By treating Andrews as a pawn to win a press conference and then relying upon Griffin's evaluation of his own health as the ultimate measure of his ability to perform, the Redskins showed exactly how little they care about truly evaluating their quarterback's health. They turned the decision-making over to Shanahan, who would normally have the ability to make a tough decision that would be the best thing for his team and his star player, but Shanahan alternately allegedly lied and passed the buck to avoid making that tough decision. In a league that's waging an enormous fight against concussions, one that has actively needed to remove coaches and players from the equation out of the reality that they'll make decisions based on winning more than their own health, how can it still be acceptable in 2012 to use a player's intuition about his health in the middle of a playoff game as the justification of your decision? How is it still enough after series after series of sub-replacement play? Is it any surprise that Griffin said afterwards that, had Shanahan prevented him from playing, he "probably would have been right back there out on the field"? Why would Griffin have respect for the appropriate medical process in that situation? Shanahan doesn't.
Shanahan's story, in the end, saw him rely on that most tried-and-true coaching adage. "You've gotta go with your gut," Shanahan said. He might have thought about considering his eyes, too.
Bill Barnwell on the weekend's wild-card games - Grantland
