5 ways the Washington Redskins screwed RGIII

2) The Great Knee Shred of 2013. A strong rookie season and start to a potentially successful career came to a screeching halt in December of 2012 when RGIII returned to the playing field after hurting his knee without the approval of orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews. “I didn’t get to examine (Griffin’s knee),” he claimed via NFL.com, despite Shanahan’s assertion that Andrews had said, “Yeah, he’s OK to go back in.”

That injury set the stage for The Great Knee Shred of 2013 just a month later in the team’s Wild Card loss against the Seattle Seahawks. In the fourth quarter of the game, it was apparent Griffin’s knee was what we call in layman’s terms “not OK at all.” Hobbling around on this not-OK-at-all knee, Griffin sat out one play and then hobbled back on to the field for four more plays. It turned out Griffin was playing on a torn ACL. Dr. Andrews said at the time via USA Today, “I’m the one that shut him down that day, finally.”

Bottom line, Shanahan put the health of his quarterback at risk when it was obvious, even to the untrained eye sitting at home in eating pants while overindulging on beer and chips, that he was in no condition to play.

3) Revolving Door of Coaches. The Pittsburgh Steelers have had three coaches since 1969. To contrast, the Washington Redskins have had eight since 2000. Mike Shanahan who was “elated” with the first-round, overall No. 2 pick in the 2012 draft, deserves most of the blame for RGIII’s devastating injury. And his son, Kyle “nepotism, much?” Shanahan’s brand of offense, an amalgam of the West Coast, Baylor spread, and read-option, did not work in RGIII’s favor. With RGIII’s legs compromised his sophomore season (thanks, Mike!), Kyle never could figure out a strategy that worked with RGIII’s existing strengths and was hard for opposing defenses to completely pick apart.

The Shanahans were out in 2013 and Jay Gruden took over in 2014. The results are the same as every other coaching switch during owner Dan Snyder’s tenure. Wild success, and “thank goodness” for the new coach? Hardly. Just when it seems nothing could get worse and the team has hit bottom, the team manages to hire a coach who is even worse and more dysfunctional. It is their destiny. This time, the main dysfunction appears to be Gruden’s hatred for RGIII.

In November 2014, Gruden said, via Mike Jones of The Washington Post, “Griffin had some fundamental flaws.” He added that Griffin’s productivity “Wasn’t even close to where it needs to be.” To contrast, earlier in the 2014, via Steve Del Vecchio of LarryBrownSports.com, Gruden gushed over back up Kirck cousins, “I feel like we can win any game with Kirk Cousins… Kirk is a special guy.”

Next: Oh look, we were negligent again!