Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera met with the media Friday ahead of Sunday’s Week 9 game against the Minnesota Vikings. Rivera spoke about numerous topics, acknowledging the ownership situation, remembering Dave Butz, and giving some injury updates.
Most notably, defensive end Chase Young will not play Sunday against the Vikings.
“Chase had a very good week, but he will not,” Rivera said when asked if Young would play. “He’s gotta get the conditioning portion of it down. There’s some techniques things that, again, he’s still a little bit rusty. We did a couple things where he did some individual work off to side.
No one honestly expected Young to play in his first game back. Next week’s Monday night game against the Eagles feels like the night for Young’s much-awaited return.
Linebacker Cole Holcomb will miss a second consecutive game. Rivera is not concerned about Holcomb over the long term.
“Unfortunately, he hurt his foot, and swelling has gone down,” Rivera said.
“He’s progressed very nicely. So again, we’re looking forward to see how things are for next week.”
Rookie wide receiver Jahan Dotson will miss his fifth consecutive game Sunday, but Rivera doesn’t see Dotson going on injured reserve and sees him returning soon.
“No. No thought to your question leading into it,” Rivera answered when asked if he saw Dotson going to IR. “We’re hoping we get him back on the field next week. He’s had a couple of really good days. They’ve had him out running. They had him out on the field actually doing some field work.”
Dotson’s eventual return will be good news for quarterback Taylor Heinicke.
Rivera also offered updates on guard/center Wes Schweitzer, who is currently on IR.
“I’m not getting into specifics,” Rivera said of Schweitzer’s injury. “It is one of those that it’s a serious enough one that we’re going through all the steps with him. He’s working through it. I mean, I’ve texted back and forth with him. I know our people have talked to him back and forth. He’s been seeing the people he’s supposed to be seeing, or he needs to see, and we’re taking this very seriously.”
Schweitzer’s situation certainly sounds serious.
Running back J.D. McKissic will miss Sunday’s game with a neck injury. The team is being super cautious with McKissic, who missed the end of last season with a neck injury.
“I don’t want to get ahead of that, but because he is gonna see, or he has seen, or he is seeing a specialist just to check on it to make sure,” Rivera said of McKissic. “Again, because of that, we’re gonna approach this with the seriousness and abundance of caution that deserves to be.”
McKissic is a valuable part of Washington’s offense.
The Commanders [4-4] host the Vikings [6-1] on Sunday.