This Saturday night the Indianapolis Colts and their rookie quarterback, Andrew Luck, will visit the Washington Redskins and their rookie quarterback, Robert Griffin, III, in the third preseason game of 2012. This is not news to anyone that is remotely interested in professional football. It is news however, because the two rookies were the first and second-round draft picks and, as has been stated repeatedly, will forever be linked because of it.
It’s been some time since the preseason meant so much to the masses. In the past, it wasn’t uncommon for the average fan to not even know who their team was playing in a preseason game, much less plan their weekend around one of the games. That is not the case this season. I have spoken with five groups of fans in the past couple of days and every single one of them is planning to spend Saturday evening around the television, watching the match-up of the two quarterbacks.
Paul Walsh of Fairfax was wearing a Chris Cooley jersey when I spoke to him yesterday and asked him about the upcoming game.
“I have my dad, my uncle and six fraternity brothers coming over to watch the game,” Walsh said. “Honestly, I can’t think when I’ve cared so much about a game in August. I would not miss it.”
Griffin actually said recently that he will “never will truly get to face Andrew because he doesn’t play defense” and this is true. But they will be compared, scrutinized and analyzed with relation to each other after Saturday’s game and it will go on the entire season. Every week the sports networks will talk about how each quarterback played, compare their stats, their progression, their state of mind and their post-game press conferences. Both quarterbacks know it and will expect it.
“I think they’ll be talking about me and him and comparing everything like you guys.” Griffin said at his Monday press conference. “I definitely look forward to playing the guy throughout my career. I think it will be exciting match-ups every time we face each other. You hope that for every quarterback. I never wish any quarterback any harm. We’re all trying to make it in this life and make it in this league as the best one.”
These days, many rookie quarterbacks are baptized by fire, frequently starting for their teams immediately whereas “back in the day,” they held clipboards for a year or two, watching and learning from the veterans they would ultimately replace for a couple of years. Not so in Indianapolis or Washington this season where the first and second-round picks are both quarterbacks and both as talented and anticipated as these two are. This makes for “must-see-TV.”
The game is this Saturday, August 25 at FedEx Field, kickoff at 4:00 pm (EST). It is being televised nationally on the NFL Network and locally on Comcast and NBC (although NBC could decide to televise nationally).
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During Redskins’ head coach Mike Shanahan’s Monday presser, he addressed the health of a couple of the players and the most important to the team were offensive lineman Kory Lichtensteiger and fullback Darrel Young. Both players were on the practice field doing drills on Monday. That’s good news.
The MRI on linebacker Brian Orakpo’s shoulder showed no tear. Evidently, there was some scar tissue but Orakpo should be okay according to Shanahan.
Safety Brandon Meriweather’s condition is similar to his teammate’s.
“The same thing [as Orakpo]…,” Shanahan said. “After taking a look at the MRI, it’s a little bit swollen right now, but no surgery. Just a little bit sore, so we’ll have to take it day-by-day.”
Defensive end Kedric Golston and safety DeJon Gomes both practiced yesterday. Golston’s elbow and tricep were both a little sore however. Gomes had injured his left ankle on a punt return late in the second quarter.
Left tackle Trent Williams had a second injection to alleviate some of the pain in his foot due to a bone bruise.
Running back Roy Helu, Jr. is dealing with Achilles injuries and the coach described them as “sore” yesterday. There is no timetable for when he will practice yet – he has missed five so far – which makes Tim Hightower’s return even more important. Shanahan said that the Virginia native was sore but that he practiced Monday and that if he continues to feel good enough to practice and play, he would play him on Saturday against the Colts. If not, they will try to play him the following week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Hail.