National Football League

RG3 'ready to move on' with rehab

Published Aug. 5, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Robert Griffin III hasn't missed a day of practice, and he has yet to try any of the sandwiches named after him in Richmond.

The practice streak is more impressive. The sandwich streak is more entertaining.

It's not uncommon for a player returning from reconstructive knee surgery to need the occasional day off during training camp. Washington Redskins teammates Brandon Meriweather and Chris Thomspon have been idle for several practices, even though both had their ACLs repaired before Griffin.

But Griffin says he didn't have any soreness or swelling in his right knee through the first nine days of workouts, when he was limited to 7-on-7 drills by coach Mike Shanahan.

On Day 10, RG3 was lobbying for more.

"I'm ready to move on," Griffin said Monday. "I mean, you can only do so much in 7-on-7. The completion percentage is there. I feel like the rhythm is there with the guys. We're finding the holes in the defense when we have to, and we are throwing the check-downs when we have to as well.

"Coach will tell you something else, but obviously I'm ready to move on."

But "Coach" is the one in charge, so Griffin will have to cool his heels a while longer.

The plan remains for Griffin to be kept out of 11-on-11 drills in the practices leading up to Thursday's first preseason game against the Tennessee Titans. Griffin won't play in that game -- he's unlikely to play at all in the preseason -- but he's itching to join the 11-on-11s when practice resumes next week.

"I kind of know what the plan is, but it is also up to be changed based on how I feel after this week," Griffin said. "So hopefully I can get out there and get with the team, start doing more team-like activities and just go from there and get back in tune with everything."

Griffin hasn't hit every throw, and there are times when he doesn't appear to do a full push-off with his right leg. Still, the pace of his rehab has been remarkable considering that his surgery was less than eight months ago. He said he was actually ahead of this pace -- as far as his practice regimen was concerned -- when he had a similar injury while in college at Baylor, and that the extra attention his injury has received this time around is the cause for the caution.

"There is a lot of scrutiny, so Coach also has to account for that," Griffin said. "In college, you are trying to make it to this level, and in the pros, you are trying to make sure you stay here for a long time. You can say whatever you want about what he is doing. I can feel any kind of way about it, but at the end of the day, we all have to be on the same page and that is what I am trying to do, just do everything the coaches ask me to do, show them that my rhythm and timing is there, show them that I can play.

"And at the end of the day they have to come through for me and play me Week 1 if I do everything they ask me to do."

Meanwhile, RG3-mania continues at camp and throughout the city. On Monday, the subject of his namesake sandwiches came up. One local eatery serves an RG3 with sirloin steak strips in homemade marinade, fajita-style onions and peppers, a homemade taco seasoning, cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomato -- all on a foot-long roll.

"I've got to go try those sandwiches out, maybe," Griffin said. "Hopefully I don't die of a heart attack, but it's really special. The team played so well last year, and the Redskins' fans are just so hungry for success."