Everson Griffen made call to sit out on Sunday

One of the big stories leading up to the Minnesota Vikings’ contest against the Washington Redskins in Week 10 was the health of defensive end Everson Griffen. Griffen was injured on the final play of the Vikings’ Week 8 victory over the Cleveland Browns in London, and did not practice until Friday, when he was a limited participant.

Griffen was a game-time decision, and tested the foot during pre-game warmups. When it came time to make the call, it was made by. . .Everson Griffen, according to an interview he did with Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

“I made the decision and they agreed,’’ Griffen said. “The training staff agreed, Coach Zimmer agreed and the D-line coach (Andre Patterson) agreed. It was a hard decision, but it was a smart decision.’’

As it turned out, the Vikings didn’t necessarily need Griffen in the lineup to take down the Redskins, as they won 38-30 with Sack Daddy watching from the sidelines. But Griffen with the agreement of the coaching staff, apparently felt it to be best to take a short-term setback with an eye on the long-term future.

“I was pretty close to playing but the risk was not worth it,’’ Griffen said. “We got seven more weeks to go and I got to be healthy, so I’d rather miss one game than be done for four weeks.”

It sounds like Griffen should be back at full speed for next week’s big contest at U.S. Bank Stadium against the Los Angeles Rams in a battle of 7-2 teams. Sunday showed that the Vikings can, potentially, win without Everson Griffen, but I’m pretty sure that the rest of Vikings fandom would enjoy it a whole lot more if he was out there.