Redskins receiver Santana Moss played with bad hamstrings early in his career, injuries that felt worse than what he has now. He also remembers paying a price for the next few games.
That’s why he won’t play Sunday.
Redskins coach Joe Gibbs said Friday he has ruled Moss out for Sunday’s game against Dallas.
“It looks more and more like it’ll be hard to have him go,” Gibbs said.
Moss agrees.
“How can you go out there and do something when you haven’t been out here putting in the work?” he said. “I’ll always be real with you. It’s not right to walk around like this every day and say, ‘I’m going to go out there and jump in there and go 100 miles an hour.’ There’s no reason to be sugarcoating nothing. It’s evident what’s going on.”
Moss injured his left hamstring in an Oct. 22 loss at Indianapolis. He has not practiced since that game. He missed two games early in his career with the New York Jets because of similar injuries, partly because he tried to play with them.
“I went out there and tried to go through it and it did nothing but carry on week to week,” Moss said. “I was doing more stuff to get back to where I need to be. Instead of going through that again, I’ll just say the leg will let me know when it’s ready.”
The Redskins added receiving depth in the offseason, trading for Brandon Lloyd and signing Antwaan Randle El. With Moss gone — and with reserve wideout David Patten a game-time decision because of a left hamstring injury — that depth needs to come through.
Moss leads Washington with 28 receptions for 435 yards and three touchdowns. The team’s other four receivers have combined for 34 catches, 397 yards and one touchdown. It could also force an even greater emphasis on the running game.
Lloyd becomes the deep threat. But he’s had a disappointing season with only 11 catches for 164 yards. Last year, with San Francisco, he caught four passes for 142 yards in a loss to Dallas. For whatever reason, starting quarterback Mark Brunell has not looked Lloyd’s way often this season.
“We’ve all been frustrated to a certain extent here, trying to get the ball to some of our guys,” Gibbs said. “We have playmakers there and Brandon is one of those. He’s young, he’ll be here for a long time and at some point he’ll make big plays for us. He already has. He’s someone who should make a big impact here.”
