Mike Shanahan met the media again on Monday afternoon and said right off the bat that the team didn’t yet have a full determination about quarterback Robert Griffin III’s right knee.
Griffin will go to Pensacola, Fla. to see Dr. James Andrews for more tests on the knee and a physical exam after Griffin had an MRI on Monday. Shanahan said that “everything right now is total speculation” because Andrews wants to do further exams because there was an issue distinguishing between old and new injuries in a knee that’s had previous ACL and LCL injuries.
Shanahan went back to that point several times, making it hard to miss the implication that something didn’t look right on the MRI. Shanahan admitted to concern, but repeated that everything is just speculative at this point.
Allowing Griffin to remain in the game was defended many times. Shanahan said they are “good questions” but said he was cleared several times by doctors during the game and that he wouldn’t have threatened the future of the team’s franchise quarterback just to leave him in there.
“If I didn’t think it was right, he wouldn’t have been in there,” Shanahan said.
Shanahan also talked about Andrews saying that Griffin was never cleared to return to the Ravens game when he was initially injured. He said that there was no miscommunication with Andrews on the sideline and said that he didn’t follow up to ask Andrews what kind of examination he made before Griffin returned to action.
“I asked Dr. Andrews if Robert is okay to be in the game and he said yes,” Shanahan said.
Shanahan got questions about the condition of the playing surface at FedEx field, which Seahawks coach Pete Carroll called “horrible” on Monday. Shanahan admitted it wasn’t a perfect field and said he’d be open to discussions of an artificial surface, although his personal preference is for a natural surface.