During a news conference in which he discussed three more season-ending injuries and revealed discouraging news about three other players, Washington Redskins coach Jim Zorn was hit with a coughing fit. He needed a drink to help him continue.

"Sorry about my voice," he said.

Maybe it's time to put some bubble wrap around this team. No one, it seems, is safe.

Add Ladell Betts, Chad Rinehart and Eddie Williams to the injured reserve list. Also, don't expect Clinton Portis to return from his concussion for at least one more game and maybe two. Chris Cooley won't even get out of his walking boot for another 10 days, and DeAngelo Hall has a sprained knee that could cause him to miss this week's game.

"Brutal. Brutal. It's been brutal," said Rock Cartwright, the third-string running back who is now the first-stringer with Portis and Betts out. "Hate to lose a guy like Ladell. Hate to lose a guy like Rinehart. We lost a lot of key guys we planned on having for the season."

The injuries are a downer from a loss that all but buries the Redskins (3-7) in the NFC East cellar. A win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday would have pulled Washington within two games of first place and kept some hope alive. But a late touchdown resulted in a 7-6 loss that puts the battered team well behind the pack and without much manpower to get through the final six weeks.

"It's something that I've never been around," Zorn said. "I've been on some teams that had injuries, but these are injuries that are IR-type of injuries, and we've had a lot of them. ... It's pretty bad, but the thing that's amazing is we played the team that's leading the division and we went toe to toe with who we had."

Appropriately, Zorn opened his news conference by saying: "We have some painful things that we have to talk about." Here are the player-by-player details:

_Betts will have surgery after tearing the MCL and ACL in his left knee in the first quarter Sunday, ending his season just as he was getting his first substantial playing time since 2006. Now the running back duties fall to Cartwright, who will get his first start since 2003 this week against Philadelphia.

_Portis will miss his third straight game this week and possibly a fourth the following week against New Orleans. Portis, who has seen multiple specialists about the concussion he suffered against Atlanta on Nov. 8, made a brief appearance in the locker room Monday, but did not speak to reporters. Asked if the staff was talking about shutting down Portis for the season, Zorn said: "No. Not right now."