Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III expects to have the entire playbook at his disposal in Sunday night’s NFC East championship game against the Dallas Cowboys.
Coach Mike Shanahan limited Griffin’s designed runs in last Sunday’s 27-20 victory over Philadelphia because of the mildly sprained lateral collateral ligament in Griffin’s right knee. Shanahan, however, said that was by preference instead of necessity.
“The first week back, you don’t want to put him into a normal game plan,” Shanahan said Wednesday. “You want to protect him a little bit. I still think he was full-speed, ready to go. We just chose not to put him in that situation.
“I think as every day goes and you see somebody more comfortable and more comfortable, you have a gut feel when you could do everything. I really felt like I could have done that against Philly. We just chose not to.”
Griffin rushed twice for 4 yards against the Eagles, including a long run of 5. In Washington’s 38-31 victory over Dallas on Thanksgiving, he carried seven times for 29 yards.
On Wednesday, Griffin reiterated his belief that his knee is well. How that affects plays Sunday should help determine the outcome.
“Whatever I feel like I can do on that day, I will,” Griffin said. “I’ll be able to do more against the Cowboys than I was against Philly, but we’ll see how that goes.”
Teasing comes with Pro Bowl spot
Griffin’s reaction Wednesday to hearing he made the Pro Bowl wasn’t much. But his teammates let him hear about it at practice Thursday.
“There was a lot of ribbing,” Griffin said. “We went out and the first play in the huddle, all the offensive linemen said, ’Aw, man, we can’t tell this guy anything anymore.’ They can poke and prod at me all they want; it’s nothing that bothers me. They know that they have a part in that as well because they’ve protected me, they’ve blocked hard for Alfred [Morris] and they’ve been the reason that we’ve been able to win this year.”
Coach Mike Shanahan delivered the news to Griffin on Wednesday afternoon. The quarterback didn’t let himself get too excited.
“We’re all focused on the Cowboys, so we know we got this game ahead of us,” Griffin said. “I try to tell the guys — and I wanted to tell ’em, so I’ll tell ’em through you guys — that as a player, I feel like you never play for awards.”
Griffin said he’d like to take everybody to Hawaii, a place he hasn’t visited. And that’s just teammates. Plenty of family members will want to make the trip, too.
“We’ll see how many family members I get to take or how many they’re going to pay for,” Griffin said with a smile. “I try not to spend too much money, so we’ll see what happens.”
Polumbus making progress
Concussed right tackle Tyler Polumbus was cleared to participate in the walk-through portion of Redskins practice Thursday. He would fully participate in Friday’s practice if he remains asymptomatic, coach Mike Shanahan said.
Strong safety DeJon Gomes (sprained MCL, left knee) was limited in practice. Playing without Gomes against Dallas on Sunday would impact the strong safety rotation the Redskins have employed in Brandon Meriweather’s absence.
“We would just put the next guy in,” defensive coordinator Jim Haslett said. “DJ is really good in the box. That’s what he did in college. He was a dime linebacker. We’re just trying to put those guys in positions where they can help us win.”
Linebacker London Fletcher (sprained left ankle) was limited. The Redskins practiced inside their indoor practice facility because wind gusts of up to 30 mph made it unsafe to film an outdoor practice from the lifts. They also practiced indoors Wednesday because of the rain and snow.
Before the facility opened in the spring, practices on such days were held at an airport hangar or a local basketball gym — not exactly the best way to prepare for a division title game.
“We couldn’t have gone out there [Wednesday] and been productive at all,” Shanahan said.
• Rich Campbell can be reached at rcampbell@washingtontimes.com.
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