Robert Griffin III knee injury: MRI shows possible partial tear of two knee ligaments

An MRI exam of the injured right knee of Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III shows that the rookie star may have suffered at least partial tears of two ligaments, according to several people with knowledge of the test results.

Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan said Monday that the results of Griffin’s MRI were inconclusive and that Griffin would be examined Tuesday by orthopedic surgeon James Andrews at Andrews’s medical office outside Pensacola, Fla. That evaluation is an attempt to determine whether the MRI results show new injuries to Griffin’s anterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments, or previous injuries, he said.

Graphic

Ligaments work to allow the knee to bend forward while limiting its ability to rotate and flex side-to-side. On the play in which Robert Griffin III was hurt, the lower half of his knee makes both of those movements to excess, suggesting an injury to the anterior cruciate ligament.

Video

The Washington Post’s Mike Jones breaks down the Redskins’ loss against the Seattle Seahawks and Robert Griffin III’s injured knee. And find out what the team needs to do in the offseason to stay competitive next year.

Griffin tore the ACL in the same knee in 2009 while he was a sophomore at Baylor University.

“Any time you do have a former ACL injury, or an LCL, and you look at this MRI, sometimes it’s old injuries,” Shanahan said. “That’s why he’s going to fly down there to see Dr. Andrews, get some new MRIs, get a physical examination.”

The picture remains incomplete on how badly the Redskins’ star is hurt or how long his recovery might take. But in the 24 hours after Griffin played most of Sunday’s playoff loss against the Seattle Seahawks with a clearly reinjured right knee, debate intensified throughout the sports world about whether Shanahan should have pulled his quarterback despite Griffin’s demand to stay in the game.

“You’ve got to live and die with your quarterback,” Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garcon said.“If he can play, if he says he can play, you’ve got to go with him. If he says he can’t, you can put the next guy in. But you’ve got to live and die with your quarterback.”

Houston Texans running back Derrick Ward countered, via Twitter: “Mike Shanahan should be fired for letting RG3 play today. Bottom line. You risk tearing his knee up to try to win and u see he isn’t mobile.”

Griffin’s current knee problems began four weeks ago in a win over the Baltimore Ravens, when he was hit hard by the Ravens’ Haloti Ngata and suffered a Grade 1, or mild, sprain of his right lateral collateral ligament.

Shanahan, who acknowledged Sunday night that he would “probably second-guess myself,” about the decision, said Monday that he was confident he had made the right call, even as the Redskins’ offense stalled with Griffin unable to provide the heroics that made him one of the NFL’s top draws this season.

“Robert’s our franchise quarterback, and I’m not going to take the chance on his career to win a game,” Shanahan said. “But I also know that when you’ve got the belief in a guy, and you feel he can play at a certain level, and the doctors are telling you that he’s okay to go in, then you’ve got to do what you think is right.”

Griffin, who said after the game that “I don’t feel like me being out there hurt the team in any way,” also tweeted Monday: “Many may question, criticize [and] think they have all the right answers. But few have been in the line of fire in battle.”

The initial MRI was conducted on Griffin hours after the game. One person with knowledge of the tests said team physicians had conflicting opinions of the test’s findings, prompting the decision to have Griffin, who will be accompanied by team owner Daniel Snyder, see Andrews for further examination.