RG3's knee injury met with memes, Twitter outrage, fans blame Shanahan

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Washington fans watched, horrified, as wunderkind quarterback Robert Griffin III limped and struggled through the Redskins tough loss against the Seattle Seahawks Sunday, only to ultimately leave the game with his knee injury reaggravated.

RGIII went down on a bad snap midway through the fourth quarter, and it was immediately clear to everyone watching his game was over. The replay showed his right knee twisting in gruesome fashion and the accusations against coach Mike Shanahan began before Griffin was able to walk--assisted--off the field.

Griffin's knee hadn't looked good from the start, and 'Skins fans cried foul over allegations that Shanahan had allowed Griffin to play against medical advice. Dr. James Andrews, who had been treating Griffin's knee injury, said he never cleared the quarterback for play in Sunday's game.

Shanahan is an idiot. RG3 should have been out of this game 45 minutes ago. #Redskins just lost this game because he would not make a change

— NFL Rants & Raves (@NFLRandR) January 7, 2013

Sickening to watch what happened 2 #RGIII.Team doctors need to be allowed as impartial party to protect players from themselves. #Redskins

— robert smith (@ESPNRobertSmith) January 7, 2013

RG3 was gonna keep playing. That is what players do. It's on Mike Shanahan, the head coach, to take his QB out and not hurt his #Redskins.

— Newy Scruggs (@newyscruggs) January 7, 2013

Fox Sports Radio host Peter Burns tweeted out an image from Forest Gump, along with the caption, "Shanahan would have kept Lieutenant Dan in the game."

On Monday morning, Griffin defended himself on Twitter as well.

Many may question, criticize & think they have all the right answers. But few have been in the line of fire in battle.

— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) January 7, 2013

Others ragged on ownership for deciding not to re-sod the playing surface at FedEx field, and plenty of people made comparisons to the equally heartbreaking end to the National's season, who also made it to the first round of the playoffs after an historic year, only to give up a lead and lose the chance to move onto the National League Championships.

Naturally, several memes began working their way around the web mourning RGIII's injury.

If you can stomach it, watch the moment when Griffin reinjured his knee during Sunday's game.