Norman laments Redskins' injury woes ahead of pivotal matchup

Washington Redskins cornerback Josh Norman is concerned about his team's injury woes ahead of a crucial matchup against the New Orleans Saints.

Although there's been a league-wide epidemic, the Redskins have suffered through injuries to many of their stars, with 11 players on IR.

Washington is 4-5 and will need a win to keep pace in the NFC East, but Norman couldn't help but speak about his team's frequent trips to the infirmary.

"It's a bug," Norman said Friday via NFL.com's Edward Lewis. "I don't know what it is. It's the darndest thing I've ever seen. Literally, the darndest thing I've ever seen. In my whole 29 years of life and playing football, I've never seen anything like it before. One thing happened after another. A player would go down -- we can't go through one game without somebody going down. It's just the bug, I guess."

Norman is refusing to use his team's injuries as an excuse, with the Redskins looking to snap a two-year playoff drought.

"Been happening around the league but it seems like our team is definitely circling those wagons off for sure with the injury bug that we have," Norman said. "And we got a hard schedule. We mentioned it earlier, with that hard schedule and those injuries, man, it's crazy to see where we are right now hovering around .500 with that. If we didn't have those injuries, man, where would I like to be seen. But at the end of the day, you got do what you've got to do and play the cards that you've been dealt. And that's what we're doing now."

The Redskins will be tested by a red-hot Saints team that has won seven consecutive games, but a clean bill of health may be the biggest victory of all Sunday.