National Football League

Portis among 8 Redskins injured vs Titans

Published Nov. 22, 2010 3:37 a.m. ET

foxsports

Washington running back Clinton Portis is hoping the major injury he thought he suffered to the groin that kept him out of the past five games is simply scar tissue that ripped and not the muscle itself.

Portis started Sunday and had five carries for 32 yards in the Redskins' 19-16 overtime win over Tennessee. But he got hurt and returned to the sideline in street clothes in the second half. He said he thought it was a major injury early, but felt better after the game.

''I am going to get the MRI tomorrow and go through everything we need to go through. I just hope it was scar tissue, and I'll be back on the field Sunday,'' Portis said.

Portis had plenty of company trudging to the sideline with injuries, one of at least eight Redskins who got hurt Sunday.

Coach Mike Shanahan said running back Chad Simpson, who hurt his fifth metacarpal, will have surgery. Center Casey Rabach will have an MRI exam on a knee injury, and Shanahan said doctors thought linebacker Rocky McIntosh has a fairly severe groin injury.

Then Shanahan joked, ''Everybody's a long shot.''

The Redskins came in without three starters due to injuries. It got worse when Simpson got hurt in pregame warmups and went downhill from there.

Washington safety Anderson Russell, who started for LaRon Landry, slid to the turf and hurt his leg on an 87-yard punt return by Marc Mariani in the first quarter. He had to be helped off the field.

When Rabach left, Will Montgomery slid over from right guard where he started for Artis Hicks. The Redskins had to move a tackle over to guard. Derrick Dockery, active for the first time in weeks, went in at right guard and had to be helped off the field in the second quarter. So backup tackle Stephon Heyer played right guard.

''We just kept dropping,'' Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall said. ''Guy after guy, play after play. Sometimes in back-to-back plays. I've never been a part of anything like that. It just shows the resilience of the guys in this locker room.''

Defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth said he'd never seen anything like it.

''When Derrick Dockery went down and the coach was like, 'Are you ready to play offensive line?' I said, 'If you think we had a problem with the 3-4, we'd have a real big problem with the o-line stuff,''' Haynesworth said.

Linebacker Lorenzo Alexander also hurt a hamstring.