Here’s what Ellis had to say about his foot injury today.
"To me, to play with pain is part of the job," Ellis said. "My second year I played with a broken screw in my left foot the majority of that year, so dealing with pain is something I'm familiar with, but you have to get it to a level where you can deal with it."
Ellis said associate trainer Britt Brown, who worked with his rehab over the summer, has continued to try new things that will make the linebacker more comfortable in his return.
"Britt, the trainer, did a different kind of tape job on it (Tuesday) when we were trying to see what it can do, and it helped out a whole lot," Ellis said. "So of course we're going to try that today too, and just go from there."
I would like to see Greg Ellis play on Sunday, or any time in the very near future just to give Anthony Spencer a few plays off. Judging by how much Wade Phillips played Bobby Carpenter against the Giants, we need more bodies in our LB rotation. But I’m not buying the idea that the Greg Ellis we get back at OLB is going to be the same Greg Ellis pre-injury. It’s been discussed ad nauseam about athletes needing a second year to be fully recovered from this type of injury. He probably could be effective in limited action but Spencer is the starter from here on out, especially after a promising first game debut. I don’t believe he’ll play this week anyway. So while having Ellis back would definitely be a bonus on the injury front, he’s not my major concern.
Terence Newman, on the other hand, probably holds the key to our defense in his hands...err, foot. Newman won’t talk about his injury until Friday, but what he does tomorrow should be some kind of indicator. If he is relatively sure after trying today that he won’t play, they need to put him back on rest for the next week and see what happens. While I don’t like to play any team with any of our best players out, Miami is probably one team where we could get by. Of course, just by typing that statement, I’ve cursed us. Seriously though, Miami’s offense, especially in the vertical passing game, isn’t that impressive. And while the Redskins didn't score a lot of points on Miami, they did move the ball effectively. The Miami defense didn't look as good last week as it has in the past few years. So be cautious T-New.
I’m not sure about that next week, even though Chicago’s offense is also shaky. Their defense was so impressive against the Chargers that I’m sure we’re not going to score points like we did in the first game. Plus, that game is a good chance to prove to this team, under this new regime, that what they are doing is going to work. If you knock off Chicago in Chicago, you can make a claim to NFC superiority. So if Newman can play in that game at close to 100%, he probably should do it, unless the doctor’s can say that another week would be a significant help.
Finally, what's up with Terry Glenn? When are we going to get the decision on that? If he's done, we need to free up that roster spot and get someone else in here.