The Sports Xchange

ASBHURN, Va. — The Washington Redskins will miss starting left guard Shawn Lauvao for the rest of the season. He will have surgery to repair torn tendons and ligaments in his left ankle.

Heading into Sunday’s game against the visiting Philadelphia Eagles, the Redskins will turn to either rookie Arie Kouandjio, a fourth-round pick this past spring, or Spencer Long, a second-year pro and third-round pick 2014.

“They’ve all been schooled, that’s a good thing,” Washington coach Jay Gruden said. “Since training camp, we’ve felt good about our offensive line depth and it’s going to be tested throughout the season.”

Gruden said center Kory Lichtensteiger will be the glue that holds a young offensive line together. With Lauvao out, three of the five linemen will be in their first or second seasons.

The Redskins have had injury issues at cornerback since the second day of training camp. DeAngelo Hall is out at least three weeks because of a sprained right big toe.

That pushes Bashaud Breeland outside opposite Chris Culliver, who himself was limited at practice on Wednesday with a sore knee.

“(Culliver) has some soreness in his knee and his quad and a little bit in his groin,” Gruden said. “Just a little bit of stiffness. More so precautionary, I believe. I’m hoping.”

–Eagles returner Darren Sproles took a punt 89 yards for a touchdown last Sunday against the New York Jets. Redskins punter Tress Way was watching.

Sproles was selected NFC special teams player of the week. It was his eighth career punt return for a touchdown and came after a beautiful punt toward the sideline by New York’s Ryan Quigley.

“It’s one of those where you just kind of think to yourself ‘Really? Really? I did everything right and he still housed it?'” Way said. “But you’ve got to tip your hat to him. Their return game does a great job. They did a good job blocking, he made some guys miss.

“Me, as a punter, I’m watching games on Sunday, they flash over to that highlight and it’s like, ‘All right, looks like Sproles is looking good. This will be a fun one this weekend.'”

–With heavy rain possible in the mid-Atlantic region over the weekend, the Redskins are already preparing to play in a deluge.

Wednesday they moved into the practice bubble to avoid early rain showers, but planned to soak footballs in a bucket of water to simulate wet conditions and help with the quarterback-center exchange.

“If it’s going to stay dry out here the next couple of days, then really the best strategy is to literally dump it in a bucket,” quarterback Kirk Cousins said.

“It’s kind of overkill, but it’s probably your best option, if nothing else to just get center-quarterback exchanges with Kory (Lichtensteiger) after dunking it in a bucket.

“If nothing else, potentially even filter some of those footballs into a period here and there to get that practice.”

–The Redskins are desperate for help at inside linebacker, where key reserves Martrell Spaight and Adam Hayward, the special teams captain, are gone for the season because of injuries. Now, starter Perry Riley is nursing a left calf injury that caused him to miss the Giants game and he didn’t practice either Monday or Wednesday.

Washington signed former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Mason Foster on Tuesday to help with the depth there. He was let go by the Chicago Bears on the final day of cuts Sept. 5. The Redskins had only three healthy inside linebackers against New York.

“We obviously added Mason Foster, a veteran linebacker, who’s played a lot of football to help out,” coach Jay Gruden said. “We only dressed three inside backers last week. This week, we’ll have the ability to dress four if Perry plays or not.”

NOTES: Quarterback Colt McCoy sustained a cut on his foot as he was cutting tape from his foot on Friday. He missed Monday’s practice, but was back on the field Wednesday. … Cornerback Justin Rogers (plantar fasciitis) was the ninth player placed on injured reserve since Aug. 15. … Outside linebacker Sage Harold was added to the practice squad on Wednesday to fill the spot vacated by cornerback Quinton Dunbar’s promotion to the active roster. Dunbar began training camp as a wide receiver after signing as an undrafted college free agent from Florida. Injuries thinned the roster and forced him to switch to cornerback.