Washington unsure how long RG3 will be out

That one ended with consecutive sacks and Griffin leaving with a concussion.

The performance of the Detroit Lions’ first-team defense was one of the highlights of Thursday’s 21-17 loss to the Washington Redskins.

First, Washington’s offensive line was, well, offensively bad. “I would imagine, depending how long he’s out, he’s still going to be our starter”. Now granted it could have been a lot worse for the embattled quarterback but any team is not going to risk the health of their starting quarterback in the preseason. We have to wait and see how fast he recovers.

Griffin also got a stinger in his right shoulder, but Gruden said that should be OK. Could this incomprehensible injury suffered in a meaningless game he should have been out of one quarter before be the beginning of the end for Robert Griffin III in Washington?

Brandon Scherff, fifth overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, left his quarterback exposed early on.

Griffin’s head injury comes on the heels of an in-depth ESPN The Magazine interview with ex-49ers linebacker Chris Borland, in which he called football “kind of dehumanizing”. “He’s going to go on the practice field and not just get through practice”. Griffin gave a thumb’s up to spectators as he trudged away.

“With Trent not out there, with the other guys struggling, you pull [RG3] there”, he said. “You don’t want to see your quarterback get hit at all, in the preseason or regular season”. “It’s definitely not a pleasant feeling”.

He had earlier been sacked three times and fumbled twice, losing one. A holding penalty by tackle Cornelius Lucas III moved the Lions back 10 yards, to a second and 18 at the 33. He hit three-step drops and let go of passes but had defenders driving him to the ground a fraction of a second after the throw. “We have got to make sure we do our best to keep him healthy and he has got to do his best to perform”. If they feel Griffin can’t beat them, they’ll overload the front to stop the run game.

That said, given the beating Griffin had taken in just three short series, I don’t know whether there was any way Gruden and the coaches were going to be able to evaluate the first-team offense.

But the victory was a resounding defeat by the most important metric: the ability of the first-team offense to put points on the board. What if Colt McCoy or Kirk Cousins is playing well when Griffin would be ready? Carrier played in 11 games for the 49ers last season, his third in the league, making nine catches for 105 yards.

But if the Redskins opt for Cousins or McCoy, who have both looked good during the preseason, then it becomes a fair fight.