Richmond, VA – Practices in full pads taking place during any given NFL training camp are always insightful. The Washington Redskins held a “full-pads” practice this morning… complete with full-fledged hitting, tackling to the ground, live drills, hard throws by the quarterbacks and scraps between players. In every phase of today’s exercises, the players showed that this 2014 Washington Redskins team has a real focus on physicality.
Not that they weren’t always coached to be physical. But this team shows all around that in every facet, it’s about hitting, running hard to the ball and even throwing hard. Yesterday, veteran safety Ryan Clark discussed the subject it with the media.
“We want to be predicated on physicality,” Clark said when asked about the strength of this 2014 Redskins’ defense. “You want to stop the run first, then you play the pass from there. You play the quarterback after you stop the run, so for us, we know it starts up front. I think we have the guys to do it, we have the horses. It’s about everybody understanding we all can’t be stars. Everybody is not going to make every play. Sometimes it’s about doing your job and allowing the next man to make a play and I think that’s what we’re building out here on the field.”
It was a lively two-and-a-half hours of practice this morning.
Early on, the team was working on special teams drills, beginning with punters Robert Malone and Blake Clingan punting balls to various guys. The return position is completely up for grabs right now so there were several guys back to catch balls. Cornerback Richard Crawford pulled in a high kick from Clingan while running back Lache Seastrunk missed one. Wide out Nick Williams was back to catch one but it popped off of his numbers. Running back Chris Thompson fielded one as well and the high energy was obvious.
Things really got hot though, during a set of return drills which pitted a returner against special teams defenders. Things got lively enough that Crawford ended up with his helmet on the ground after bringing returner to the ground.
Haslett watched as Brian Baker, coach of the outside linebackers, put the group through “Shock and Shed” drills. It was amazing, again, just how BIG rookie second-round draft pick, Trent Murphy is. Linebackers Brian Orakpo and Ryan Kerrigan are no slouches at 6’4” each and Murphy, at 6’6” still looked large around them. Baker was really getting after them, too. Hearing those big men’s pads collide is a memorable sound.
During all of the eleven-on-eleven drills, the physicality that Gruden has preached was apparent. Also, on display was just how much offensive talent this team has now. There were some really nice throws and catches by all of the quarterbacks and all of the receivers. At one point, new wide out and former Philadelphia Eagle DeSean Jackson made a nice one-handed catch in the end zone to beat the defender.
Also apparent during these drills is just how much better the secondary is going to be this season, especially the second-year guys. Cornerback David Amerson did a great job of covering starting receiver Pierre Garçon although more often than not, Garçon won the battle. But they were hard-fought battles and the percentage of defensive plays won to offensive plays won was fairly even. On another play, Cody Hoffman (6’4”, 210 lbs. receiver out of BYU) had a ball thrown right on the numbers in the end zone. Richard Crawford was there for the catch and knocked him down so hard, the ball popped right back out of Hoffman’s hands for a fumble. Crawford might have gotten a hand on it but it was hard to tell. Too bad there’s no instant replay for training camp unless you’re a coach watching film.
“We’re talented, man.” Crawford said after practice. “[Safety] Bacarri [Rambo] has come a long way with his tackling… I can see it. [Safety] Phillip [Thomas]… Phillip has come a long way. He’s a starter but he’s behind two really good football players so he’s learning how to do it from them too. Even the undrafted dudes… Shep [Bryan Shepherd], Courtney [Bridget, Jr.] has come a long way too. He’s gotten a lot better too. I feel like we’re a really good group.”
Add the fact that these already-talented second-year guys are coming into the same system to having veterans like safety Ryan Clark and cornerback DeAngelo Hall around to continue to show them the ropes…. A pretty good secondary is likely the result.
Gruden mixed it up a bit in terms of who got their reps when as well. There were times when veteran receiver Santana Moss took reps with Robert Griffin and the starting offensive line. There were also times when Moss caught the ball from backup quarterback Kirk Cousins along-side some of the wide outs fighting for a job. And running back Roy Helu, Jr., who most assuredly will make the team, was catching balls out of the backfield from Griffin and third-string QB Colt McCoy.
