Putting the RGIII Injury to Rest: Shanahan Played Situation Correctly in Heat of Battle

Okay, here's the deal: We get that there are some Washington fans that are upset about rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III's knee injury towards the end of the Skins' first round playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks. That's understandable.

But calling for Griffin to have been benched before the re-occurring injury happened in the fourth quarter? Now that's where you're wrong.

Yes, Griffin appeared to tweak his sprained knee early in the game and came up limping afterwards. Luckily for the Skins, however, he didn't have to miss a play. It was a failed third down conversion and RGIII went directly to the bench after the play to get it taped up. The next drive he came back out ready to get back to work.

Then, there was a play halfway through the fourth quarter in which Griffin collapsed after once again hurting his knee. Down 21-14, Griffin and the Washington offense started the drive at its own 24-yard line. Griffin was sacked by fellow rookie Bruce Irvin for a 12-yard loss on the first play and, facing 2nd & long, fumbled the shotgun snap on the following play. In an attempt to recover his fumble, Griffin tweaked his injured knee and awkwardly collapsed, unable to get up as the Seahawks recovered the ball at Washington's 5-yard line.

It was at this point that Griffin couldn't get up on his own and needed assistance to get to the sidelines. With Dr. James Andrews on the Washington sidelines, Griffin and the Washington trainers/coaching staff made the decision to take RGIII out of the game. Which was the right move.

Seattle went on to score three more points with a 22-yard Steven Hauschka field goal four plays later. The Skins' second-string quarterback and rookie Kirk Cousins came into the game for the final two drives to attempt the comeback, but failed. Cousins finished 3-for-10 for 31 yards, failing on two fourth down conversions, as the Seahawks pulled away with the 24-14 victory.

Here's where the "controversy" comes in. Should Robert Griffin have been taken out of the game when he came up limping in the first half?

For some reason fans and a select few so-called experts seem to think that head coach Mike Shanahan and Dr. James Andrews handled the situation incorrectly and caused further damage to Griffin's knee injury.

Following the game Griffin stated that he told his coach he was good to go, and that's where another question mark pops up: should the decision to play or sit be put in the athletes' hands? Most say no, but I think this entire conversation is pointless.

If there was a big enough concern on Dr. Andrews' part, the coaching staff likely would have forced him to sit. Watching the game, you could see he was ready to go despite the limp. This is a playoff game, and the only reason that fans have a problem with this is because the Redskins lost the game. If they had ended up completing the comeback in the second half, there would be no concern over his knee and he would be branded a "hero" and/or "beast" by some.

This is ridiculous. You have to respect what Griffin III has done this season, and with his playing-style he will be taking hits and playing injured his entire career. Just look at guys like Brett Favre, Steve Young, Michael Vick, Ben Roethlisberger, etc. They played (or still are playing) injured on most occasions because of their respective playing styles. Favre and Young loved scrambling around for as long as possible and making risky throws on the run. Roethlisberger holds on to the ball as long as his line will allow him, waiting for a receiver to break-free from coverage. Vick, well, he's a lot like Griffin. Loves to take off with the ball himself and doesn't usually run out of bounds.

Fans love seeing players play through the pain and the knee injury clearly had effected his mobility in the previous two weeks yet there wasn't any concern from fans. Why? Because the Redskins won. Seattle outplayed the Redskins in the final three quarters of play and played mistake-free football. The better team that day came out on top, and the D.C. area seems to be making excuses for the loss and throwing their own coach under the bus.

There was no way you were peeling Griffin off the field (until the tweak late in the game that left Griffin unable to move). Also, take note that the injury was a freak accident. Without a bad snap Griffin would have been perfectly okay, but because his momentum took him one way while the ball went another, an awkward fall took place. There was no contact from any defenders.

