Redskins coach Mike Shanahan is confident that quarterback Donovan McNabb, sidelined with a sprained left ankle, will start in the Sept. 12 season opener against the Dallas Cowboys, according to *The Washington Post*.
"Yeah, I feel very good about him being ready to go," Shanahan said on his weekly coach's show Saturday. "In fact, I think he'll be able to practice in the next couple of days. And I feel very good about the direction he's headed.
"Being out for a couple weeks is kind of tough, because you aren't getting those reps," Shanahan added. "But with the experience Donovan does have, and all the snaps he's taken for so many years being the starter, hopefully he can just pick up where he left off."
McNabb hasn't practiced since spraining his left ankle during the Redskins' second preseason game.
Shanahan caused an uproar last week when he expressed uncertainty around McNabb's availability for the Cowboys game because of the injury.
"I really don't know for sure," Shanahan told reporters on Aug. 29. "That's why it's day by day. We'll see how it goes."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.