RG3 was ‘scared’ after initially hurting knee

The relief in Robert Griffin III’s voice is haunting now. The dramatic irony is one big punch to the Washington Redskins‘ collective gut. Griffin chuckled early in Sunday’s playoff loss to Seattle, hopeful he escaped a serious knee injury. As we know now, he ultimately did not.

Griffin on Wednesday had surgery to revise the reconstruction of the ACL, repair a torn lateral collateral ligament and, it turns out, repair the medial meniscus in his right knee.

As the star rookie quarterback prepared to lead his team onto the field for its third possession in Sunday’s playoff loss to Seattle, left tackle Trent Williams could tell something was wrong with Griffin’s right knee.

On first-and-goal from Seattle’s 4-yard line on the previous series, Griffin planted awkwardly and landed on his right leg while rolling out to throw a pass. Griffin took his helmet off, appearing to be in pain, and eventually limped back to the huddle. He finished the drive with a touchdown pass two plays later.

Griffin had his knee re-taped on the sideline, he said, and was cleared by doctors to continue playing, according to coach Mike Shanahan. Still, Williams was concerned. He wanted to hear for himself that Griffin was OK.

Williams was wearing a microphone, and the audio of his conversation with Griffin aired late Wednesday night on NFL Network’s Sound FX program:

Williams: “You sure you’re all right, bro?”

Griffin: “Yeah. I’m gonna be safe.”

Williams: “You tweaked it when you were trying to back up?”

Griffin: “Yeah.”

Williams: “I seen that.”

Griffin: “My foot kind of went weh-weh (a squeak sound), so—

Williams: “That kind of shocked you a little bit?”

Griffin: “It scared the [censored] out of me.” Griffin chuckled.

Williams: “All right. Be smart.”

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