Washington Redskins coach Jay Gruden
On tight end Jordan Reed:
“Jordan Reed’s doing much better. We expect him to be full-go on Thursday. ”
On if linebacker Ryan Kerrigan and wide receiver Santana Moss received veterans’ days off:
“Yes, yes. It was a veteran’s day off. Moss has been running a lot and he needed a day to get his legs back under him but nothing is injured or anything like that. Same with Kerrigan and same with Kory [Lichtensteiger].”
On if the practice routine will remain the same at Redskins Park:
“Pretty accurate, yeah. Times of meetings might change, no more night meetings probably, but as far as practice and the grind of studying football and practicing football it’ll be the same.”
On if it was beneficial for the players to work together away from Ashburn:
“I think it was. I think it was a great experience for everybody, it was for me and I felt like the team came together like you’d hoped they would in training camp, studying like this. Practices were crisp. I think we got a lot accomplished and I’m excited about the progress that we made. And just teaching our offense and defense and our special teams, I feel good where we’re at and moving forward. We’re at a great spot right now as far as the team chemistry and everything’s concerned.”
On preparing for the preseason game against Cleveland with increased media attention around Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel:
“It’ll be exciting. There’s a lot about Johnny Football that’s exciting to watch – him as a player and as a rookie. All we’re going to do is focus on ourselves though moving forward – what we’re going to do, how we’re going to prepare and really starting Friday, it’ll be the first time we start to really game plan for an opponent, get them used to game planning and how we’re going to do it, how we go about it during the regular season. So, we haven’t looked at Cleveland yet. I haven’t., but I will starting tomorrow and Thursday, and we’ll start to game plan. But, it’ll be an exciting event, MondayNight Football here. Of course my brother is coming so that’ll be fun, and Johnny Football. But really I want to make it more about our guys – how we perform, how we come out under the lights and the excitement, and show them what we can do.”
On concluding training camp with no drama:
“I never want a media circus or anything like that. I don’t know what happened last year, I wasn’t here. I think it was pretty smooth. I think everybody’s on the same page as far as what we’re talking about, what we’re doing on the field. There’s no hidden agendas I don’t think. Hopefully that remains consistent throughout the season, not just in training camp. So moving forward, hopefully we can stay in that train of thought and mentality.”
On if he has any message for the city of Richmond:
“We’ve got to thank them all. Everything was first-class, first-rate – from the practice fields to the way they kept them up to the facility inside here. Everything was clean and kept-up. Everything was very, very efficient – transportation, the hotel was excellent. There’s not one complaint other than the roads were a little bumpy on the way over here. We got to fix the roads in Richmond, holy cow. [Laughter]. I got a stiff neck riding in the car. Other than that, man, it was an awesome experience and something these guys really did [enjoy]. The locker rooms are immaculate, everything was first-class. The workers were great. The fans were excellent. We had no issues whatsoever. Hopefully they enjoyed themselves when they came here. Overall from a coaching standpoint, I said it before and I’ll say it again, what you want is a place that’s conducive for learning, a place where they can get better, get their needed treatment, and everything is provided here in a first-class fashion.”
On if he has a plan for starters’ playing time on Monday against the Browns:
“Not yet. We’re going to go through the rest of the week and practice. We have Thursday, Friday, we’ll be in some pads and then Saturday, we’ll taper off. I’ll see where we are from a health standpoint and we’ll go from there, but I expect them to play a little bit more than last week.”
On if the joint practices with the New England Patriots provided more than just a break from the norm:
“I think it did. I think sometimes you get a sense of security going against the same guys and, and when you bring in guys like Darrelle Revis and Tom Brady and you realize how good these other players are in the National Football League – and most of our veterans understand that, but some of the rookies, when they see it firsthand – they know that they’ve got to step their game up, both mentally and physically. So it was great for them to see how other pros work and prepare, so we’re not just talking abnormally. It’s how everybody prepares and it was good for them to see the competition and how they went about their business.”
On if he has a personal preference for the number of quarterbacks on his roster:
“We carried two and one on the practice squad in Cincinnati and we’re fortunate that nothing happened to our starter, but, you know, the way Colt’s [McCoy] been performing and the way Kirk’s [Cousins] performing and Robert [Griffin III], you know, that’ll be a decision we make at the very end, but I’m very happy with Colt’s progress. He played very well in the preseason game. He’s done great out here at practice with the limited reps he’s getting, but that’ll be a decision Bruce [Allen] and myself will make when the time is right.”
On if Reed illness was just a stomach virus:
“Yes. It was either food poisoning or a stomach virus, but he was out there running around today. He looks better. Hopefully, he’ll drink some Ensure or something like that, get some protein back in his system, but he looks good. He’ll be fine.”
On his favorite memory from this camp:
“Holy cow, I just think from the very beginning of it, getting the initial meeting, getting all the players here, getting everything organized and then coming out to practice and just the whole setting of it was fun for me. You’ve got to love football to do what we do, and every part of it from the meetings to the practices to meals is enjoyable to me. So, I don’t really have a personal favorite. I really enjoyed the fact that our coaches are coaching their butts off and our players are practicing their butts off without any hidden agendas or any of that sort of thing. We’re all out here together getting better, all of us together and that’s the most enjoyable thing. ”
On if the plan for the defensive line’s fitness level is structured:
“It’s structured. Coach [Jacob] Burney is doing a good job keeping them after practice. Our strength coaches are working with them and they weren’t grossly out of shape – it was just something that needs to be addressed with all the no-huddles we’re seeing. It’s the first time we’ve really saw a tempo like that, that New England’s came and threw at us. So it was really good for them to understand that ‘Hey, maybe I’m not in the best shape of my life. Maybe I do need some extra conditioning, extra work.’ And that’s not just the defensive lineman, that’s the linebackers, secondary, everybody. So, you watch them out at practice at the end, you see guys running and working hard with the strength coaches and their position coaches. “
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