GROUNDED AND POUNDED: Redskins QB Robert Griffin III is taken to the turf by the Ravens’ Haloti Ngata, which forced Griffin to leave the game with a hyperextended right knee before backup Kirk Cousins led Washington to a stirring 31-28 overtime victory yesterday. (UPI)
LANDOVER, Md. — The Redskins celebrated this improbable win as gingerly as Robert Griffin III was walking on his sore right leg in the postgame locker room.
As thrilling and crucial as Washington’s 31-28 overtime victory over the Ravens was yesterday, Redskins Nation felt more like holding its collective breath instead after the budding star injured his right knee late in regulation.
An MRI exam last night revealed only a sprain and no serious ligament damage, but Griffin’s immediate playing status remains unclear after an open-field hit from hulking Ravens nose tackle Haloti Ngata with 1:42 left in the fourth quarter hyperextended Griffin’s knee in hideous fashion.
Fans, coaches and teammates might have been anxious before the MRI result became known, but Griffin was so upbeat, he joked about the play with reporters afterward.
“When I got hit, I screamed … like a man, of course,” he said after Washington (7-6) stayed on the Giants’ heels with a fourth consecutive win.
Griffin could afford to smile in the face of a potential game-changer injury because his backup, fellow rookie Kirk Cousins, showed all isn’t necessarily lost for the streaking Redskins if Griffin’s knee sprain proves troublesome.
Taking over for good with 45 seconds left in regulation after a hobbled Griffin gutted out three snaps following the Ngata hit, Cousins calmly completed two passes for 26 yards — including an 11-yard TD toss to Pierre Garcon — and then sent the FedEx Field crowd of 81,148 into hysterics by tying the game with a daring quarterback draw for the two-point conversion.
Redskins coach Mike Shanahan faced plenty of second-guessers when he selected Cousins in the fourth round of the same draft in which Shanahan mortgaged the future to trade up for Griffin, but no one was questioning that unorthodox move yesterday.
Even though Cousins didn’t throw another pass before Kai Forbath hit a 34-yard field goal early in OT — set up by a 64-yard punt return from Ray Crawford — the Redskins are even more confident Cousins can ease the pain if Griffin is sidelined for an extended period.
“I have complete faith in him,” running back and fellow rookie Alfred Morris said of Cousins. “I wanted to pat him on the back and tell him, ‘You got this, you’ll be great [if Griffin misses time].’ Nothing else needs to be said — we all have faith in him.”
Morris is another reason why the Redskins are convinced they can cushion — at least in the short term — the blow of a potential Griffin absence.
The bruising young workhorse continues to thrive like many before him in Shanahan’s offense as he rushed for 122 yards and a TD on 23 carries. It was the third consecutive 100-yard game by the sixth-round pick from Florida Atlantic.
And the Redskins’ defense, which looked lost in the first half as Baltimore built a 21-14 lead, regrouped in impressive fashion to limit the Ravens (9-4) to just seven points in the second half and OT.
The Redskins had no answer most of the day for Ray Rice, who gouged them for 121 yards and a TD on 20 carries, but Joe Flacco couldn’t rise to the occasion after a terrific first half.
Flacco’s final line (16 of 21 for 182 yards and three TDs) looked respectable, but he also threw an inexcusable red-zone interception, lost a fumble and managed just 55 passing yards after halftime as Baltimore dropped its second in a row and yielded more ground in the race for AFC homefield advantage.
“It was a tough, hard and disappointing loss,” said Ravens coach John Harbaugh, who was forced to deactivate top pass-rusher Terrell Suggs just before kickoff due to injury. “They deserved to win.”
Whether that win was also a costly one for the Redskins remains to be seen.