October 17-- Line shuffling continues

Reports in Dallas are suggesting that Shawn Springs father Ron has little to no chance of surviving the coma he slipped into during a surgical procedure over the weekend.. Springs remains in Dallas and the team is allowing him to make his own decision about whether he will return to the team this week.. Fred Smoot has had some experience with this over the last year, he lost a half brother and mentioned today about dealing with death in the family (mentioning his Dad, I am uncertain if his father passed away) and said while choking up, “this is a personal issue for me and hard to speak on.”

O-line injuries: Joe Bugel joked he almost had to go in and play against the Packers after 3 linemen went down.. The team officially moved DT Lorenzo Alexander to guard and have him now practicing with the offense/defense and he is also a potential tight end on the “elephant package,” a spot reserved for Mike Pucillo who might have to play either guard or center this weekend..
Both T Todd Wade (groin) and C Casey Rabach (groin) missed practice but both proclaimed they will play this weekend.. Bugel said he expects Rabach to play..
T Stephon Heyer missed practice as well (hamstring).. The team was not as optimistic about him returning this week..
G Pete Kendall is the latest to sit out practice, he has arthritic knees and a minor hamstring injury.. Both Bugel and Joe Gibbs said they do not expect Kendall to miss the Cardinals game..
All the movement including the signing of two practice squad linemen will not affect the status of Randy Thomas as the team continues it’s intentions to hold his roster spot in the hope of a return to the field by December..

LB Marcus Washington was limited in practice but “did everything we asked him to do, “ according to the trainers.. Washington said he is feeling much better this week and is hopeful to return after missing the GB game..

WR Santana Moss took part in full practice despite a hamstring injury he suffered in the GB game.. He spoke for a long amount of time with the assembled media making sure to clarify that he did not bench himself in the latter stages of the Packers game due to any lack of confidence, only that he felt the leg injury and felt it better served to let another WR get in.. He said 24 hours after the GB game he had put the performance (numerous drops and a fumble) behind him and said if “I wasn’t the type of person that I am I might not have bounced back as well from it.”

QB Jason Campbell has a bruised finger but it is not limiting him in practice..

There was word of a “hamstring specialist” at Redskins Park as the team keeps getting afflicted with those types of issues.. But none of the players who I spoke to who have hamstring injuries knew this person was in the building.. How bizarre..

AZ injury list: Coach Ken Whisenhunt told us during a conference call that QB Kurt Warner did take some snaps in practice and despite ligament damage in his left elbow has not been ruled out for the game against the Skins on Sunday.. Whisenhunt said if the team can “stabilize his elbow, I will be optimistic that he might play.” The team has not named a starting QB even suggesting that newly signed Tim Hasselbeck could start this weekend..
Those who did not participate in their practices: S Aaron Francisco (knee), LB Karlos Dansby (knee), S Adrian Wilson (hamstring), WR Sean Morey (concussion)..
Limited participation: T Levi Brown (ankle), QB Kurt Warner (elbow), DE Joe Tafoya (hamstring)..

WR Anquan Boldin has a hip injury but did take part in the Cardinals full practice…

More on the headset issues: This became a long topic of discussion again as the Skins have had headset issues for 3 of their five games but had intermittent problems in GB for the entire game.. Joe Gibbs said he was told over and over that the helmet issues would be fixed but never were.. Apparently he wrote letters to the league last year saying that if a team loses headset communication between their sideline and their QB, the other team should be forced to shut down their communication citing a competitive advantage.. Gibbs said the league has chosen not to change that rule.. He believes the issues were league related and not Redskin related, meaning he believes their equipment works..

Gibbs said he had hoped to bring Russ Grimm onto his staff during his return but because of contracts was unable to even broach the subject with Grimm who he called “someone who I thought was too smart to become a head coach.”

OK men..