elocomotive
A useful idiot.
I think this kind of touches on a larger shift in how team's manage their resources and protect their investments. Sadly, we've seen too much of this in DC. Both Jordan Zimmerman and Stephen Strasburg were limited and taken out of the rotation before the season was over even though they were fully healthy in returning from Tommy John surgery. If we think back to Sidney Crosby and how long he was held out from playing even though he had no symptoms for long stretches of that recovery.
Now with RG3, there may be other motivations in play - Shanahan may be doing this to piss off Snyder and get himself fired to the tune of $7 million. Or it honestly may be that he thinks RG3's and the team's long-term health is best served by sitting down a guy taking routine beatings on a team with nothing left to play for.
But overall, I think that with advances in scientific knowledge and teams both using that information and thinking more of their long-term interests and investments, we are likely to see this happen more and more. Team doctors being given a more prominent role in making the call rather than the coach. GMs and coaches having more willingness to give up a competitive edge today for what might be a better plan for tomorrow, especially in an era where GMs are more engaged in not only procuring players for their teams, but engaged with coaches in how those resources are used.
Or maybe we're just trying to get a higher second round draft pick.
Get Spankeyed for David Yankey!