So, while you guys continue to look for a way out of a third consecutive playoff exit at the hands of Seattle (last two playoff appearances ended at the hands of the 'Hawks), I will continue to believe that Griffin belonged in that game and that Kirk Cousins was not going to bail out the Redskins against Seattle's No. 1 defense.

I expect to see RGIII a bit more cautious when taking off with the ball once next season rolls around. If not, he will continue to play injured, whether you like it or not.

All this being said, for a young guy such as Griffin, he surely handles himself well and deals with the press as well as anyone in the league. We here at All-Out Blitz wish him a speedy recovery.

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By the way, more reaction from this past weekend's games, in addition to a preview of this weekend's Divisional match-ups, will be on the way in the next couple of days. Stick around for it!

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Wild Card Preview: Vikings, Packers Meet Again

The second of two Saturday wild card match-ups features yet another "rematch" of two teams. The 6-seeded Minnesota Vikings (10-6) and 3-seeded Green Bay Packers (11-5) have only met in the postseason once (Vikings won 31-17 in the 2004 Wild Card round), but they meet twice in the regular season every season.

Green Bay traveled to Minnesota to face its NFC North division rivals just last week. In dire need of a victory to fight for its playoff chances, Minnesota knocked off the Pack with a late field goal from rookie kicker Blair Walsh to snag the second wild card slot in the NFC, 37-34.

A 1-1 regular season split further adds fuel to the postseason fire. Who will get the last laugh in the NFC North tonight?

Minnesota Vikings @ Green Bay Packers

8 PM, Lambeau Field

Favorite: Green Bay by 8

Adrian Peterson fell just eight yards shy of tying Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record of 2,105 after his 199 yard, 2 (total) TD performance in last week's victory. The near-200 yard performance gives AD 409 rushing yards and 3 TDs against the Packers this season. For his career, Peterson has 268 yards and 5 rushing TDs in three postseason games (1-2 record).

Green Bay will have a tough day against Minnesota's run game, that is for sure. Ranking 17th in the league against the run, 457 of its 1,896 allowed rushing yards this season have come against these Vikings. That's basically a 1/4th of the yardage allowed in just two games. But at the same time, when Minnesota played in Green Bay and lost on December 2, the temperature was around 45 degrees. Tonight's forecast for Green Bay, WI: 25 degrees (wind chill of 16), 30% chance of snow flurries and winds at about 10 MPH. That's no walk in the park for a group of guys who play 8+ times a year inside a dome.

Offensive 2012 Stats

Minnesota: 14th-ranked scoring, 31st-ranked passing, 2nd-ranked rushing

Green Bay: 5th-ranked scoring, 9th-ranked passing, 20th-ranked rushing

Defensive 2012 Stats

Minnesota: 15th-ranked scoring, 24th-ranked passing, 11th-ranked rushing

Green Bay: 11th-ranked scoring, 11th-ranked passing, 17th-ranked rushing

Clearly Green Bay has struggled stopping AD, but Clay Matthews III came out and said earlier this week that there was no way they were giving up another 200 to him. The GB defense's focus is on stopping the run, which means they're challenging second-year quarterback Christian Ponder to step up and make plays. Considering Ponder isn't really a cold-weather QB (plays in a dome and played college ball at Florida State), it's going to take some adapting to this sub-freezing weather at the Frozen Tundra. I don't trust Ponder to step up and make the plays necessary to keep up with Aaron Rodgers' high-powered offense.

It has already been proven that it's possible for the Pack to defeat this Vikings team even if Peterson comes in to Lambeau and runs for 200 yards and a touchdown. December 2 they proved it after Peterson's 210 wasn't enough to put up any more than 14 points on the board. In that game Ponder completed just half of his passes for 119 yards and two INTs. What do you think will happen if he steps into Lambeau, stakes even higher and weather even colder? I don't like this match-up at all, even though Peterson is likely to accumulate around 150 yards once again.

