LANDOVER, Md. - Robert Griffin III walked gingerly through the Washington Redskins locker room Sunday, his sprained right knee in a big black brace.
Teammates stood at their lockers, mixing the emotions of a 31-28 overtime win over the Baltimore Ravens (9-4) with the fear that their franchise player could be seriously hurt.
Griffin went down on Washington's final drive of regulation, with his team trailing by eight. Fellow rookie Kirk Cousins, who had played in only one other game, stepped in and hit Pierre Garcon for an 11-yard touchdown pass with 29 seconds left, then ran the quarterback draw for the two-point conversion.
Yet another rookie, Richard Crawford, returned a punt 64 yards in overtime to set up Kai Forbath's 34-yard winning field goal. The Redskins (7-6) have a four-game winning streak - putting pressure on the New York Giants in the race for the NFC East title. The Redskins later said an MRI exam showed no major ligament damage.
With the Redskins trailing, 28-20, after Ray Rice's 7-yard TD run with 4 minutes, 47 seconds to play, Griffin started moving his team before he was tackled by Haloti Ngata at the end of a 13-yard scramble.
"I knew as soon as I got hit. I screamed. Like a man, of course," Griffin added with a laugh.
He left for one play, then completed two passes to get the Redskins deep into Ravens territory. Eventually, he could not continue.
"I knew I needed to get out at that point," Griffin said.
Redskins 31,
Ravens 28, OT
Balt. 7 14 0 7 0 – 28
Wash. 14 0 6 8 3 – 31
First quarter
Was–Morgan 4 pass from Griffin III (Forbath kick), 9:38.
Bal–Boldin 19 pass from Flacco (Tucker kick), 7:05.
Was–Morris 1 run (Forbath kick), 2:55.
Second quarter
Bal–Boldin 31 pass from Flacco (Tucker kick), 10:16.
Bal–Pitta 14 pass from Flacco (Tucker kick), 8:39.
Third quarter
Was–FG Forbath 48, 10:27.
Was–FG Forbath 49, 1:21.
Fourth quarter
Bal–Rice 7 run (Tucker kick), 4:47.
Was–Garcon 11 pass from Cousins (Cousins run), :29.
Overtime
Was–FG Forbath 34, 11:37.
A: 81,178.
Bal Was
First downs 18 22
Total Net Yards 359 420
Rushes-yards 35-186 35-172
Passing 173 248
Punt Returns 3-25 3-100
Kickoff Returns 5-145 2-37
Interceptions Ret. 0-0 1-2
Comp-Att-Int 16-21-1 17-28-0
Sacked-Yards Lost 2-9 3-24
Punts 5-50.2 5-48.0
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 3-1
Penalties-Yards 8-56 8-70
Time of Possession 29:22 34:01
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Baltimore, Rice 20-121, Pierce 8-53, Flacco 5-9, Leach 2-3. Washington, Morris 23-122, Griffin III 7-34, Royster 3-11, Hankerson 1-3, Garcon 1-2.
Passing: Baltimore, Flacco 16-21-1-182. Washington, Griffin III 15-26-0-246, Cousins 2-2-0-26.
Receiving: Baltimore, Pitta 5-46, Boldin 3-78, Rice 3-15, Leach 2-11, Pierce 2-11, T.Smith 1-21. Washington, Garcon 5-87, Hankerson 4-67, Moss 3-52, Morgan 3-30, Young 1-28, Paulsen 1-8.
Missed Field Goals: None.