JGfromtheNW":2i0uzfi3 said:
kobebryant":2i0uzfi3 said:
It's an absolute shame what guys like Grigson and Shanahan did to the careers of Luck and RG3.
Overall I agree, but the players themselves need to take some responsibility for what happened to them because they didn't protect themselves. Nobody was putting a gun to their heads and telling them to play. I get the whole being a tough guy and playing through pain and all, but the players deserve to be held accountable.
RG3 didn't protect himself running the ball and staying out when his knee was already seriously injured. Luck reportedly played over a year with a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder plus various rib and abdominal injuries.
You're right. But tapping out to protect yourself is the antithesis of what people want in their franchise QBs, even if it is for the long-term good of the player and the franchise. I think this is where it is incumbent upon the Head Coach to take the decisions out of the players hands and make it clear to everyone that it was the coaches decision, and not the players.
Specifically to RG3, I don't blame him for pushing to take the field, and what a garbage field it was (cost Crish Clemons his ACL) for that playoff game against the Hawks; but Shanahan should have known how bad the knee was and told him 'no'. How that organization could have invested so much draft and marketing capital to go get RG3 and not invest in a fast fieldturf track for their track star QB to play on, instead having him run around in that muck, is beyond me.
In the case of Luck, Grigson put such a terrible team around him that Luck end up shouldering so much. With a terrible oline and without the individual escapability and self-preservation skills of Russell Wilson, disaster was bound to strike. I think Luck does have more responsibility than RG3 for his career trajectory. Really could have protected himself better.
With Luck, given his varying interests and high intelligence I have to wonder how much longer he'll want to do this. Eventually, it has to become a Ricky Watters, "For who? For What?" situation.