The Packers' key on offense always surrounds around protecting Rodgers in the pocket and getting the ball down the field to Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson and Jermichael Finley. Unfortunately in last week's loss the Packers were unable to protect Rodgers for very long and he was sacked 5 times. Despite the pressure, however, Rodgers still managed nearly 400 yards and 4 TDs. The key for Minnesota on defense will be to force turnovers. That's the only way to get Rodgers & Co. off the field is forcing turnovers, which is a rare event (Rodgers has combined for just 14 interceptions the last two seasons).

Minnesota will be running the ball heavily, while the Packers? Not so much. Ranked in the bottom half in the rushing yards category this season, the run game has been lacking since the injury to Cedric Benson. So putting pressure on Rodgers will once again be the key focus for Minnesota tonight.

Things to Remember While Watching

*Green Bay went 7-1 at Lambeau this season (Minnesota 3-5 on the road), and is 11-4 at Lambeau in the postseason during the Super Bowl era.

*In four of his last five road games, Ponder has completed less than 54% of his passes and never recorded a quarterback rating higher than 83.9. The Vikes went 2-3 in those games.

*During Minny's current four game win streak, Adrian Peterson has accounted for 49.2% of the team's total yards. Peterson ran for more yardage than Ponder threw for twice during the four game span.

*The Vikings are 3-5 this season in games that Ponder throws at least 1 interception, but are 4-2 in games that he throws for multiple touchdowns.

Key Players for Each Team

Minnesota

*Christian Ponder: Like I said, the Packers are keying in on stopping Peterson and the ground game. This gives Ponder the perfect opportunity to set the tone early in the passing game. A couple of deep play-action passes could be the difference between 14 points and 28 points by the end of the game. The Vikings have seemed to live and die by Peterson all year, but as I showed with the numbers above, the Vikings have a much better shot in games when Ponder is effective. If he doesn't show up today, Minnesota will not get out of Lambeau alive.

*Jared Allen/Everson Griffen: Aside from 199 yards on the ground, it was the defensive front that helped win the game for Minnesota last week. The third-year defensive end Griffen sacked Aaron Rodgers three times last week and the Vikes combined for 5 sacks total of Rodgers in the victory. The two ends Griffen and Allen combined for 6.0 sacks in two games against Rodgers this season, and they can set the tone on defense with early pressure on Rodgers tonight.

Green Bay

*DuJuan Harris/Ryan Grant: Green Bay hasn't had a true No. 1 back this season. At least not since the injuries to Cedric Benson and James Starks. The Packers O has had to rely on the vet Ryan Grant and two young guys in Alex Green and DuJuan Harris. Harris broke out for a career-high 70 yards on 14 carries in last week's loss, and I expect him to once again take a bulk of the carries this week (I guess you could consider 14 carries the "bulk").

*Clay Matthews III: Matthews has missed a significant amount of time this season (four games for Matthews is considered a significant amount of time), but now that he's back and healthy I'd expect him to get back to doing what he does best: bruising quarterbacks. Stopping the run is a total team effort, but when it comes to sacking and putting pressure on quarterbacks, Matthews can do that all on his own. If Matthews is in tip-top shape today, and can punish Ponder with a couple of hits, the passing game has potential to basically be non-existent for Minnesota.

It's really tough to pick against the Packers at Lambeau Field, especially in the postseason. And I have yet to trust Christian Ponder with the ball in his hands. After watching the Packers knock off Minnesota 23-14 despite Peterson's 210-yard performance a month ago, it's obvious that the Vikings need Ponder to make some plays too. Peterson ran the Vikings all the way to the postseason with his 2,097 yards on the ground, but they're gonna need a little more than that to get past the first round. Sounds a lot like Eric Dickerson's 1984 L.A. Rams, doesn't it?

No upset here, I'm taking the Packers in a near-blowout at Lambeau.

