Portis A Game Time Decision...Again

From Jason La Canfora of The Washington Post:

Jim Zorn said he expects running back Clinton Portis (neck) and end Andre Carter (foot) to be game-time decisions Sunday night against the Ravens; he is "optimistic" that linebacker London Fletcher will play despite his foot injury.

Those three players did not take part in today's practice, nor did corner Shawn Springs (calf), although Zorn thinks Springs will play. (He's questionable for now, Zorn said.) Defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin will play, Zorn said, although he rested his sore shoulder today.

Offensive linemen Pete Kendall, Chris Samuels and Randy Thomas were "rested," according to Zorn, and all are slated to play. Kendall generally rests his knees every Wednesday, while Samuels has been nursing a painful knee injury for about a month.

Portis has been playing despite a bevy of injuries, with his neck being the latest (to go with knee, hip and rib injuries). He isn't practicing much and likely won't do too much this week, but Zorn said he is performing well enough to warrant playing rather than taking a week off.

Zorn said that he does not think the injuries will hold Portis, the second-leading rusher in the NFL, back. "Not when he's running the ball by any means," Zorn said. "That's why I keep playing him ... If he was going at a slow pace, then I wouldn't have him play." But considering how well he has played, and how important he is to the team, "I owe it to him to play him," Zorn said.

Fletcher is highly unlikely to practice this week, Zorn said, but feels better than he did last week, and his streak of 172 games is expected to continue at Baltimore. The Redskins were short at linebacker at practice today, because reserve Alfred Fincher was excused to return to Louisiana for a personal matter, but Zorn said he will be back for practice tomorrow.

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