Greer practiced on a limited basis last week as he worked to get back from a groin injury, and tried to practice through the hernia in hopes that it would heal. “What happened is all of a sudden you hit a plateau, and the feeling was after four weeks it wasn’t getting any better and so we went that route,” Saints head coach Sean Payton said after practice on Thursday. “We spent time with the player and weighing all the options, playing through it or there is enough time here with where we’re at in Week 12 to get him back. The procedure went well Tuesday, and Meyers was optimistic”
Payton feels that Greer could return for the regular season finale against Carolina to get some work in.
Greer underwent the surgery Tuesday in Philadelphia and was performed by Dr. Meyers, who has worked on other Saints in the past. Last year, Meyers performed surgery on tight end Jeremy Shockey who missed three games after the operation.
Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, defensive end Will Smith and left tackle Jammal Brown all have had surgeries to repair sports hernias as well over the last couple of months.
PATCHWORK DEFENSE
Greer’s absence for the next few weeks won’t help an already banged up Saints defense. Sunday in Washington, the Redskins seemed to take advantage of a defense that consisted of players changing positions, Usama Young from safety to corner, players pressed into starting roles such as rookie Malcolm Jenkins, and new players getting significant time off the street such as Mike McKenzie.
“It was a mash unit going on over there, of trying to get guys healthy and trying to get guys back out on the field,” says Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.
Washington put up 455 yards against the Saints defense and it’s something that hasn’t been lost at practice so far this week.
“Some is communication. Some of it was fatigue Some of it was just poor plays. Coaching too. I’ve got to try to help them with an easier plan in some situations also,” Williams cites as reason for the Redskins offense coming to life. “I’ve been pretty hard on them this week. They’ve not been wanting to take me out to dinner much this week.”
“He’s been riding our butts this week. He definitely has and its deserved, because we allowed a team, even though every team in the NFL is good, this team that we just played had not been performing well throwing the ball and scoring points and we allowed for them to have a very productive game,” says safety Darren Sharper. “So it is common sense to know that we didn’t perform well and coach is going to get on us. Gregg has done that this week, and we’re looking to respond with a better effort.”
BUMPS AND BRUISES
Five players were held out of practice on Thursday. RB Mike Bell(knee), CB Jabari Greer (sports hernia), CB Tracy Porter (knee), LB Scott Fujita (knee), and LB Marvin Mitchell (hamstring).
14 players were limited in practice. RB Pierre Thomas (quad), RB Reggie Bush (knee), RB Lynell Hamilton (shoulder), WR Lance Moore (hamstring, ankle), TE Jeremy Shockey (hamstring), TE Darnell DInkins (foot), LT Jermon Bushrod (thumb), G Jahri Evans (toe), C Jonathan Goodwin (ankle), CB Randall Gay (hamstring), LB Jonathan Vilma (knee), DT Sedrick Ellis (knee), DE Bobby McCray (thumb) and S Usama Young (hip, calf).
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