Although he had surgery on Monday to repair a broken bone in his right hand, Redskins linebacker Ryan Kerrigan says he's hoping not to miss any time this season.
Washington Redskins outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan is no stranger to playing with a broken hand.
He did it in college while playing at Purdue when he broke two bones in his left hand, only missing a few days of practice.
It should come as no surprise then that Kerrigan hopes to play against the New England Patriots after having surgery on Monday to repair a broken bone in his right hand.
It helps that the Redskins are in the midst of their bye week, which will give Kerrigan extra time to recover.
"Hoping to play, we'll see how things progress next week, this week," Kerrigan said on Tuesday. "I think it would be a stretch if we had a game this Sunday to try and play, but fortunately we have a bye so hopefully I won't miss any time. If you club it up pretty well, you can usually manage."
Kerrigan broke the third metacarpal in his right hand during the first quarter of last Sunday's 31-30 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when he tried to tackle quarterback Jameis Winston. He played through the injury for a few downs. At the end of the quarter, he went to the locker room and did not return.
"I stayed in a few plays after it initially happened," Kerrigan said. "I knew something wasn't right, but it didn't hurt too bad. I tried to play through it and then realized I had to get it checked out."
Redskins outside linebacker Ryan Kerrigan was named the 78th-best player in the NFL in the NFL Network's "Top 100 Players Of 2015." Take a trip back through Kerrigan's career with the Redskins.
The Redskins' pass rush has struggled this season. While the defense has been able to pressure opposing quarterbacks, it has had a hard time finishing plays. The Redskins have 13 sacks in seven games, which is tied for 19th.
That is one of many areas coach Jay Gruden and the Redskins' coaching staff would like to clean up after the bye week.
It'll certainly be easier to do that if Kerrigan is on the field. This season, the fifth-year outside linebacker has 3.5 sacks, which is tied for the team lead with defensive lineman Chris Baker.
"When we get back there we've got to wrap the quarterback up," Gruden said. "I think Ricky Jean [Francois] missed a couple, Trent [Murphy] missed one. We missed a couple the week before. [Jason] Hatcher missed one the week before. These guys are rushing hard. I think we have the people in here that can rush, we've just got to do a better job of finishing plays with a sack or the forced fumble. We're just going to keep working with them."
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