Final Prediction: Packers 35, Vikings 14

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Colts, Bengals Clinch Final Two AFC Playoff Spots with Victories

Heading in to today there were two playoff spots remaining in the AFC and three teams in the hunt. At 9-5, the rookie-led Indianapolis Colts were just one victory away from clinching one of the two open AFC wild card seeds. Cincinnati (now 9-6) and Pittsburgh (now 7-8) were both facing off in hopes of capturing that final spot.

Tip-toeing away from Heinz Field with a 13-10 last-second victory, the Bengals managed to eliminate its AFC North foes from playoff contention and snag the final spot earlier today.

Thanks to a late Ben Roethlisberger interception and a 43-yard field goal from freshly-signed kicker Josh Brown, the Bengals defeated the Steelers despite managing just 14 yards on the ground, as a team.

This marked the second consecutive week that Roethlisberger threw a costly interception late in the game, leading to three straight losses and five over the last six weeks of play. The only win since an overtime victory over Kansas City on November 12? A Charlie Batch upset over the playoff-bound Baltimore Ravens at the beginning of the month.

Cincinnati struggled mightily on offense throughout their 6th road win of the season, combining for 267 total yards and turning the ball over three times (also forced 3 on defense). Andy Dalton threw for 278 yards but was sacked six times and threw two picks in his fourth multi-interception game on the season. BenJarvus Green-Ellis had run for 100+ yards in four of his last five games with three touchdowns, while combining for the second-most rushing yards in the league over that five game span. But Pittsburgh limited him to all 14 of Cincy's rushing yards on 15 carries and no touchdowns.

The only Cincinnati touchdown of the day was off another Roethlisberger mistake, coming on a 17-yard interception touchdown by Leon Hall towards the end of the 1st quarter.

With two struggling offenses and three combined missed field goals, it was clear that the winner of the game would have to be the team that makes the least-critical mistakes. And that was Cincinnati. Making big plays when it mattered most, Andy Dalton got the team in field goal range following Roethlisberger's second of his 2 picks of the game and Brown made up for his missed field goal earlier and kicked the game-winner through the uprights with :04 to play, sending Cincinnati to the postseason.

With the Ravens (9-5, already clinched a playoff berth) facing the 8-6 New York Giants at home, the AFC North division may end up coming down to next week's Baltimore/Cincinnati match-up in Cincinnati next Sunday. Win against the G-Men, and the Ravens win the North. But if the Giants pull out a victory on the road, the North division will come down to the final week of the season. That's what we all want, right? Makes things a bit more exciting during Week 17 games.

As for the Colts, rookie Andrew Luck stole the show this afternoon. Though it took him and Indy's offense all game to finally put the Kansas City Chiefs (2-13) to bed, Luck managed to steal the show in front of the Arrowhead Stadium crowd.

Just one year old, Cam Newton's rookie passing yards record has already been surpassed. Luck's 205 yards against Kansas City's 7th-ranked pass defense was enough to pass Newton's 4,051 yard total from 2011. He's now at 4,183 for the season, and can shatter the record with another 200-300 yards next week against division foe Houston.

The game-deciding touchdown came with just over four minutes to play in the game and culminated with a 7-yard touchdown pass to veteran wideout Reggie Wayne, the 21st TD pass of Luck's season and career. The drive 73 yards on 13 plays and ate up over six minutes of the game clock. Indy's 24th ranked defense forced a 3&out from KC's Brady Quinn the following drive to seal the playoff-clinching victory just one season after the franchise was 2-14 and at the bottom of the league.

A loss from Houston (12-3) and a win from New England (11-4) and a possible win from Denver (11-3 but leading Cleveland 14-3 in the second quarter) could possibly result in a shake-up of the AFC seeds. One thing we do know for sure at the moment, however, is that Indy and Cincy are in the postseason, and Indy will be either a 5th or 6th seed.

The road for Cincinnati will be clearer once the New York/Baltimore match-up is in the books later on this evening...Baltimore currently leads 14-7 at the end of the opening quarter.

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