Redskins QB Griffin 'feeling good'; team to try out kickers
Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III began testing under the league's post-concussion protocol on Monday and could return to no-contact practice as early as Wednesday.
"He's feeling good - no dizziness, no headaches, no vomiting," said Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan, who added Griffin III was scheduled to see an independent neurosurgeon. "He feels like he's done well on the tests he's taken thus far.
"He'll go through the tests with him. Hopefully, there are no symptoms that happen over the next couple of days. We've gone through this process with (wide receiver) Aldrick (Robinson) last week, and so I've got a little bit better feel of the procedures going into this week. Aldrick obviously was out for about a minute and a half, and, at least to our awareness, Robert did not black out at all."
Griffin III left Sunday's loss to the Atlanta Falcons after taking a hard hit from Falcons linebacker Sean Weatherspoon while sliding toward the end of a scramble.
After being examined by a neurologist in the locker room, Griffin was sent home.
Griffin later tweeted: "I'm ok and I think after all the testing I will play next week."
Shanahan said he wants to see how Griffin III goes through the post-concussion protocol before considering who would potentially start next Sunday in his place between rookie Kirk Cousins and veteran Rex Grossman.
Shanahan does believe the concussion will prove a learning point for Griffin III when it comes to protecting his body.
"Anytime you get hit like that in the National Football League, at least in my experience, when a quarterback gets that first hit like he received, they slide a little bit sooner in plays that come," Shanahan sad. "They kind of protect themselves a little bit more. That's a process, a learning experience, like we talked about. After talking about it with Robert, if you slide a little bit quicker you protect yourself. We tell him how much we need him (and) how valuable he is to our football team. You're constantly going to learn that as time goes on."
The NFL is reviewing how the Redskins handled the release of information regarding Griffin's concussion. League rules require timely and accurate reporting by teams when they release injury information. The Redskins' initial described Griffin as "shaken up," which may not meet the NFL's standards.
"When you look at him on the sideline, Robert said to me he was fine. I said, 'You are not fine. I don't think you are fine. Your eyes look a little glassy,'" Shanahan said. "The doctors talked to him and he knew the quarter and the score. So they took him back in that little box behind our bench and asked him again, 'What was the quarter? What was the score?' The second time he missed it, the first time he got it.
"That is when we took him in the locker room and administered the test for a concussion. And that is when it was decided he had a concussion because the tests were not the same. That is when the doctor's knew there was some type of problem."
--Shanahan said the Redskins will bring in free-agent kickers for a tryout on Tuesday with Billy Cundiff missing four field goals - including a pair of 31-yarders - over the past two weeks.
