It was another tough day for the Washington Football Team Sunday. No, we aren’t even talking about the 27-20 loss to the hated Dallas Cowboys. It’s all of the injuries facing Washington as it looks to earn a playoff spot with four games remaining.
On Sunday, wide receiver Terry McLaurin, left tackle Charles Leno, center Tyler Larsen and quarterback Taylor Heinicke were among those injured. Only Larsen’s looks season-ending, but Leno was the only one of the four injured WFT players to return to Sunday’s game.
Washington head coach Ron Rivera spoke to the media Monday and gave updates on the new injuries.
“Well, let’s see. Taylor [Heinicke] is a little sore today, obviously,” Rivera said. “We’ll continue to monitor him. Terry [McLaurin] is in the protocol, and we’ll continue to monitor him. Tyler [Larsen] is getting an MRI today, and we’ll know more about his injury as we go forward. [Charles] Leno came out of it a little gimpy, but he should be fine.”
This doesn’t include some of the injured Washington players on injured reserve, such as Chase Young, Logan Thomas, Sam Cosmi, Chase Roullier and Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Injuries may be the least of Washington’s problems, though. On Monday afternoon, Washington placed star defensive tackle Jonathan Allen on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Four others players were also placed on the list. So, that means Washington currently has nine players on the COVID — most of which are along the defensive line.
Rivera discussed why he feels the team has done a good job of overcoming the tremendous amount of injuries in 2021:
“Well, I think because of the depth we have is pretty good,” Rivera said.
“I think the coaches have done a nice job with our guys. I think gotta give credit to those guys. I think they’ve been working with them really well. For the most part, we’ve been relatively fresh until this week. This past week was tough. It really was. Taking an account the four games prior and coming off of a Monday night and going across the country and then coming back, that was tough on our guys. They started a little slow, but I love the way they finished.”
We’ll continue to keep you posted on Washington’s mounting injury situation throughout the week.