Practice Report: No Terry McLaurin or Antonio Gibson; Alex Smith continues to get reps

Both Terry McLaurin and Antonio Gibson were absent from practice on Friday yet again, while QB Alex Smith continued to work with the team.

With poor weather in the D.C. area to ring in the new year, practice for the Washington Football Team was led inside on Friday, meaning that no media members were allowed to watch. With that being the case, the Washington PR staff sent an update about who was playing and who was not, and it was more of the same.

Neither Terry McLaurin or Antonio Gibson were at practice, and veteran LB Thomas Davis was absent as well. For Gibson, it’s not a big surprise to see him miss a practice that is indoors and on turf, rather than grass, because due to the nature of his injury — turf toe — he is at more risk playing on that surface. In his media session on Thursday, coach Ron Rivera said that Gibson was “fine.”

As far as McLaurin goes, his absence is now beyond troublesome at this point. Rivera said that the WR looked good in some limited work on Thursday, so we can hope that he is also getting a day of rest while the team is indoors, but it’s now been more than a week since we’ve been able to see The Captain moving around on that ankle that’s been giving him problems, and his availability is seriously in doubt for Sunday.

Elsewhere, QB Alex Smith was once again working with the team on Friday, and there is seemingly an expectation that he will be able to play in Week 17 after taking some solid steps forward in his recovery from a calf strain this week. Smith took the first-team reps on Thursday, and Rivera said that he looked ‘more fluid’ in the process.

The full injury report with designations for the game will come out on Friday afternoon, so stay tuned for further updates.

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