John Keim, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Jay Gruden calls RG III injury a 'fluke'

ASHBURN, Va. -- Washington Redskins coach Jay Gruden knows Robert Griffin III's track record in the NFL when it comes to injuries. And it hasn't been good for the third-year quarterback. He has now exited games with: a concussion, a knee injury, another knee injury and a dislocated ankle. All that in 31 career games.

But Gruden called these injuries unfortunate.

"The more injuries mount on him, it just becomes more of an issue I guess from a lot of people that think his durability is in question, but this is an unfortunate injury," Gruden said. "You know he had an unfortunate knee injury and this was a fluke deal where he's rolling out and got his ankle caught in the ground in an awkward way. I don't think it speaks to his durability. I think they're just fluke injuries. Hopefully when he recovers from this, it'll be the last one he ever has."

Gruden also addressed other issues pertaining to the quarterback:

  • He's not thinking about what happens if Kirk Cousins is playing well when Griffin is ready to return. "Well, we'll cross that bridge when that comes," Gruden said. "Right now, we're going to prepare with Kirk Cousins as our starter and Robert's going to rehab, and all decisions after that will come after that. But right now, we're going to go try to do the best we can and get Kirk ready to go and beat Philadelphia."

  • Colt McCoy becomes the No. 2 quarterback and the Redskins might sign a player at this position to the practice squad. They could use a third quarterback if only to help in practice -- or in case something happens to either Cousins or McCoy. The Redskins worked out three quarterbacks last week: Pat Devlin, B.J. Coleman and Ricky Stanzi.

  • If something had happened to Cousins Sunday, then receiver Andre Roberts would have been the emergency quarterback. In the past, the third quarterback could be placed on the active roster during the game if the other two quarterbacks were hurt. That's no longer the case.

  • Gruden said he did not think the field played a role in Griffin's injury. "It was just an awkward angle. He was rolling out and he saw DeSean late and he stiff-armed the linebacker and I think he just landed awkwardly on his ankle. It was a great throw by him to get it out, but I think it was just an awkward, one-in-a-million type injury."

^ Back to Top ^