Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan has revealed that it will up to Dr James Andrews whether or not Robert Griffin III plays in the opening match of the season.
Griffin has been battling to return from a serious knee injury in time for the start of the new season, but only recently returned to full training and is likely to miss the Redskins' remaining pre-season matches.
Andrews assessed the 23-year-old for the first time before the Redskins' 24-13 pre-season win over the Pittsburgh Steelers last night, and Shanahan insisted that they wouldn't risk Griffin until they received the all-clear from the doctor.
"He'll give us the yay or nay but right now feels that his progress has been good. If there are no setbacks, he thinks he'll be ready," Shanahan is quoted as saying by ESPN.
"He really feels the same way as he did before camp with practice. He feels good about him practicing. He doesn't feel like we should put him in any [pre-season] games. If Dr. Andrews felt his knee wasn't ready, we surely wouldn't play him [in the opener]. We surely wouldn't play him if he didn't feel that it was in the best interest of Robert and this organization to play him. He's been doing great, and there's no reason to have a setback, but you never know.
"We're going to have two more weeks of practice and we're going to put him through situations like we've been doing over the last three and a half weeks and keep our fingers crossed that there isn't a setback. If there isn't, he should be ready for Philadelphia."
The Redskins' opening match of the 2013 NFL season comes at home to the Philadelphia Eagles on September 9.
Barney Corkhill
