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Sunday, September 22, 2013

The Washington Redskins could learn from the Chicago Bulls: RG3


How is that a team can rush a player back into action before they are fully healthy. There have been numerous medical controversies in sports recently when it comes to franchise players. In football the most recent case is Robert Griffin the Third the starting Quarterback for the Washington Redskins.. He tore his ACL last year in the NFC wild card game. Going into the game he was already injured and hurting, but pushed through to help his team. He should have been benched. The coaches made the descion to let him play or was it the teams medical staff, or was it the medical staff being pressured by the coaches to clear him? After all was said and done, the NFL and the fans have no idea.
Flash forward to this football season. The Redskins held RG3 out of the preseason, but RG3 has started every game of the regular season. So far it seems he is a shell of his former self. People were exepcting him to recover and have a Adrian Peterson like recovery, sadly he has not. You can tell that he's ailing, that his accuracy is off, his speed is down. Now questions are coming up on whether he is full healthy, whether he should have been cleared, whether he should be playing at all, or is it all mental?
The NBA went through and is still going through a simliar situation with the Chicago Bulls and their franchise player Derrick Rose. He tore his ACL two years ago, and despite being cleared by the doctors to play, he did not play all last season. Some people said it was mental, some people said it was physical, but the organization left it up to Derrick Rose and his people on whether or not he would play. Either way, Derrick Rose sitting out was the right move.
In both situations the player is the star of the franchise and have big contracts. In both situations it has affected the over all performance of the team. The Bulls made it to the playoffs last year and made it deep into them. The Redskins are 0-2 going into week 2 of football season. The Redskins also drafted Kirk Cousins who is basically the same player as RG3 to back him up. He could start for the Redskins while RG3 sits.

Should the Redskins take a page out of the Bulls book and sit their star until he's %100, or should they continue to allow him to play? Yes, when it comes to RG3 the Redskins should learn from the Chicago Bulls situation with Derrick RoseSome might say that RG3 is just rusty from lack of preseason play and he will come along just fine as he keeps playing. Sometimes these players don't know what is best for them, and it’s the organizations obligation to see to the health of their players. The Redskins drafted Kirk Cousins just in case a scenario like this would happen. So use the back up plan Redskins.

3 comments:

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  2. I agree, Josh. I have gone through two ACL surgeries in my life time, both football related. Both times I did not rush the healing process because I knew I just was not ready. Granted, I only played division 3 football, but it still holds true no matter what sport or level of play. Players need to take the proper amount of time before getting back in the game.

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  3. Josh,

    I completely agree with you. Derrick Rose was one of the most explosive point guards in the NBA when he was playing and due to his unfortunate injury has been sitting out for the last 2 seasons. As fans we would love to see him come back and play as soon as possible but the player must do what's in the best interest of his career. Derrick Rose has chosen to rest and gets criticized for it but it may pay off. We will see how productive he can be this upcoming season. In my opinion, RG3 made the decision to play through his injury in the playoffs last year with the support of the Redskins coaching staff. So far the performance he has been putting on through the first three weeks of the football season is evidence that he should have rested the injured knee. I don't know if he can truly recover. I feel that his coaching staff needs to take part of the responsibility and act fast before this season ends with a worse outcome than last.

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