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News | Washington Commanders - Commanders.com

Jim Zorn Monday Press Conference

On player injuries from Sunday's game vs. New Orleans:

"Albert Haynesworth's ankle flared up again during the game. We held him out towards the end because he was having a hard time with his ankle. We'll wait to see what happens with him and his ankle again this week. Mike Sellers was taken to the hospital with a thigh bruise. He got released this morning and I don't know if he is going to make it back in time for this game or not so that will be something that we watch."

On if he has an update on Clinton Portis' injury:

"He goes today with one of our trainers to Pittsburgh for testing. He'll be there most of the day tomorrow. He should be back tomorrow night and we'll find out what the results are."

On Mike Sellers' fumble:

"It was an inadvertent whistle. It was a fumble and recovery. Everyone went for the ball and when the whistles blew, they stopped. What happened was the New Orleans' defender picked the ball up. When he picked the ball up it became their possession. You can't advance that because of the whistle, but you do get the ball. It was a very tight play, but they were right on it and got it sorted out. It was unfortunate for us."

On if he is considering putting Clinton Portis on Injured Reserve:

"I don't know about Injured Reserve, but if he's not cleared he won't play, and I'll make that evaluation. I won't make that decision alone. We'll make it with the trainers and with our coaches just to make sure we do the right thing for our team, and for Clinton [Portis]."

On if he is considering letting Quinton Ganther start at running back:

"That might be possible. I haven't met with the staff yet, but I like the way all the running backs are giving effort. Its one of those deals by committee, we're doing a pretty good job. I think each guy in his own right is going as hard as he can and I think we're getting better as we go. The guys are feeling more and more comfortable getting themselves up the field."

On deciding to give the players the day off:

"Just emotionally with last week's game and this week's game, I thought they needed a break. We have a long trip ahead of us going to the Raiders. I gave them the day off, but I've seen a lot of guys coming in lifting and watching video."

On Shaun Suisham's missed field goal:

"I went back and looked at it. [Hunter Smith] had to reach up, but it definitely was in the right target. It was a decent snap and excellent hold. It was a poor kick."

On if free safety LaRon Landry is better suited to play closer to the line of scrimmage rather than at the free safety position:

"I don't know about all of the time, but in some situations that may be discussed as we go along here. We've got to get him into a position where he can make plays around the ball. When he's playing that free safety [position], he's roaming pretty good. It was really the two safety look that got him in the game – it got him twice – and that's something that we have to improve on as we go along here with LaRon [Landry] or with the other safeties as well."

On if there are any other players on the roster that the coaching staff trusts at free safety as much as they trust LaRon Landry:

"Well, Kareem Moore is coming on. I would say Kareem Moore is playing better and better as we go along. I don't know yet if we would take Lendy [Holmes] and just say, 'Hey, this is your position.' We might be able to have some other guys play safety, but there is nobody on that field that has the range and violence that LaRon Landry does back there at free safety."

On his impressions of wide receiver Devin Thomas at this point:

"He's starting to come on. You guys can see it every week, and those questions are being asked and commented on. He's gaining more and more confidence, not only as a receiver, but his kickoff returns are getting better and better as he gets more comfortable. We didn't make a lot of yardage [on the kickoff returns], but he's hitting it up in there, and we're going to break one of those. Then as the receiver goes, he's playing faster because he's got more confidence in his assignments. You can see it and you can feel it coming. He's going to get even better and better as we go along."

On if Devin Thomas has the potential to become a star wide receiver:

"I would hope that all of our receivers have that potential. That's hard to assess because those things are going to take time. What I like about what Devin [Thomas] is doing is that he's starting to show the speed and the toughness that he has. He's not just groping around hoping that his assignment is executed -- he's really executing his assignments -- and that's kind of a flip to what he was doing last year, or even earlier this season."

On which coach decides whether the team will run or pass, and why the team opted to run the ball three times inside of the 10-yard line near the end of the game:

"That falls on me because the strategy getting down the field was just using our normal plays. We got down there, and now we have to milk the clock because we can't leave them with much time. We were working the clock, we're already down in field goal range, they would've had to score twice to beat us, and we were down very low – we were on the four yard line. So, keeping the clock moving was probably the most essential thing at that particular time, knowing that we had points. I would trust Shaun Suisham, and if we had to do it again, I'd send him right back out and do it again because that was the plan. We were thinking touchdown, but we can score touchdowns on the ground too down there -- it wasn't an 11-man front. We can go and block, and they had to cover us as well. We were pushing the ball down there and we just didn't get it in, so the field goal was the next best thing, and we were pretty confident on the four yard line that we could make it."

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