While last night’s victory over the New England Patriots was “only” a preseason game, it was fun for Washington Redskins’ fans. More importantly, the coaching staff was able to get a good look at some of the guys on the team in a real game situation and that is the main value of this portion of the NFL season. As a result, Redskins’ head coach Jay Gruden has found he’s got some talented rookies to work with and some hard decisions to make in the not-too-distant future. Granted, the situation last night called for mostly second-and third-stringers (“two’s” and “three’s”) going against the Patriots’ two’s and three’s but it’s all relative and credit needs to be given where credit is due.
“Well on the sidelines…I have to watch the tape,” Gruden said in his post-game press conference. “It’s hard to tell with the interior guys and the linemen until you watch the tape. Obviously, [running back] Silas Redd had some physical runs, and was impressive, and then [running back] Lache Seastrunk came in there had a couple splash runs, which was good to see. From a receiver standpoint, [Rashad] Ross had another big catch. He’s made some big catches all along. [Wide receiver] Aldrick Robinson, he just continues to make play after play after play. Then defensively, it was good to see [linebacker Brian] Orakpo get a sack and some of the safeties fly around… not only on defense, but on special teams, like [safety] Akeem Davis. I saw him make a big hit on special teams and do a good job. There are a lot of guys from the naked eye that did a pretty good job. Now it’s time to watch the film, correct them and continue to build on what they’re doing.”
The running backs performed especially well in the 23-6 victory. Between the six guys that had carries last night — (rookies) Lache Seastrunk and Silas Redd; and Alfred Morris, Evan Royster, Roy Helu, Jr. and Chris Thompson — there were 42 carries for 177 yards. The average yards per carry (ypc) ranged from 1.3 – 5.3 yards (for a 3.8 ypc average between the six) and the length of the runs ranged from 6 – 21 yards. Had that been a regular season game with say, Morris getting the bulk of the carries and Helu taking a few third-down hand-offs and/or spelling Morris, those stats would be respectable at the very least.
It was obvious that Washington had decided to concentrate on running the ball last night and the two rookies, who had the majority of the carries, made the most of it. Seastrunk had 12 carries for 63 yards and that 5.3 ypc average and Redd had nine carries for 45 yards and a 5.0 ypc average. Gruden was impressed.
“Yeah, I was impressed with both of them,” the head coach said. “You know, Redd between the tackles, he’s a good power runner. He’s got great vision. He’s shown [that] in practice so far and we want to see him carry it over into the game and it did today. Lache is obviously known for his big play ability. He popped a couple again today. You know, I had to show him that much in practice, but you can’t really tell in practice because it’s just a thud. But it’s good to see him get out there. He’s just got to do a better job of lowering his pads, you know. He takes some of the more violent hits I’ve seen a running back take. He’s got to lower his pads when he gets near the sideline and in the hole, but very impressed with both of them.”
Props need to be given to Morris as well. The starter was only in the game for a couple of series and yet gained 27 yards on five carries for a 5.4 ypc average. Those kinds of stats would be great to have all season long. Add in an additional situational back, perhaps with a different style, to spell Morris and you have a “one-two punch” in the making. This — as well as a power running game — appears to be one of Gruden’s objectives in his inaugural season.
“Yeah, we would like to have it,” Gruden said when asked about this type of running back situation. “We’d like to have thunder and lightning, so to speak, or just have a couple thunders – it doesn’t matter. I think, Alfred is going to get his bulk of carries and he’s going to need to have a rest every now and then, and whoever that guy is – whether it’s Roy, whether it’s Silas, whether it’s Lache, whether it’s Chris Thompson – that is to be determined. I think Roy had some good runs today and a good catch, I know, and some runs after his catches. He’s done some good things. To find the second or third back is going to be important for us.”
There were other rookies who did their share of shining last night.
Rookie wide out Ryan Grant (a fifth-round pick out of Tulane University), who has definitely made a name for himself during camp, performed like a seasoned veteran last night. In the third quarter, he made a nice 18-yard catch from quarterback Colt McCoy for a touchdown, looking like he’d been doing it for years. He has a maturity about him that is rare in rookies. Overall, Grant had three receptions for 37 yards.
“He’s taken advantage of every rep he’s gotten at training camp and again today he caught a quick out and obviously made a great catch in the bootleg that Colt [McCoy] threw him,” the head coach said of Grant. “He’s an impressive kid. He’s very mature and he doesn’t mess around. He’s a focused individual – one of the more focused players I’ve seen in a while. It’s great to have him. He’s continuing to get better.”
Tight end Ted Bolser also enhanced his standings on the team. Bolser, listed as 6’5” and 249 lbs., has a lot of competition with talented second-year tight end Jordan Reed firmly entrenched as the starter and incumbents Logan Paulsen and Niles Paul already on the team. But he has been making nice catches in camp. Last night he made a nice seven-yard touchdown catch, also from McCoy, during a really nice 10-play, 65-yard drive that ate up 6:14 from the clock.
“It’s a great feeling, you know?” he said after the game. “There’s nothing like it. It was just a little stick route, and fortunately there was nobody really covering me. Just a little dump off pass and I got lucky enough to get in the end zone.”
Bolser’s advantage — besides his height — is that he also plays special teams and that could be huge when it’s time for the roster cuts.
The rookies on defense were not to be outdone. Gruden has stressed better tackling throughout this camp and the entire defense did, in fact, tackle for the most part. While it’s harder to judge defensive performance aside from game-changing plays like interceptions or forced-fumbles, remember that the two’s and three’s on Washington’s roster played the majority of this game and held the New England Patriots to six points. Even those were not scored until the fourth quarter.
Rookie cornerback Rashad Breeland has gotten increasingly more attention as camp has progressed and he was in the right place at the right time a lot last night. The Clemson alum ended up with seven total tackles (three solo) on the night. He was physical and had a knack for knowing where the ball was. The defense overall made stops when they needed to, especially in the first half. But, I noticed that he never really had that “deer-in-the-headlights” look. Also, rookie Will Compton looked pretty good. He was in on four tackles (officially… I saw five) and when he tackled, he wrapped up. Most of the defense did, actually. Even in its first preseason game of 2014, Washington’s defense was overall more physical and technically correct.
“I was happy with the tackling,” Gruden said about the defense. “I was impressed, because I’m telling you; New England has four backs that are very good, maybe five. You know they weren’t playing their starters, but those four or five backs, they’ve been starting for a lot of teams and they’re very good. I think their line was out there for a little while. It was good to see us wrap up. It was good to see us gang tackling and flying around to the football. I felt good watching these guys. I’ll watch the tape, too. I felt good about the pursuit angle. I felt good about the finishes on the tackles. I felt good about our secondary, but I’m sure there’s a lot of correctable things that we’ll notice on the tape, and that’s what it’s all about right now. The main thing we want to get out of there is we want to set our standards high as far as pursuit and tackling, and so far so good, but obviously we have a long way to go.”
Hail.