Plummer To Play Against Skins

Jake Plummer is hurting again. A hip pointer has kept him out of practice this week, but he said Thursday with the help of pain-killing drugs he expects to play against the Washington Redskins on Sunday night.

"I'm not big on using pain-killers, but with the importance of this game, us going into the bye week with an even record is very important for us, and that's something I want to do," Plummer said. "I want to be able to play Sunday, because I think it helps the team's chances. Right now I think with the pain-killer I will be able to play."

"I came back in the game last weekend after taking the pain-killer, and the pain went away in my hip, so I know that the pain-killer does work."

Plummer was hurt when he was tackled while scrambling early in the third quarter of last Sunday's 14-3 victory over the New York Giants. Sandwiched between two defenders, he hurt his hip and his ribs.

The injury came just as he finally was recovering from a sprained right thumb that severely limited his practice time since the preseason.

"I've played a lot of football and until now I've been injury-free," Plummer said. "These things are going to happen in the sport we're in."

Plummer said the injury affects him whenever he tries to throw with any authority.

"The hips, that's where you make your money throwing the ball," Plummer said. "You get the torque and you get the twisting and the motion there. It's all generated from that left hip, the one that leads, and that's the one that's hurting me now."

"I can stand and throw it 15 or 20 yards, but that's when I'm standing flat-footed. If I step into it, that's where I feel a little pain. We'll just have to keep getting treatment on it, and by Sunday hopefully it goes away."

The Giants game was Plummer's best of the season. After throwing 13 interceptions and two touchdowns in his first four games, he completed 13 of 19 for 156 yards and a touchdown in a little more than one half of play. He did not throw an interception.

Coach Vince Tobin said Plummer seems to be feeling better each day this week.

"He missed two very valuable days of practice, which you don't like to see, but sometimes that happens, because the objective is to get him healthy enough to play on Sunday," Tobin said.

Plummer might have his favorite target, wide receiver Rob Moore, who missed the last two games with a strained hamstring. Moore participated in part of Thursday's practice.

However, cornerback Tommy Knight sprained his left ankle. Knight was the projected starter because CoreChavous has a sprained knee.

"I think it will be OK," said Knight, who has been bothered by injuries throughout his NFL career.

Defensive ends Simeon Rice and Andre Wadsworth also sat out the practice, Rice with a bruised thigh and Wadsworth with a sore toe, but both are expected to play Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals said defensive tackle Mark Smith has told them that noted knee specialist Dr. Richard Steadman will perform arthroscopic surgery on Smith's right knee. The surgery won't be done until Oct. 25, because Steadman isn't available until then.

Steadman performed the second surgery on Eric Swann's arthritic right knee last year after Swann was dissatisfied with the results of his first surgery, done by team doctor Russell Chick.

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