“We’ve got to find out exactly how serious it is. I don’t think we will know until he operates. It is not torn, but it’s been quite sore,” Shanahan said.
Redskins defensive coordinator Jim Haslett said rookie DeJon Gomes will start at strong safety for the season’s final three games. Gomes, 22, a fifth-round draft pick out of Nebraska, has played in 12 of the Redskins’ 13 games with two starts.
The sixth overall pick of the 2007 draft, Landry, 27, was having a career year last season before it was derailed by the problematic Achilles’ tendon injury.
Landry racked up 85 tackles, a sack, an interception and a forced fumble in nine games a year ago before the tendon — which he originally strained in Week 6 — became too painful for him to walk freely. He hoped that alternative medicine treatments – shockwave therapy, platelet-rich plasma treatments and an offseason of rest — would enable him to rebound with a strong 2011 season before becoming an unrestricted free agent.
But the injury flared again after Landry played seven consecutive games this fall. This season, Landry has 48tackles, 11
/
2 sacks and a forced fumble.
“Last year, in the first nine games that he played, he should’ve been player of the year — I think he would’ve been defensive player of the year,” Shanahan said. “But he hasn’t been able to stay healthy. Hopefully he can get it fixed.”
In the days following Washington’s loss at Miami on Nov. 13, the 6-foot, 227-pound safety couldn’t practice, and Shanahan held him out of Washington’s game against Dallas the following weekend. Landry believed he could be effective despite having not practiced.
He returned to action Nov. 27 at Seattle, but strained a groin muscle in that game. Landry has missed the last two games, and this week marked the third consecutive stretch of practices that he has been sidelined.
When the Redskins practiced Thursday in preparation for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants, Landry stood on the sidelines in tennis shoes, black sweatpants and a black hoodie with his jersey over it.
Landry did not speak with reporters after practice on Thursday.
“Obviously, he was a guy we were relying on to be back and be like he played the beginning of last year,” Haslett said. “I thought the first nine games, before he got hurt, he was as good a player in the NFL. Obviously, injuries have taken a toll on him. It’s just numerous injuries. It’s not just one. There all pulls here, a pull here, and Achilles’. So obviously it’s taken a toll on him.”
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