ASHBURN, Va. -- Robert Griffin III showed a little more Wednesday, participating in more of the practice, showing a little more to his game. However, there’s still a lot more he’d need to show to warrant starting Monday night’s game at Dallas.
Redskins coach Jay Gruden has made it clear that Griffin would have to show an awful lot for him to start him against the Cowboys. But Gruden also left open the possibility of being wowed by Griffin. Barring that, it’ll still be Colt McCoy’s job. Griffin hasn’t played since Week 2 because of a dislocated left ankle.
“I’ve already made the decision it’s going to be Colt,” Gruden said. “I said that Robert would be the wild card possibly, if he is ready to go, and that still hasn’t been decided yet.”
Gruden said Griffin didn’t show him a whole lot more than last week – or, at least, there wasn’t a big jump. Gruden also said his chance for playing Monday hasn’t changed from what he said earlier in the week.
“He’s progressing along,” Gruden said. “It’s not so much watching him run; I think he feels OK running right now. It’s just a matter of how he feels [Thursday]. There’s certain movements, rolling out to the right, rolling out to the left and cutting back – we’ve just got to see how he handles that. But the big thing is getting him back comfortable into the pocket and throwing the ball to the receivers, getting his timing down.
“There’s a lot of that that has to take place also, so he’s coming along at a good clip, like we thought he would.”
Gruden made it clear Monday that he’ll abide first by what the trainers and doctors tell him. But he also said it’s not just about Griffin’s health. Griffin threw to receivers and tight ends during practice Wednesday, with some on target and others high and wide or short. The quarterbacks alternated reps with each of the three groups.
But it goes deeper.
“It’s not so much how his leg feels,” Gruden said. “It is, but it’s about taking plays with the pass rush coming at him and the live reps that he hasn’t had since Houston or since Jacksonville, which is a long time ago, it seems like. So the big part of it is, ‘How do we progress him along and get him the reps in practice.’ There’s only so many you can have. That’s the biggest issue – that and getting the timing with the receivers and just playing the game.
“There are a lot of variances to whether or not we think he will be ready for Monday night. Health-wise, No. 1, then obviously is he ready physically getting back in the flow with the wide receivers with the timing, the accuracy and all that.”
Gruden said Griffin likely would either be the starter or inactive Monday: all-in or nothing. He also said Griffin’s past injuries won’t be an issue in this decision.
“I take this injury itself into its own entity,” Gruden said. “If the doctors say that he has no risk of that thing getting re-injured. If it’s stable, they feel he can go through a game and get tackled and one little turn is not going to do a lot of damage, if they feel it’s stable, then we will go from there.”