Robert Griffin III could be on the sidelines this weekend

After pulling Robert Griffin III out of Sunday’s game with the Redskins well behind, Mike Shanahan would not confirm that Griffin would be the starter against the Falcons on Sunday. Today Shanahan took it a bit further. He is considering shutting Robert Griffin III down for the rest of the season.

“The reason why I kind of left it up in the air when I was talking about that after the game, that any time you have 24 sacks in the last five games and you go against a team [the Chiefs] that has two sacks in five games and you give up six, you always take a look at what’s in the best interest of your organization,” he said. “The reason why I was hesitant, I always take a look at, you’ve got your franchise quarterback, you want to make sure going into the offseason that he’s healthy for a full offseason program.”

He said that he is considering starting backup quarterback Kirk Cousins for the rest of the season, emphasizing that he has not yet made a decision.

“I want to make sure he’s healthy. I think that’s the most important thing going into the offseason, that he has his first full season being healthy,” said Shanahan. “If anything did happen to him, I think it would set our franchise back . . . I’ll think about it in the next 48 hours.”

Griffin missed all of this past offseason after suffering a knee injury in the Redskins’ playoff loss to Seattle in January.

-- Rich Tandler, CSNWashington.com