Robert Griffin III and Adidas want us to believe that the star Washington Redskins quarterback is "all in for Week 1" after spraining his lateral collateral ligament in a win against the Ravens in Week 14, then tearing his LCL and anterior cruciate ligament in a wild-card playoff loss to the Seahawks.
Dr. James Andrews, the renowned orthopedic surgeon who performed surgery on Griffin's knee and was also outspoken about him playing injured, says the second-year pro is one of those superhuman guys like Bo Jackson or Adrian Peterson.
From Andrews, via ESPN:
“I’ve been real mum on talking too much about RG III. He wants his recovery to be fairly private but I can tell you he’s way ahead of schedule. His recovery has been unbelievable so far. RGIII is one those superhumans. First patient I ever had like that was Bo Jackson. And recently I, of course, had Adrian Peterson, who is also superhuman. They have an unbelievable ability to recover, where as a normal human being may not be able to recover.”
At the heart of this conflict of Griffin being all in for Week 1 is the player safety issues the NFL continues to face. Team doctors — which is Andrews' role with the Redskins — give opinions that are more often being viewed at face value because of the conflict of interest the NFLPA sheds light on (hyping players up after patching them up so they can go back out there and handle the organization's business).
But remember that Andrews was straightforward about his concerns when Griffin was out there hobbling around on a leg and a half. If Andrews is saying RGIII is making remarkable progress, there's likely something to it. And we've seen how medicine can give players life after these devastating injuries.
No rush from over here, though. Get well, brotha.
