Here is what you need to know on this Thursday, September 20, three days before the Redskins open their home season against the Bengals.
Extensions for Haslett and Smith
The news that Jim Haslett and Danny Smith received contract extensions during the offseason is not at all surprising. You generally do not want coaches working on the last year of their deals; lame duck status is not good for any coach’s authority.
Jason Reid first reported the extensions in the Washington Post and said that they go through at least the 2013 season.
This does not necessarily mean that Haslett and Smith will still have their jobs next year. If the defense continues to give up 30 points per game and the special teams continue to have issues with blocked kicks there could well be a new defensive coordinator and a new special teams coach in town next year. If Mike Shanahan believes that a change needs to be made, Dan Snyder will have no problem with paying off an assistant coach’s contract and bringing in a new coach.
The extensions do mean that Smith and Haslett likely have 14 more games to get it right.
Injury update
We put out a lot of injury news yesterday, here is my view of the situation.
Pierre Garçon—He was limited in practice yesterday and he may well be for the rest of the week. I think we can characterize the foot injury as “nagging” because it just won’t go away. Garçon was not available in the locker room or after practice yesterday so we were unable to get any comment from him. Last year Garçon played in all 16 games but he did miss two games in 2010 with a hamstring strain and two games in 2009 with a hand injury.
Josh Wilson—He has passed the concussion tests and has been cleared by a independent doctor but he still was limited in practice yesterday. Wilson was not very revealing when we talked to him after practice yesterday. Today is a big day for him; if he’s full go in practice there is a good chance he’ll play on Sunday. If he is limited again, he will be questionable.
Brandon Meriweather—He has missed two weeks since Shanahan announced he would be out two to four weeks. On Monday, he was not very informative when we talked to him in the locker room, saying only that he was feeling better and working towards a return. Meriweather was limited in practice yesterday and the best guess here is that he is at least another week away from making his 2012 regular season debut.
Fred Davis—We’re not sure if Davis ever had a concussion but he did go through the baseline testing after taking a blow to the head during the Rams game. He said that he was “dizzy” after the hit but he played all but one snap of the game. Davis passed the test, participated fully in practice and there should be no issue with him playing on Sunday.
Today’s schedule
11:15—Open locker room
12:00—Jim Haslett news conference
1:00—Practice (closed to the media after first 10 minutes)
After practice (approx. 3:00)—Kyle Shanahan and Mike Shanahan news conferences
In case you missed it
RG3 has been perfect under pressure.
Ryan Kerrigan knows he has to step it up with Brian Orakpo out.
Days until: Home opener vs. Bengals 3; Redskins @ Bucs 10; RG3 vs. Cam @ FedEx Field 45; Thanksgiving @ Cowboys 63
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