Commanders injuries: Updates on key players for NY Giants rematch
By Jerry Trotta
If you haven’t started a countdown for the Washington Commanders’ clash against the NY Giants on Sunday Night Football this week, what are you waiting for? For Washington, it’s the biggest regular season game in at least two years. For New York, you likely have to go back five years to find a game of a similar magnitude.
The Commanders have opened as -3.5 favorites for the game, which speaks to the direction of both teams. While Ron Rivera’s group is well-rested after a hard-fought tie in the Meadowlands, Brian Daboll’s side is battered and bruised after getting boat-raced by Jalen Hurts and the Eagles this past Sunday.
As always, injuries could have a big say in the game’s outcome.
After a week off, Rivera offered plenty of updates on Tuesday, and the biggest news, ironically, concerns a backup who began the year as the starter.
Carson Wentz was activated to the 53-man roster on Monday. If everything goes according to plan, Wentz will serve as Taylor Heinicke’s backup on Sunday night. If Heinicke struggles, how tempted will Rivera be to go to Wentz? As if this must-see matchup needed any more intrigue, right?
Ron Rivera on Carson Wentz: "If everything should go accordingly, he'll be the primary backup for this game [against the Giants] and we'll go from there."
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) December 13, 2022
Commanders injury updates for Week 15 vs the NY Giants
There’s a lot more updates to get to, so let’s not waste any time.
Per Rivera, Montez Sweat and James Smith-Williams are still in concussion protocol, though the head coach believes they could return to practice by Wednesday or Thursday, seemingly indicating they’ll be good to go for Sunday.
Benjamin St-Juste, who was sorely missed in the Week 14 meeting between these teams, is “progressing in the right direction as of today (Tuesday),” says Rivera. While not a clear indicator on his status, it seems like St-Juste could return from his ankle sprain so long as he avoids a setback this week.
Elsewhere, Jamin Davis underwent a procedure on his thumb during the bye. While alarming given the terminology, Rivera says the procedure was planned and Davis will play on Sunday. That’s a huge relief for the defense, especially with Cole Holcomb out for the year after undergoing foot surgery.
The following trio of players — Antonio Gibson (foot), Sam Cosmi (ankle) and Trai Turner (knee/ankle) — are all being monitored. While Gibson played in Week 13 and should be fine for Sunday, Cosmi left the game with his ankle, and Turner was inactive after going down in the Week 12 win vs Atlanta.
Rivera did stress that the bye week was helpful for all three players, however.
Benjamin St-Juste had an encouraging day and is heading in the right direction, per Ron Rivera.
— Pete Hailey (@PeteHaileyNBCS) December 13, 2022
Jamin Davis "had a procedure on this thumb" but should be fine.
AG and Trai Turner will be monitored with their injuries but the bye week was helpful for both pic.twitter.com/Ee5RuUNGrq
Finally, we arrive at Chase Young, whose delayed return is starting to bug some Commanders fans, and understandably so. The former Defensive Rookie of the Year has had some close calls as far as returning, but a sickness ultimately derailed his chances in Week 12 before he was held out of Week 13 vs the Giants.
Having another week of rest and rehab under his belt, Rivera believes Young is “trending in the right direction” for the highly-hyped rematch. We’ve certainly heard that before, so we aren’t holding our breath on Young playing.
We’d obviously love to have him out there, albeit on a snap count, but we’ll believe it when we see it after the last month of teetering back and forth.
Ultimately, these were encouraging updates from Rivera across the board.
