So, woke in the middle of the night here — Sunday afternoon in California — and decided to watch some NFL. I didn’t know which game would be on (only insomniacs plan their NFL viewing, in the UAE), but found it on the local Fox Sports network … and there were the Seahawks and Redskins on what looked like the nearly frozen tundra of the D.C. suburbs.

Soon after, I noted the heavily wrapped right knee of Robert Griffin III — RG3. The Redskins quarterback. He was limping.

And after, oh, about five seconds of looking at him, my next thought:

“That guy should not be playing.”

When you are a quarterback, any quarterback, but especially a quarterback whose DNA includes the impulse to take off and run, you should not be on the field with a bum knee.

Turns out, he suffered a “sprain” against Baltimore on December 9, missed a game the next week, came back and ran hardly at all, but seemed back up to speed for the Dallas game last week.

He apparently suffered a tweak to the knee early, against the Seahawks, got that mummification-style wrap on his leg, and tried to keep playing.

I understand the stakes. The playoffs, and all. The Redskins making a rare postseason appearance. And their offense starts with him, and his ability to spread the field with his running probably contributed significantly to the big season by the previously unnoticed running back Alfred Morris, who looked very ordinary in the game once RG3 was hobbled.

A guy with a knee as unstable as RG3’s clearly was … should not be playing football. These things never turn out. They can end only one way — with a much worse injury.

Finally, early in the fourth quarter, RG3 made a sideways motion in pursuit of an errant snap from shotgun formation, and his right leg just gave out. Buckled. Like it was hinged side to side as well as front to back.

And that annoyed me. I felt bad for the kid, but I had announced, inside my head, an hour before, “That guy should not be playing.”

So, he goes for an MRI on Monday, and then we find he has a torn ligament or two, and will have surgery.

And then my mind took me down the possible (likely?) path of RG3’s future. When he comes back, he will not be the same runner he was. He may not run at all. He will be a pocket passer, and he was not drafted to be a pocket passer. He will lose much of his game. And in a year or two Redskins fans will talk about, “Remember how good he was? You know, before the knee thing?”

ESPN.com is running one of those SportsNation surveys, asking people who is to blame for RG3’s breakdown: RG3 himself, Mike Shanahan (the coach), Dan Snyder (the owner), field conditions, or “no blame, it just happened.”

The last option, which is there for those who don’t want to feel culpable for what went on, was in a tie (at 39 percent) with “Mike Shanahan.” RG3 was at 13 percent, but I hold him blameless.

Shanahan got my vote.

The linked story (above) indicates that RG3 insisted that he continue to play. But players are supposed to do that. They are taught to shake it off, wrap it tighter, play with the pain.

And coaches like Mike Shanahan know that. To accept a player insisting on playing is a convenient cloak behind which to hige. Or attempt to.

It is up to the coach to tell the player to sit. In that case, the player will not complain, after, especially if the coach makes clear his role in the matter. I guarantee it.

And some part of Shanahan must have accepted the distinct possibility that his quarterback’s knee would explode, and the short-term gain of playing a guy hurt (not that a one-legged RG3 was playing very well) will not begin to match the long-term damage of that player never being the same again.

And, remember, the Redskins mortgaged their future to move up to No. 2 in the NFL draft, back in April, and select RG3, giving up three No. 1s (2012, 2013, 2014) and a second-rounder in 2012 to the Rams.

Now, after “allowing” their quarterback to play when his knee was already significantly damaged, the Redskins may go back to being a bad team. Which is what they probably deserve … but RG3 does not.

It annoyed me. Almost made me angry. “Almost” only because I have seen this too many times before.