The Philadelphia Eagles are riding high atop the NFC East (and the NFC as a whole) with a 5-1 record. They're the only one-loss team in the conference. There are several teams nipping at their heels with two-loss records (eight of them, to be exact), one of which is division rival Washington.
As luck would have it, Washington gets to play Philly this coming Monday and attempt to close the gap. Unfortunately, they're pretty banged-up right now. Coach Jay Gruden walked through the team's injury situation at a press conference on Saturday, and a bunch of important players either won't suit up, or have major question marks about whether or not they will.
Star corner Josh Norman has been nursing an injury for a few weeks now, having fractured his rib a few weeks back. He's also been dealing with associated lung issues from the injury. He got in some limited practice this week but he won't play.
Fellow cornerback Bashaud Breeland has a knee injury, which he sustained during last week's game agains the 49ers. He finished out that game despite the ailment, and Gruden thinks he'll be able to play on Monday.
"I think Breeland's always been a fast healer. He's like Gumby," Gruden said, per the team's official website. "I mean, he took a pretty big shot on that play and I thought he was going to be out for a little bit of time but he recovers quickly."
Kelley, meanwhile, was injured two weeks ago and sat out last week's game with his balky ankle. Samaje Perine and Chris Thompson filled in, and would presumably do so again if he can't go on Monday night.
Against a Philadelphia team that's really humming on both offense and defense, being without important contributors on either side of the ball is a big detriment. Missing them on both sides could be the difference between a win and a loss, or a competitive game and a laugher.