Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley has a problem with coach Mike Shanahan's openness, saying Friday that he was "concerned" that media were told by Shanahan that Cooley's surgically repaired left knee had been drained earlier this week, the Washington Times reported.
Shanahan delivered the news on Thursday. And Cooley didn't like it.
"Everyone thinks it's drained, that's a huge deal," Cooley told the newspaper. "No, that's not a big deal. Guys get things drained all the time."
Cooley, who was limited in practice on Thursday and Friday, said he will play Sunday against Philadelphia.
"It's not changing the way I play," said Cooley, who missed the preseason because of the knee but has played in all four regular season games. "It's not all of a sudden worse because [it was drained]."
Shanahan and Cooley even differed some on whether the knee has affected the tight end's play.
"There's no question about it," Shanahan said. "It takes time to get back into football shape. When you do have recurring problems with your knee, it's never easy, but he's very tough and he's worked through it and he's helped our football team win."
Cooley felt differently.
"Am I playing the way I'd like to play? Probably not," Cooley said. "But in my opinion, I'm still playing extremely consistent in the role I'm being asked to play. I can't be upset about that.
"Consistency-wise, this is the best I've played on a percentage level at any point in my career. I know I don't have [more than] seven catches and I know I'm not adding to that part of the offense, but I played fullback -— a position I haven't played -— two weeks ago and we rushed for 200 yards against St. Louis. So yeah, I'm happy with it."
