully clear to everyone that he was not even close to being 100%.
He nonetheless led them to a couple impressive victories. But, given the way he re-injured that knee in yesterday’s loss, those victories may prove pyrrhic at best.
Now Washington is being treated to the spectacle of the coach, Mike Shanahan, insisting that the team doctor cleared RG3 to return in that Ravens game on December 9, and the doctor, James Andrews, insisting that nothing could be further from the truth:
He [RG3] didn’t even let us look at him. He came off the field, walked through the sidelines, circled back through the players, and took off back to the field. It wasn’t our opinion.
We didn’t even get to touch him or talk to him. Scared the hell out of me.
(NBC Sports, January 6, 2013)
Whatever the case, I fear that, having been unable to take the Redskins back to the Super Bowl this year, RG3 will end up doing no more for them than Vick did for the Eagles (or the Falcons): provide boundless excitement when he plays, but hardly playing because of chronic injuries.
In the meantime, since they knocked the Redskins out, and the Eagles did not even make it in, the Seahawks will be my team for the rest of the playoffs. Not least because they have in Russell Wilson a rookie quarterback who might end up beating RG3 for the NFL rookie of the year award. Oh, did I mention that Wilson’s Black too.
Why? Because less than a decade ago, Black quarterbacks in the NFL were almost as rare as Black players in the NHL. But with RG3, Wilson, and others, I predict Black quarterbacks will soon become as commonplace as Black running backs. Indeed, nothing is more indicative of this than having a Black quarterback lead the Irish of Notre Dame in tonight’s BCS National Championship against defending champs Alabama.
NOTE: My Eagles suffered their worst season in over a decade, ending up just 4-12. They have already fired their head coach, Andy Reid, and chances are very good that they’ll be getting rid of Vick too.
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