Washington Redskins coach Jay Gruden announced that cornerback Josh Norman and tight end Jordan Reed will travel to London for Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Both Norman and Reed have been dealing with concussions.
“They’ve been cleared to go on the trip, so they’re good to go as far as going on the trip,” Gruden said. “But we still have to monitor them and their behavior. We’ll have them practice tomorrow in London and then we’ll have to gauge and see if they’re able enough to go.”
Both Norman and Reed were limited participants in Thursday’s practice.
Reed said on Wednesday that he was no longer feeling any symptoms from a concussion that has held him out of the Redskins’ last two contests.
“I’m feeling good,” Reed said Wednesday. “I feel 100 percent. So right now it’s just up to the coaches and trainers.”
Norman suffered his concussion after hitting his head hard on the turf against the Detroit Lions. Norman said the hit made him lose consciousness for “at least three-five seconds.” But the 28-year-old says that he has gotten progressively better as the week has rolled along.
“Shoot, Monday and Tuesday I was great, absolutely great,” Norman said. “Wednesday I had a little setback. That’s normal, they say. Come out today, felt absolutely great, just like I did Monday and Tuesday. I don’t see anything on that end to where I’m being held back. But, at the same time, you never know with these things.”
Complicating Norman’s recovery process is a long flight to London. The Redskins leave Thursday to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
“I’m going up in the air for eight hours,” Norman said. “I guess that will be the tell tale, huh? But, at the same time, we’re going to do everything we can to be relaxed and go to sleep, ’cause I always go to sleep on planes anyways. So we’ll see how that goes.”
The status of the two key players’ availability is not yet clear, but the fact that the two were cleared for a particularly long flight is an encouraging sign. And if you’re asking Gruden’s gut feeling on what he thinks will happen with the two players, well, his gut is not very helpful.
“My gut? My gut says I’m hungry right now,” Gruden said. “I’m not going to guess on those two guys. I try to say it a lot, but there is no way of knowing. Tomorrow could be totally different. They could feel totally different than they do today. We just don’t know, but signs are looking better.”
• Tommy Chalk can be reached at tchalk@washingtontimes.com.
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