This weekend, the Washington Redskins host the New Orleans Saints and for the first time since about 1:45 Sunday Sept. 13 (when wide out DeSean Jackson got hurt and left the first game of the season) most of the home team’s active players are healthy and ready to hit the field.
With it being Week 10, quarterback Kirk Cousins has been the starter now for the entire season and even in the losses, anyone watching with an open mind can see the strides he has made in his development. This is going to be important as he looks toward a game that could end up an offensive shootout between himself and Saints quarterback Drew Brees; an elite signal-caller who has brought his formerly-not-as-good-as-expected team to more winning ways in the last three weeks.
Cousins has shown the past several games that he can move the ball down the field as well as limit his mistakes (last week’s INT was not his fault)… and that’s without all of his starters. This week, his unit is facing a defense currently ranked 31st overall in the league (29th in rushing and also 31st in passing) AND it’s doing it with a Pro Bowl talent in Jackson finally healthy. Add Cousins improvements and development to tight end Jordan Reed and (the usually consistent, non-ball-dropping) Pierre Garçon and it could be a potent mix. The former Spartan can finally really launch the ball down the field and have every confidence that Jackson will go get it. Fans will likely see a different guy catching balls over the top than they saw last week against the Patriots.
“Very much so, very encouraged,” Head Coach Jay Gruden said today about what he saw from Jackson in practice this week. “You know when you have a chance to put back-to-back-to-back practices together after being out so long, it’s just going to make him stronger, make him feel better mentally where he can really let it go. We saw him this week really let a few go — running fast like we know that he can do. I think the big thing is getting his confidence back and his speed and the ability to really stretch it and push it. I feel good about the progress that he’s made and where he’s at right now.”
It sounds redundant and cliché but, if Jackson and the other receivers are successful catching passes, the running game should be more effective. Gruden did say they continue to work on different personnel groupings, trying to find the right mix for RBs Alfred Morris, Matt Jones and Chris Thompson. The odds are that, after the series of weeks they have had being unable to get anything going, one of these days they will. Gruden is smarter than a lot of fans think. And going up against a not-very-good defense in the Saints will certainly help the cause.
Jackson is not the only starter that will be back on the field healthier than before.
Both CBs Chris Culliver and Bashaud Breeland have had an additional week of rehab, practice and training now and are probable for Sunday. Gruden doesn’t even seem to think these guys will have to watch their amount of reps. This is big because it leaves guys like free agent veteran Will Blackmon available to rotate in and out as needed depending on the situation rather than the aforementioned guys’ health.
DB Jeron Johnson seems to have gotten the nod at safety in place of Trenton Robinson this week. While Gruden has actually waffled a bit about it he seems to be leaning toward putting the former Seattle Seahawk in as starter. His defensive coordinator, Joe Barry, apparently is certain of how he feels.
“Yeah, we’re going to,” Barry said yesterday about whether he would start Johnson. “We rolled some different guys in there. I tip to my hat to Jeron. [He] came in, competed his butt off. I don’t think things went the way he wanted to, but he kept working. He kept battling. He kept grinding. We made the switch. He actually played about 47 snaps Sunday against New England — did a good job. He’s earned the right to play and he’ll continue to play, no doubt.”
CB DeAngelo Hall is still questionable but he wants to get out there. The cornerback was limited in practice all week, playing in some pain. It will likely come down to a game-time decision.
Keep an eye on the middle linebacker position this week. With some of the struggles Perry Riley, Jr. has had in coverage and his apparent nagging calf injury, teammate Will Compton is primed to take that starting job. Since last season he has filled in admirably at the position and it could be paying off now.
“He’s smart, we know that,” Gruden said about Compton. “He knows both positions and that’s one thing he’s had to do from day one is learn both inside positions because he’s really backed up both Keenan [Robinson] and Perry. So he’s got a great understanding of the defense. Then, when he does play, he plays with good violence. You know, he steps up in the hole and is a very physical linebacker and he’s got good enough — he’s active enough or athletic enough — to where he can cover also in space. Will has done everything that has been asked of him and done it well.”
Having had two weeks to work more together, the Redskins secondary finally has somewhat of an advantage going into Sunday. They are at home and veteran guys like Culliver and safety Dashon Goldson have been intense at practice and rallying the team all week. This has been evident as seen by the quick pre-practice all-team-huddle Goldson led Wednesday.
“[It was] nothing fancy,” Cousins said about the message given in that huddle. “Just wanted to remind everyone that it was going to take a great day of practice, a great week of practice, and whether it was an individual period or a team period or a special teams period to really be locked in and understand that we’ve got to be performing at a high level Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, not just Sunday. If we do that during the week, it gives us a great chance to be successful Sunday. So, it was just a good reminder before we went to our individual drills to take everything and be very, very focused with it.”
People forget that this Washington group is a different one than they were watching this time last year. It’s even a different team than they’ve were watching three or four games ago. This Sunday, the Redskins have unique opportunity to take advantage of the fact that they’ll have a bunch of healthy starters on the field, hopefully contributing all at the same time.