Pierre Garcon doesn’t appear to be making progress with his lingering right foot injury, and Wednesday it became evident that the Washington Redskins wide receiver is regressing.
After missing Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings, Garcon did not practice and complained of not being 100 percent. He has no timetable to test the injury, making it seem very unlikely that he could suit up this Sunday for the Redskins’ NFC East opener at the New York Giants.
“We’re going to hopefully give him a little time, get that thing healed,” Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said. “How long it’ll take, I don’t know. One, two days; two, three weeks, I really don’t know. But he’s a tough guy.”
Garcon wanted to play against the Vikings but was held out when Shanahan and his staff saw signs that the No. 1 receiver was not himself. The risk of worsening the injury, described as inflammation of the capsule under Garcon’s second toe on his right foot, was enough to breed caution.
“As a player, you always want to go out there, even when you know you’re not a hundred percent, but you still want to help the team,” Garcon said. “You still can somehow think you can fight through it, bite on your mouthpiece a little bit harder and just take the pain. But I wasn’t being very productive injured.”
Garcon suffered the injury in Week 1 on his 88-yard touchdown catch at New Orleans, missed two games then returned for limited action in two games. He managed just four catches for 44 yards and wasn’t much of a factor.
The 26-year-old, who was signed as a free agent to be Robert Griffin III’s top target, hopes rest will help. Not having a clear picture of what is going on, though, seemed to worry Shanahan.
“It’s very much a mystery. You don’t know,” the coach said. “We’re going to hopefully give him a little time, get that thing healed.” What Garcon knows is that he still feels pain, and that the foot injury is restricting his speed. Not good for a guy expected to be a threat to stretch the field.
“I need my toes to be a hundred percent to be fast. It’s not a hundred percent, I can’t really give it power or force,” said Garcon, who has some equipment in regular shoes and his cleats to alleviate the pain. “I couldn’t run as fast as I used to. It’s tough because I pride myself on it, running fast, but when you can’t really do that, your options are limited on what I can do.”
Orakpo comes to terms
Every player who suffers a season-ending injury goes through a grieving process. Missed opportunities can be diffcult to accept because a player has only so many over the course of a career.
Brian Orakpo faced that process after tearing his left pectoral muscle Sept. 16. He found peace this week, a month after the injury.
“Realization that I’m not coming back,” Orakpo said. “There’s no way I can fix it to come back. I would love to come back and help out any way I can, but the facts are the facts. I’m out for the season. It’s something I have to deal with. I’ve dealt with it. Teammates helped me cope with it. The coaches gave me support. I’m just here just trying to support my guys as they go into battle.”
Orakpo had surgery to repair the muscle shortly after the injury. The two-time Pro Bowl linebacker won’t be at full strength until early next year.
Injury updates
Cornerback Cedric Griffin, who missed the past three games with a right hamstring injury, said he’s “pretty confident” he’ll be able to play Sunday. … Cornerback David Jones (Achilles) and safety Brandon Meriweather did not practice Wednesday. Griffin was limited along with nose tackle Barry Cofield (shoulder), cornerback DeAngelo Hall (knee), safety Jordan Pugh (concussion) and defensive end Doug Worthington (calf). Shanahan said middle linebacker London Fletcher and defensive end Stephen Bowen took fewer reps than normal in order to rest. Tight end Fred Davis (knee) had full participation.
• Rich Campbell can be reached at rcampbell@washingtontimes.com.
• Stephen Whyno can be reached at swhyno@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.