No team had a shorter offseason than Washington, which didn’t complete its coaching staff until mid-February, started training camp before every other team and played an extra preseason game. And Redskins have the latest bye in Week 10. So it’s no surprise the grind is catching up to the players.
“We’re wearing down a little bit,” coach Jim Zorn admitted.
The good news for the 5-2 Redskins is that only two of their walking wounded, cornerback Shawn Springs and running back Ladell Betts, figure to miss this week’s game at Detroit. Jason Campbell tweaked his groin in the first quarter of Sunday’s 14-11 victory over Cleveland, but the quarterback didn’t miss any snaps.
“We’re going through a long road,” Campbell said. “We had five preseason games, and now we’re seven games into the season, and [there are] two weeks more until our bye week. You’re talking 14 games straight before we even have a break. A lot of times you’re mentally tired as well as physically. We have to push through these next two weeks.”
Campbell said his groin, which loosened up as Sunday’s game progressed, was sore Monday but that he wouldn’t miss any practice time this week.
“If we had a game tomorrow, I’d be ready,” he said.
That’s not the case for Betts, who likely won’t return until after the Nov. 9 bye after spraining a knee against the Rams. Springs, who missed a second game in three weeks Sunday with a strained left calf, also might not be back until after the bye.
“I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to come back for the second half of our season and get six or seven picks and have a great year,” said Springs, who hasn’t definitively ruled himself out of the Nov. 3 game against Pittsburgh.
Springs’ fellow defensive backs, cornerbacks Carlos Rogers (calf) and Fred Smoot (groin) and safety Chris Horton (ankle), toughed it out against the Browns, but only Smoot was feeling worse Monday. Even he vowed to play against the Lions.
“I never think that one man can stop the show with the guys we got,” said Rogers, who helped the Redskins hold the Browns to 134 passing yards.
“We have a lot of guys nicked up,” Smoot said. “I’m very proud of how we played.”
The scrapes and bruises filter through the Redskins’ entire roster. Defensive end Jason Taylor’s surgically repaired calf bled after the game. Offensive tackle Chris Samuels played on a sprained knee. Running back Clinton Portis figures to be limited in practice this week because of myriad bumps and bruises. Guard Pete Kendall has a throat problem, and tight end Todd Yoder was kicked in a hamstring. All should play this week.
Cornelius Griffin didn’t practice much last week after spraining his right shoulder Oct. 12 against St. Louis, but the defensive tackle started against the Browns.
“I’m just going to keep playing,” Griffin said. “I’ll rest during the bye week.”
Zorn said Griffin was heroic for gutting it out against the Browns.
“He’s hurt, he really is,” Zorn said. “I may demand [that he take the game off] just to give him a breather, but I’m going to wait and see what he says, see what the doctors say. He wants to be with his guys. He wants to do battle, so it might be hard to keep him out.”
Jansen’s job again
Zorn said veteran Jon Jansen has reclaimed the right tackle job from Stephon Heyer, who started the first three games before exiting with a sprained left shoulder. With Jansen at the right tackle spot he owned from 1999 to 2007 when healthy, Portis has put together just the second streak of four straight 120-yard rushing games in Redskins history.
“I’m very pleased [with Jansen],” Zorn said. “Our group is working well together. It’s unfortunate for Stephon, but I’m not going to mess [with the line].”
Said Jansen: “I’m very happy that I have earned his confidence.”
Zorn also praised center Casey Rabach for effectively blocking massive Browns defensive tackle Shaun Rogers 1-on-1 during much of the game.
“He had to block a big human being,” Zorn said. “They were going at it all day long. He got beat a couple of times, but he held his own.”
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