The National Football League and ESPN have moved the start time for the game between the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles on Monday, Sept. 9 to 6:55 p.m. ET. The game was previously scheduled for 7:10 pm.
The Redskins are coming of an impressive perfect 4-0 preseason win streak, and Robert Griffin, III is expected to start the season opener.
“He’s ready to go, full speed ahead", said head coach Mike Shanahan during Monday's media press conference.
The Redskins are coming of an impressive perfect 4-0 preseason win streak, and Robert Griffin, III is expected to start the season opener.
“He’s ready to go, full speed ahead", said head coach Mike Shanahan during Monday's media press conference.
Fans are strongly encouraged to arrive at FedExField and be in their seats early on Monday. Parking lots at FedExField will open at 3 p.m. ET. Stadium gates will open at 5 p.m. ET.
Fans are also reminded to be familiar with the NFL’s bag policy implemented prior to the 2013 season. Detailed information about the size and type of bags that may be brought into stadiums can be found at http://www.nfl.com/allclear.
Concerns on RGIII's knee put to rest?
More color from Monday's press conference on RG3 from Mike Shanahan.
On quarterback Robert Griffin III:
“I did have a conversation with Dr. [James] Andrews on Sunday, we had a conference call, and in that conference call it was Dr. Andrews, Robert, [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Bruce Allen, our trainer [Larry Hess]. The only guys that weren’t there that were with me with Dr. Andrews when we played Tampa was Dr. [Chris] Annunziata and Dr. [Anthony] Casolaro. We had a good conversation. Dr. Andrews went over a couple of his concerns and we talked about different things he talked to me about in Tampa. I feel very good where Robert’s at, and he’ll be our starter on Monday night unless there’s some crazy setback that we don’t anticipate.”
On if he can say specifically what Dr. James Andrews’ concerns were for Griffin III’s knee:“No, I can’t. If he would like to share that, that’s up to him. But I talked to him, just like I told you after the game, there’s a couple of concerns – that’s why we sat down and talked about it as a group, making sure we’re all on the same page. And we’re all on the same page and we’re excited to get going.”
On if Dr. Andrews’ concerns had to do with Griffin III’s health: “He’s ready to go, full speed ahead.”
On reports that Dr. Andrews did not have any concerns: “I don’t know where you got that information from because that’s not what he shared with Robert, that’s not what he shared with me or Dr. Annunziata, Dr. Casolaro or with Robert when we had the conference call.”
On if he would clear Griffin III if a doctor still has concerns: “You have to know what his concerns were, but I don’t share those conversations and so we’ll have to go from there. You’ll have to trust us that the doctor feels good about it regardless of what those concerns were. I needed to share them with Robert and I’m trying to be honest with you, but we have these conversations that I don’t share – there’s certain conversations that stay between a doctor and a player, or a coach and a player and this is one of those conversations.”
On if he has had concerns throughout the Griffin III’s recovery process: “We had a game plan for Robert and we were hoping with this game plan that we could get him ready for the first game and there wouldn’t be any swelling, there wouldn’t be any setback and so far, so good. He’s gotten a lot of great reps in practice, he’ll be ready to play Monday night, there hasn’t been any setbacks, there’s been no swelling, there’s – to my knowledge – no soreness that he’s had in that knee area. So I feel very good where he is at and hopefully we’ll keep our fingers crossed and everything goes great.”
On if he would allow a doctor to tell him how to use a player: “First of all, he never said that and he surely never said that to me… I don’t think a doctor would ever say anything like that if he cleared somebody to play. I’m not sure a doctor would ever say anything that has to do with the strategy of football.”
On the thought process behind keeping four quarterbacks: “Like I said all along, we’re trying to keep the top 53 players and I thought [quarterback] Pat [White] was one of the top 53 players. I like what he’s done – especially being away from the game for a number of years. I thought he really handled himself well and we felt like he was one of our top 53 and that’s why he’s with us.”
On if he was amazed that Griffin III is expected to start Week 1 almost eight months after the injury: “You’re always hoping that when somebody has surgery it goes well and then the surgery went well. Then you’re always hoping the rehab goes well and that went as good as it could possibly have gone, but you never know when you start practicing – sometimes there’s swelling, sometimes there’s setbacks. There haven’t been any setbacks since we’ve started, you know that’s a great sign, and hopefully he can keep on getting stronger. But I like what I see and hopefully it works out.”
On if keeping four quarterbacks is related to Griffin III and Kirk Cousins coming off of injuries and how long having four quarterbacks on the roster is sustainable: “We’re going to do what we feel gives us the best chance to win. When you evaluate your football team, I think what a lot of people really don’t understand is how many people get to dress out on game day, how many people actually dress for the game and play, how many people are helping you during the week. And normally it’s 21 on offense, 21 on defense, you’ll have three specialists and there’s a wild card in there somewhere with specialists sometimes and maybe an offensive player or a defensive player or just a guy that returns, but usually that’s the parameters with game day. So there’s always going to be seven guys that don’t dress, but you want to be as deep as possible with your football team and that’s why I keep on saying the top 53 players and that’s who you try to go after.”
On if he’ll have to balance what he wants to do strategically with Griffin III against any risk of re-injury: “Well, you’re going to have to come to the game, you’re going to have to decide yourself what we’re doing. You’re always trying to take a look at what’s in the best interest of your football team, obviously the health of your football team as well. But if we didn’t feel like Robert was full-go and he wasn’t ready to play and do all the things that you ask a guy to do, then he would not be playing in this game. We believe he can do everything that a quarterback is asked to do and if that’s sprinting out, if it’s running the option, if it’s dropping back, we think he can do all those things because he’s proved it to us in practice, and there hasn’t been a setback so that’s been a great sign.”
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More Redskins News
The Redskins Back to Football Run. More at NFLRunSeries.com/redskins.
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