Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III is recovering in Florida from his second reconstructive knee surgery in just more than three years. The first time he tore his ACL was at Baylor, and obviously he rebounded nicely, winning the Heisman Trophy in 2011 then leading the Redskins to their first division title in 13 years this season.
RGIII's surgeon for that procedure was Dr. Mark Adickes, and if that name sounds familiar, it's because he is a former Redskins offensive lineman who played on the team that won Super Bowl XXVI, and he’s optimistic Griffin will be ready for the start of the 2013 season.
“With the ACL revision, ACL reconstruction, I would expect him to be able to recover in 6-8 months,” Adickes said. “I honestly think that, knowing his work ethic and the kind of athlete that he is and the kind of condition that he’s in, I would expect him to see him back for the opener, for the regular season opener.”
Griffin was back on the field practicing four months after the surgery Adickes performed in 2009, but Wednesday’s surgery was different, as Griffin also tore his LCL.
“You couldn’t be in better hands,” Adickes said. “Dr. (James) Andrews obviously repaired the lateral collateral ligament and then he reconstructed his ACL. The one thing that makes this a lot more painful is that he actually took the graft from his good knee, his uninjured knee, but it makes the best ACL to take a piece of bone from your kneecap and then a strip of your patellar tendon and then a piece of bone from your shin in order to reconstruct the ACL.”
Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson’s quick return from a torn ACL suffered at FedEx Field against the Redskins in December 2011 was impressive, but Adickes noted Griffin’s injury was worse.
“But Robert has that same kind of work ethic,” Adickes said. “All we did was to try to slow him down. He recovered so quickly from the surgery. Obviously the team and the physicians are going to be incredibly conservative with him, and if he’s not ready, certainly he could miss some of the season, but I don’t expect it.”
Photo Credit: Getty Images