Redskins' Griffin to have more tests on knee

WASHINGTON (AFP) –

Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins greets fans as he leaves the field after their 24 to 14 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on January 6, 2013. He will have more tests on his injured right knee, the NFL team said.

Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III, who hobbled out of the Redskins’ first-round playoff loss to Seattle on Sunday, will have more tests on his injured right knee, the NFL team said.

Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said Griffin would travel to Birmingham, Alabama, to consult orthopaedic specialist James Andrews.

Shanahan said doctors need to distinguish between old an new problems, since Griffin had prior ligament injuries in the knee.

The sensational young star hurt the knee in a regular-season game against Baltimore, although he returned to that contest briefly before sitting out the following week.

He returned to action for the regular-season finale, a 28-18 win over Dallas, although he was clearly not 100 percent, and he wore a brace on the knee for Sunday’s first-round playoff game.

Griffin appeared to aggravate the injury in the first quarter, and was down for several minutes after his right leg buckled oddly under him in the fourth quarter.

He eventually rose and limped to the sideline under his own steam and Shanahan stressed Monday that the severity of the injury was not yet known and that “everything right now is total speculation”.

While post-game pundits were busy questioning whether Shanahan should have taken Griffin out of the contest sooner, the player himself said he didn’t want to leave.

“You respect authority. And I respect Coach Shanahan,” Griffin said after the game. “But at the same time, you have to step up and be a man sometimes and there was no way I was coming out of the game.”