“What’s that coach?”

“Come in #10 – your time is up”

Long time readers of The Atlantic Voice will not be surprised by the position that we’re about to take when it comes to Washington Redskins Head Coach, Mike Shanahan and his star quarterback, Robert Griffin the Third.

For those of you that don’t follow the NFL, Shanahan is currently getting hammered by all corners of the media (and the general public via sportstalk radio, though that’s hardly more relevant than a blog, no?) for his “failure” to remove star quarterback Robert Griffin III from Sunday’s play-off loss to the Seattle Seahawks. That would be the same Robert Griffin who has been busy trademarking such phrases as “Unbelievably believable” to describe his play. RGIII – a moniker that might now easily be mistaken for the pattern of the scars on his now twice operated-on knee – seriously re-damaged it on Sunday, requiring a ligament operation and possibly a year of rehabilitation. Considering that he had strained the same knee a month ago forcing him to miss a game, consensus amongst the critics was that he shouldn’t even have been out there.

That he was is being laid at the door of the head coach. And not to mention that if The Three (nickname copyright – The Atlantic Voice) returns as less the player that he is now – or potentially could be – then Shanahan will really be on the hook for what occurred on Sunday when the quarterback slipped and twisted on a fourth-quarter play with his team trailing by two scores.

But should he be? In our eyes – no. We’ve said before that if a star player, or any player, is fit to play then he should. This is the pros, not Little League, and fans don’t pay $100 to watch their investments protected; they pay to see their team win. Triplet (our copyright) was cleared by the doctor and after that the only decision for the head coach was whether his quarterback was up to standard in terms of his ability to run the offense. And clearly, and correctly, in his condition – 100% or no – the Trifecta (our copyright) was the best option that the Redskins had.

This was the first home play-off game the Redskins had had in thirteen years and there were some (emphasis some) who believed that Washington had a legitimate chance of advancing to the Superbowl (ESPN’s Michael Wilbon claimed that the Seahawks-Redskins match-up was really the NFC Championship game! Pardon that interruption). With that being the case, please explain again why an athlete (who is on the record as saying he was ready and willing to play, and again cleared by the doctor) be kept out of the line-up by his coach.

There’s been a lot of hindsight-fueled hand-wringing, including this gem from The Washington Post’s Thomas Boswell comparing how the Washington Nationals treated their phenom, Stephen Strasburg (they sat him out), and how the Redskins treated their young star:

“No one knows the sum of either star’s career. The odds still favor them both. But one answer is in: We know which young man was treated as we would wish for a family member and which was exploited to the point of abuse.” 

I’m not sure what we find more offensive about that conclusion – that someone making $21 million over four years (that’s the size of the Threesome’s – our copyright – contract) is exploited; or that any professional athlete should be treated as if he were a family member.

Professional sports exists in the here and now, and Three-way (our copyright) gets paid an awful lot of money for the privilege of playing a game. The Redskins were in the play-offs, the reason for an NFL team’s existence, and Shanahan made the only decision possible. He’s not paid to be a parent, he’s paid to make whatever decisions he thinks will help his team win, because if he doesn’t, then he’s out of a job, no matter how much he treats his players as if they were his own flesh-and-blood.

Was RGIII fully fit? No, but did the team need him to win? Most certainly. That the Redskins didn’t is something that their coach should have to answer for; that their best player got hurt is not.