RG3's father: ACL partially intact

[Perdogg]

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[Perdogg]

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[mmichaels1970]

"Robert's ACL is intact, but not enough for his profession,'' Griffin II said in a text message to USA TODAY Sports. "You and I could be fine. But he is an athlete. So they will replace.''

I don't think "intact" really says too much. They're replacing it so the rehab will be the same as if it weren't intact I believe.

I'd bet it was stretched out too much to reliably hold the knee together.

I was surprised to see that they expected the surgery to last for 2 hours. I would have thought at least 4. I wonder if he's out of surgery yet.

[circlecity]

Is there a difference between partially intact and partially torn?

[montag813]

It’s all Dan Snyder’s fault for making FedEx field’s surface worse than an inner city kickball field. That field has now shredded the knees of RG III, Chris Clemons and Adrian Petersen. The latter two should sue Snyder, who is an absolute disgrace.

[mmichaels1970]

Is there a difference between partially intact and partially torn?

Good observation. I really think there is some "sugar coating" going on. If he's having a second ACL, we're talking 9 months MINIMUM. This talk about him being ready for next season is either wishful thinking or damage control, imho.

I'll be pleasantly surprised if he plays at all next year.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Great coaching decision, Shanahan.

[jpl]

No big surprise: this is the same guy who ordered Terrell Davis to go back out even though Davis could barely even see anything.

Shanahan’s philosophy is “ride that nag into the ground until you have to put her down”. He is one of the absolute last coaches in the league I would entrust with the proper development of a young quarterback.

[calex59]

So, for us who are too stupid to know what ACL stands for could you enlighten us?

[calex59]

Never mind I looked it up on the internet. People who post such articles should explain what they are talking about. Not everyone has knowledge of the knee or what ever. The anterior cruciate ligament for those if you who don’t know, plays a crucial part is stabilizing the knee. Evidently this quarter back torn his knee out while playing last week and is now in surgery.

[mmichaels1970]

So, for us who are too stupid to know what ACL stands for could you enlighten us?

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament. It basically stabilizes your knee as it moves forward and backwards.

It's an extremely serious knee injury. And chances of reinjuring it go up every time you have it done. This will be ACL surgery #2 for RG3.

[mmichaels1970]

My daughter tore her ACL a couple years back. She had a hamstring graft. They basically cut out a piece of her hamstring, chopped it up into 4 pieces and wove it together into a new ACL. They drilled holes through the bone, and threaded the new ACL into place.

RG3 is having a patellar graft which has become more popular and is probably becoming the standard for pro athletes. Basically the same process, but they gather the materials from the patellar tendon instead of the hamstring. Since they already used one tendon in his first surgery, I believe I heard they were going to open up his healthy knee to obtain more from there.

The older method is by using a cadaver's ACL which offered the longest recovery and I think is rapidly dropping out of favor.

Rehab is extremely light for a couple of months to simply allow the bones to heal up. During that time you have to contend with serious muscle atrophy in the areas surrounding the injury, making recovery even more difficult.

Strengthening the muscles starts at the very base level...things like using resistance bands while laying on the couch.

It's a very long and painful rehab process and I feel terrible for anybody who has to go through it.

[calex59]

Thank you for your information, I appreciate it.

[calex59]

What I would also like to know is this. This guys team lost the game, right? and now he is being badmouthed by some sportscasters as if he purposely destroyed his own knee. What is that all about?

[dfwgator]

The average career of an NFL running back is 3 years....with the emergence of running quarterbacks, this is going to wind up being their average career length as well.

[mmichaels1970]

and now he is being badmouthed by some sportscasters as if he purposely destroyed his own knee

I hear a lot more badmouthing of his head coach, Mike Shanahan, than of RG3.

The main point (and the one I happen to agree with) is that the coach should have realized that this extraordinarily talented player's career was in jeopardy when he came up limping on the same knee that was previously operated on.

Had he never had a previous knee surgery, I could probably excuse them for relying on the player's word (the "maybe he can just walk it off" approach). But they were all very well aware of his previous issues and the very real danger of reinjury. They have seen first hand with dozens of players over the years what kind of rehab process he'd have to go through.

An athlete's natural instinct is to attempt to play through pain. One of a coach's primary responsibilities is to protect his players when that instinct puts them and their organization in danger.

[jiggyboy]

I don’t follow football much. Can I add “partially intact” to my oxymoron list, it would go just before Ford’s “partial zero-emission vehicle”.