Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garçon saw a foot specialist in Charlotte on Wednesday because he hasn’t made any progress in his recovery from injury, a visit that didn’t result in any more clarity about when he might return to the lineup.
According to Stephen Whyno and Rich Campbell of the Washington Times, Dr. Robert B. Anderson diagnosed Garçon with a plantar plate tear in his right foot. The plantar plate is a soft tissue structure that connects the base of the toe and the metatarsal, the long bone that goes to the toe, and it causes pain when trying to push off on the foot. Wide receivers have to do a lot of pushing off, which makes this a particularly frustrating injury for Garçon to get past.
A report earlier this week indicated that the Redskins were considering keeping Garçon on the shelf until after the Week 10 bye. Coach Mike Shanahan was asked about that and confirmed it was a possibility mostly because the team has no idea when Garçon might be ready to go.
“It could very well happen that way, but…we don’t know what’s going to happen with Pierre,” Shanahan said. “I’m taking this day-by-day, listen to the doctors, see what they recommend, and obviously I’m not going to force somebody to play if the doctors don’t think he is ready or…Pierre doesn’t feel like he’s ready.”
Garçon is keeping weight off his foot this week, which is a pretty good sign that he’ll be inactive against the Steelers and adds to the likelihood that he’ll be shooting for a return in Week 11. With five of their last seven games against divisional opponents, that timing could work well for a strong finishing kick if the Redskins are able to stay afloat for the next couple of weeks.