Jay Gruden Presser: Redskins injuries send another starter to IR

The season of injuries continues for the Washington Redskins, and another starter is headed to injured reserve. Linebacker Mason Foster has been playing with an injured shoulder since Week 2, and will now get surgery for a torn labrum. Backups Will Compton and Matrell Spaight will need to step up to replace Foster next to Zach Brown.

The Redskins have 17 players listed on their injury report, including 4 of their starting 5 offensive linemen(Spencer Long has been ruled out). They did get some good news, CB Josh Norman has been cleared. He is listed as questionable for this week's game, but it would take a major setback for him not to play

Injury updates:

Mason Foster to IR:

“He’s been trying to play with it, and hats off to him for fighting through the injury, you know what I mean? There’s certain, I guess, categories of what he has right now and his is pretty painful. He can’t sleep at night. He wants to get it fixed and I don’t blame him. He fought through a couple games for us and I think just the pain has been unbearable for him. His range of motion isn’t there and he wants to get it fixed.”

Spencer Long out:

“Chase [Roullier] will be the starting center. And we brought in Tony [Bergstrom] to be the backup center. So we have two. Then obviously, Shawn Lauvao has played center in the past, hopefully it doesn’t come down to that.”

If Brandon Scherff can’t play:

“The plan would be Catalina at guard, if he can go. We have T.J. [Clemmings], he’ll be playing tackle if Trent [Williams] can’t go, but if Trent can go, we could also play him at guard. So we’ve been putting guys all over the joint here, as of late. We’ll find somebody in there.”

Preston Smith:

“Yeah, I think so. I think so. He’s feeling pretty good. I think Preston will probably be one of those guys we’ll get a good workout in pregame warmup and see how he’s feeling and if he feels like he can go, we’ll get him in there in some kind of role – some kind of capacity. That’s the case with a lot of these guys, quite frankly.”

Josh Norman cleared to play:

Kirk Cousins vs rain:

“Yeah, that’s a good point. I think we’ll have to wait and see. That’s something that we can’t control. We’ll wait and see on game day if it’s an issue. The good thing is, Kirk [Cousins] really throws a good wet ball and throws the ball really good in the wind. We learned that at Green Bay – against Green Bay – last year when he threw for all those yards in 30 mph winds. He can handle the wind and rain. He’s very good but it can have an effect. But to what effect, we’ll find out on Sunday.”

DeAngelo Hall:

“I think we want to get him in practice – let him move around a little bit and get him back to making calls and run around on scout team a little bit. He is making great progress and I think he’s a guy that can be useful for us when we need him. And it could be next week.”

Jordan Reed/Vernon Davis:

“Well, they are both great players. They both bring something a little bit different to the team. Jordan is a really good option route runner and he can get down the field and all that stuff. Vernon is a straight-up speed guy that can really blaze down the field. Vernon is also really good in the core as far as blocking and Jordan is getting a lot better at blocking. So those two together really are a great combination. They complement each other really well and they help the outside guys also. When those two guys are right – and even Niles Paul for that matter – we have three-tight-ends sets that are pretty effective too. You get them in base defense and we are working on linebackers and safeties, those guys are pretty good, all effective.”

Cover 0 blitzes:

“I think, one, we have to be in-tune with the protection. Where is our free player coming from? Obviously if you can get an audible and get into your max protection you would love to do that, but sometimes if you’re on the road and you’ve already started the process of the tap and the snap count, they come late. Arizona got us a couple times last year and Philly got us this past weekend where we had already started the process of the silent count and it was too late to get an audible. So then you have to adjust and find your quick element and we haven’t been very effective at that. We had a couple others where we picked it up and he was able to find his quick element and make some completions. But it’s all about timing. It’s all about getting your protection right and then if you do have a free player, know where he is, drift away from it and make a good throw. Hopefully the play has some quick elements to it.”

Redskins vs Cowboys Injury Report