Washington Redskins: 2012 Mini-Camp, Day Two – RGIII Will Slide by Diane Chesebrough

At least it had stopped pouring by the time the players left the locker room for practice today. Even so, head coach Mike Shanahan held the second day of his first 2012 mini-camp in his new practice bubble. The green, outdoor fields remained covered up and the players remained dry – at least from the rain.

That’s not to say the Washington Redskins players weren’t wet. They worked hard today. But, judging from their whoops and cheers during 11-on-11 drills, they were having a good time anyway.

As he has been doing since coming to the team, new rookie quarterback Robert Griffin, III put on full display the reasons why Shanahan gave up so much to get him. At one point during drills, he faked a hand-off, kept the ball and literally beat the running backs and receivers into the backfield while avoiding the linebackers and a safety that was up in the box. I’ll be honest. As I watched him run and saw the defenders going after him, I remembered that during the regular season, opponents were not going to just tap him like they were doing today. The DeMarcus Wares of the league are going to try to take him down. Mine was not the only mind on this and he was asked during his press conference if he understood the risks inherent in keeping the ball past the line of scrimmage in the NFL.

“I get a feel for it,” Griffin answered. “One thing I won’t do is play with fear. You gotta continue to play fearless. That doesn’t mean I’m going to go try to run over linebackers and safeties. Especially in college, guys try to take you out. So it’s no different in the pros except guys are a lot better at doing what they’re trying to do so I’ll be smart . If I need to slide, I’ll slide. And if I need to run out of bounds, I’ll run out of bounds. But, by no means will I play with fear.”

Shanahan has confidence in Griffin’s judgment regarding sliding vs. running with the ball as well.

“If you look what he did in college, he carried the ball close to 700 times,” Shanahan said. “When you carry the ball close to 700 times you get a feel [for] when to slide and when to run out of bounds. I think he’s got a natural feel for that, even in the open field. Y’know, he’s 225 pounds. He’s strong. He’s very athletic. A lot of times he’ll outrun people but when he doesn’t have that angle, he’s very smart about when to make a decision to slide. In this league, you have to learn to do that.

This confidence in the rookie’s judgement is comforting but there will be fans – and perhaps a few coaches – that suffer a few heart palpitations during the season.

Griffin completed a couple of short passes over the middle to wide out Santana Moss while under heavy pressure from Pro Bowl middle linebacker London Fletcher. He did not miss a beat.

“He’s done a great job,” Shanahan said during his press conference. “You talk about intangibles. You talk about people working extremely hard. People working at their craft… that’s what he’s done. He’s come in here from the first day and he’s been attentive. He hasn’t missed anything. He’s here early, staying late and done everything you need to do to master the position.”

At one point during the practice, running back Evan Royster was seen on the sideline stretching with a trainer during drills but he continued with practice. Running back Tim Hightower is still rehabbing from his injury last season and was not so lucky.

It was easy to see that the Virginia native was itching to get into the drills but he did not participate in them. He would listen in on the occasional huddle however and then step back out of the way as the offense broke to go to the line of scrimmage. Shanahan said he was coming along though Hightower himself said he was not 100% yet.

“I think he’s doing good,” the head coach said of his running back. “He’s really wanting to practice right now but he does have five, six weeks so, like a lot of our players. A lot of our players, I think, could practice right now but I think at this time, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If you just throw them in there right now and he tweaks it and you’re asking yourself, ‘why did I do that?’ He’s got an extra five weeks of rehab. They’re looking good right now. I think they could practice but I’m afraid if we push them too hard we might set them back and we’re trying to get them ready for the first game not for this mini-camp.”

Towards the end of practice, the offense was really clicking… especially under Griffin. The first teams on offense and defense were taking a lot of reps and those of us watching were seeing the possibilities. Shanahan was vocal, shouting praise to the defense when they made some good stops. When Griffin threw a short pass over the middle to Moss, who hustled down the field, untouched by the defense, high fives were given all around. A touchdown pass caught by receiver Pierre Garcon was met with cheers.

During special teams’ drills, Graham Gano made his kicks but competitor Neil Rackers hit the right goal post with one of his. Anthony Armstrong, Terrence Austin, Brandon Banks, Niles Paul, Aldrick Robinson and Brian Hernandez all returned balls from the “machine.”

It was a lively practice and again, with the weather the way it was, it was good to be inside the air-conditioned bubble. I bet the players were grateful as well.

Hail.