Griffin is settling down nicely since that first erratic day of practices. During one play, it was obvious he held onto the ball too long and was swarmed and it would have been a sack. On the very next play, however, he made a concerted effort to get rid of the ball quickly and completed a quick pass to DJax right down the middle. Griffin threw the ball hard on a couple of plays, too. Physicality.
“We want to be a physical football team,” Griffin said after practice, “offensively and defensively. We know it starts in the trenches and everybody’s trying to make this team right now, myself included. So it’s not about ‘hey don’t hit me, don’t hit me’. Everyone’s out here trying to be physical and are going to make sure that they do everything possible they can to make that team and show Coach [Gruden] that they should be here.”
It was really something to watch the players on the defense interact with each other as the plays got started. Ryan Clark was the obvious teacher out there in the defensive backfield… talking to guys, pointing things out, making sure they were in the right place. The players are obviously buying in to that physicality mentality and, with some of the really smart veterans that are around to help the young guys, there’s every possibility that this team really could be very good in 2014.
“You know, we have good guys, not only good talents,” Clark said about his teammates. “Bacarri, Phil [Phillip Thomas], T-Rob [Trenton Robinson], Akeem [Davis]… All those players, they’re good people. They’re nice kids, they want to learn, they work hard. So as long as you do that, it doesn’t frustrate me if something goes wrong on the football field. None of us are perfect. None of us have made every play every time we’re out there on the field. For me, it’s just about seeing them do the things they can control. You can control how hard you practice, you can control how much you study, and you can control how much you respect the people who are ahead of you, whether it be the coaches, whether it be the older guys. And our room does an amazing job of that. I get talked to a lot about leadership. I’m just old. I’m not like, ‘Hey, you have got to do it this way,’ or ‘you’ve got to do it that way.’ I think that falls on guys after you’ve played for such a long time. But for me, we’re all the same group. We’re all brothers. We’re all trying to figure out how we can win games. As long as everyone puts their hand in the pile to do that, there’s never any frustration.”
When the players are in those pads and hitting, tempers can flare and a few did during the morning practice. At one point, receiver Jerry Rice, Jr. got wrapped up by cornerback Chase Minnifield even though he didn’t have the ball. Rice was not happy about it and a short scrap ensued. I noticed it was veteran cornerback DeAngelo Hall walking off with Rice after the short clash had been broken up. There’s a leader for you.
The youngsters (rookies) who have come to this team are going to make life hard for the coaches when it’s time to cut the roster down to 53 if they keep up the hustle on display right now. Guys some people might not even heard of… receiver Lee Doss (a college free agent out of Southern University), cornerback Bryan Shepherd (college free agent out of North Dakota State) and tight end Ted Bolser (drafted in the seventh round out of Indiana University) are all making plays and getting hard looks from the coaches.
Jay Gruden has said that he is willing to be flexible based on what the situation is and he proved that when late yesterday afternoon, he announced that he was cancelling the scheduled Monday afternoon walkthrough. The players already had Tuesday off so that meant that they would only have that Monday morning practice, meetings, etc. and then be free until Wednesday morning.
“Tomorrow will be our third day in a row in pads,” he said in yesterday’s press conference. “We’re going to go full pads tomorrow with the pants included. We might do some live drills tomorrow and we are going to cancel the meeting and go through our meetings. Instead of having a walkthrough we will have a dinner and I will probably give them off that night just to get away from everybody. It’s been a grind. When you’re around the same guys for five days in a row for about 18 hours a day, you get tired of looking at them. I’m tired of looking at them and I want them out of the building for a few hours, enjoy themselves and get a nice dinner and be ready to work on Wednesday.”
After the really physical practice they had today, these guys are likely going to really appreciate the break.
Note: Two injuries resulted from the practices today. Pierre Garçon left practice early with a strained a hamstring and cornerback Courtney Bridget will get an MRI after hurting his shoulder.
Hail.