During his weekly Wednesday press conference, Robert Griffin III expressed his desire to not wear a protective knee brace during team practices, adding that he may not to have to wear it Sunday when faces off against the Seattle Seahawks in his first career playoff game.
Griffin recognized that the decision will ultimately be made by the Redskins training staff, who likely will want him to wear it as a precaution.
The 22-year old QB said that it has been the brace, rather than pain or discomfort from within his knee, that has primarily caused his restricted movement over the past two games since he returning from the sprained LCL knee-ligament he suffered twenty-four days ago against the Baltimore Ravens.
Using the terminology of a world class track athlete, Griffin made clear that even wearing the brace he can still run fast and do damage against opposing defenses:
"Any time you wear a brace like that, it's to protect you, so it's going to cause a natural limp. You're not going to be able to bend your knee normally. It restricts your flexion and your extension. It's just to protect the ligaments in there, so there'll be a natural limp - but at the same time you can still generate power."
According to the player himself, his sprained knee "is getting pretty close" to being one hundred percent, but the training staff wants him to keep wearing the brace as a precaution: "The doctors aren't going to let me take it off. [Head Trainer] Larry [Hess] is not going to let me take it off. So, I try to do as much as I can without the brace. And whenever they find out I don't have it on, I have to throw it on."
Griffin, who recently became only the second player in NFL history to rush for over 750 yards and throw for over 3,000 yards in the same season, opened the door to the possibility that he will not wear the brace when he faces the Seahawks in the NFC Wild-Card Round:
"My leg - I can feel it healing, so I mean I might not wear the brace this week. I'm sure Larry Hess is shaking his head right now. but we'll see what happens."