The Washington Redskins took to the field today after the stunning 25-19 loss to the Atlanta Falcons last weekend. It’s hard to imagine what that game might have been like had the Burgundy and Gold had their entire roster of arsenal of starters playing after seeing what they can do without them. That was not the case, however and the result was the heartbreaking defeat in overtime.
Not only was the loss difficult because the Redskins had come so close to winning against the then 4-0 Falcons, they came away from the game with multiple injuries to add to the already missing tight end Jordan Reed, cornerback Chris Culliver and wide out DeSean Jackson.
“[Running back] Matt Jones, great toe sprain, he’ll be day to day,” Head Coach Jay Gruden said at his Monday presser. “[cornerback Bashaud] Breeland came in with a rotator cuff contusion. We’re going to have to monitor that pretty closely — [he’s] pretty sore. [Left tackle] Trent Williams has a neck strain, he’ll be day to day, and he didn’t feel well after the game and he needed to be getting checked out. We have a bunch of other bumps and bruises we’ll update you on Wednesday. Chris Culliver update – his knee’s improved. We’ll increase work this week. DeSean Jackson, his hamstring, we’ll continue to increase his reps. Same thing with [cornerback] DeAngelo Hall. [Tight end] Jordan Reed is still undergoing the independent testing but he has improved.”
Today in practice, Jackson was present and accounted for in shells along with Williams and Jones and Breeland. Culliver and Hall were working on individual drills and Reed was nowhere to be seen.
Jackson has been out with a hamstring injury since the Week 1 loss to the Miami Dolphins and his absence has had a notable effect on the game calling available to Gruden and offensive coordinator Sean McVay. His prognosis has been three-to-four weeks out all along and as of this upcoming game, it will be four weeks. The team needs him back to open up the bubble and downfield passing game.
Reed’s value to the team can’t be understated either. His talent for getting open and his hands on the ball — and just making first downs — is outstanding.
“It depends on the team you’re playing,” Gruden also said Monday about Jackson and Reed’s affect on the team and the playcalling. “Number one, and then, number two, there are some things that are taken out without DeSean. He is a different guy. And Jordan Reed, obviously such a big third down contributor, then some of the two-tight end set things that you like to do and some of the three-receiver sets with him split out, there’s a lot of things that get taken out of the playbook, things that were very effective for us the first four weeks. It has a major effect when Jordan doesn’t play and obviously DeSean. We feel like we have enough things that we can do to still be effective. We just weren’t very effective yesterday at a consistent basis.”
Gruden and the training staff will certainly keep a close eye on these players’ rehab all this week, no doubt, and will hope there are no setbacks. The head coach will certainly be asked about all of these guys in his presser today and every day and eyes will be on all of them all this week. The Jets defense is currently ranked No. 1 and No. 2 depending on a couple of different sets of stats and it would really help the Redskins chances to have a full arsenal of offensive weapons, at least. Come Friday, it will be easier to decipher who will be playing and who will not.