Robert Griffin III latest knee injury

I hope that everyone had a great holiday season and a happy new year.  As we wrap up the first week of classes at Mississippi State, I thought I would talk some about the latest Robert Griffin III knee injury.  A few weeks ago, Griffin sustained a sprain of his right LCL.  He missed one week of action, but then came back and played in the final two regular season games.  This past Sunday, Griffin sustained a tear of his right ACL, likely on the play in the picture above.  There has been much debate about rather or not he should have been playing, and if the coaching and/or medical staff is to blame for this injury.

There are a number of factors that can cause an injury, and it is impossible to isolate just one factor and say it is the primary cause.  One would have to believe that the Redskins medical staff, led by Dr. Andrews, would not allow Griffin to play if they believed he was at serious risk of injury.  Due to his recent LCL injury, his knee was probably not quite as stable as it originally was, but there is no way to know if that caused the injury.  He could have sustained the ACL tear even if he was playing on a completely healthy knee with no history of injury.  A number of factors likely lead to this injury, including his previous LCL sprain, his previous ACL reconstruction of the same knee, fatigue (end of game and season), the condition of the field, and the awkward position he is in trying to field the snap.  One could argue that if the snap had been better, this injury would have never occurred.  The point is that it is impossible to pinpoint the exact cause of the injury.

The other thing I have heard several times is that Griffin can be back by the start of the 2013 NFL season because Adrian Peterson did so this year.  I'm not saying that he can't, but it is impossible to make direct comparisons.  While both players are world class athletes, this is Griffin's 2nd reconstruction of this right ACL.  Everyone also heals and rehabilitates at different rates.  It typically takes anywhere from about 8-12 months to come back after ACL reconstruction.  He has a good chance to play next year, but nobody knows for sure at this point what level he will be at.