WASHINGTON — As training camp winds down with 18 days in the books, you can see it start to take it’s toll on the Redskins. Plenty of guys sat out Sunday with minor injuries and the players weren’t that sharp in practice.
Not real crisp
The Redskins didn’t have the best of practices Sunday morning and the players seemed to acknowledge that. The offense struggled in the two-minute offense and Robert Griffin III threw two interceptions.
The head coach noticed, too.
“I yelled a lot today,” Jay Gruden said. “Receivers, quarterbacks, linemen, defensive linemen, we had a couple false starts [Sunday]. It wasn’t one of the most crisp practices I’ve ever seen. Just trying to clean it up, man, keep everybody on the same page, moving forward.”
Griffin struggled a bit Sunday morning throwing two interceptions. Rookie Bashaud Breeland made a very impressive catch, laying out for an interception. Corner back Tracy Porter also picked off Griffin toward the end of practice. The two-minute offense wasn’t to the coaches liking either.
“It’s a little bit of everything,” Gruden said. “There’s some good pass rush, our protection might be a little unsound, so to speak. It could be a poor read by the quarterback or a poor route. There’s a lot that goes into a two-minute offense.” “The tempo has been fine. I think the communication has been fine. It’s just the execution hasn’t been that great. We have to continue to do it. We are going to do two-minute every day until Houston, until we start to master it.”
Translation: This isn’t anywhere close to where it needs to be and we are going to do it everyday for the next month until it is.
Bumps and Bruises
As camp draws to a close, the bumps and bruises are piling up.
“Everybody’s got some kind of bump or bruise right now I would imagine,” Gruden said. “If you can play through it, that’s great.”
As far as Sunday:
- DeAngelo Hall did a somersault and landed on his back during individual drills.
He was walking around but is a little sore. Gruden doesn’t expect it to be too long.
“They carted him off for the dramatic exit. He could have walked off and made it a lot easier on me today.”
- DeSean Jackson is still nursing the sprained ankle. Gruden said he’s been running individual routes but full speed cutting for another day or two. He hopes to have him back by Monday’s game.
- Chris Thompson’s ankle is still bothering him and could still miss another five to six days, Gruden said. For a guy that’s in a tight battle in a crowded backfield, that’s not a good thing that he keeps missing time. Gruden acknowledged that he needs to be on the field,
“It’s unfortunate for him because he was progressing very well,” Gruden said. “He needs the reps to do what we’re going to ask him to do on game day. If he’s not available to get these reps it’s going to hurt his progress. Injuries happen,unfortunately to him more often than not. He’s got to figure out a way to stay healthy.”
Gruden knows one thing is for sure.
“He’s got to get back on the field, no question about it. He’s in a tight battle.”
- Running back Silas Redd has a minor ankle sprain, and hopes to be ready Monday.
- Running back Lache Seastrunk said that the arch on his right foot is bothering him, but knows he needs to be on the field because of the competition. He played through it and didn’t miss any time.
- Linebacker Brian Orakpo has a thigh contusion, but it’s not serious. He’s not expected to miss much time.
- Linebacker Darryl Sharpton has a high ankle sprain, he could be out the longest.
- Safeties Phillip Thomas and Ryan Clark are still sidelined with hamstring injuries.
Captains
DeAngelo, Trent Williams and Adam Hayward were picked by Gruden as captains for the first preseason game. He said that was his decision, and will be for the preseason games. As far as the regular season, he hasn’t decided yet.
He liked the group for opener.
“Those are the most seasoned guys with the best performances. The body of work I think has been proven on the field and they’re natural leaders.”
Under the Mike Shanahan regime, players selected the captains for the regular season. Robert Griffin III was among them, along with London Fletcher, Trent Williams, Reed Doughty and Barry Cofield.
While not chosen for week one, we’ll see if Griffin works his way to the middle of the field at the start of games. I don’t think we should read into anything just yet.
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