Redskins head coach Jay Gruden spoke to the media on Tuesday. (via redskins.com)
On tight end Jordan Reed and defensive lineman Kedric Golston:
“They’re in the same boat. They’re still in the rehab position that they are in, and all of our injuries right now, you know… today was like a bonus day. Tomorrow they’re off, and when they come back Wednesday we’ll have a better idea. Today’s like a bonus day, but they’re still in the same position they were, a day-to-day type deal.”
On if he believes everyone took advantage of the three-day break:
“I hope so. Yeah, they came back fresh today and it was good to go back and just take a step back and evaluate ourselves and not so much worry about who we’re playing next. We have that Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to do that, but today was more about us – evaluating what we’ve done so far, what we’ve done not so well, what we’ve done well – and really focus on our identity and how we can improve on what we’re doing. I think they were responsive, and hopefully it’ll be beneficial to us in the long run.”
On getting the team on the same page:
“Obviously, we kind of got away from it against the Giants. Despite losing against Philadelphia, we felt like we were very competitive – flying around to the ball, aggressive on defense and offensively we did some great things obviously. Then against the Giants it kind of was a snowball effect, where we couldn’t do anything right in the second half offensively, and defensively we couldn’t get any stops on third down. It was very uncharacteristic of the way we’ve been practicing and playing throughout the season. So, the big thing was to take a step back, focus in on our assignments – the details of each call defensively and offensively – figure out what we do well, focus on what we do well, and correct the mistakes that we’ve had. But I feel pretty good about where we’re at. Obviously, we’re not excited to be 1-3, but that’s where we are. But moving forward with the type of players we have, the coaches we have, I think we can get this thing turned around. That’s the ultimate goal.”
On if the injuries and the short week played a role against the Giants:
“I think going into the game, I don’t think we used the short week or the injuries as an excuse. I think the thing that hurt us was, like I said, the snowball effect. Once something bad happened, then another thing bad happened, then another one and then another one, and nobody was able to dig us out and turn the tide. They just kept pouring it on, and we were unable to recover. Hats off to them for playing a great game but when those things happen, when adversity strikes – we talk about it all the time – adversity strikes in a game whether it’s a turnover or the defense gives up a big play or special teams gives up the play, it’s the responsibility of everybody else to come back and make something else happen and turn the tide and change the momentum. We were unable to do that at any point in the game. Really, the opening drive of the third quarter was the only time we did that to get it to 24-14. Then after that, we got a stop, got the ball back twice, then turnovers started to happen and then it was a wrap. But, we’ve just got to let it go, learn from it. It’s a loss. It only counts for one loss, thank goodness. That one should count for three, but that only counts for one, and we’re going to learn from it and move on.”
On tight end Niles Paul:
“He’s feeling better. He’s got to go through the concussion protocol, and they’re going to take the necessary steps with the doctors and the rehab and all that stuff. But, he’s making very good progress.”
On tackle Trent Williams and guard Shawn Lauvao:
“They’re in the same boat. They’re making good progress. They didn’t do anything today, and like I said, the bonus day, we kept those guys out. Tomorrow they’ll get more rehab, and then Wednesday we’ll see where they are.”
On quarterback Robert Griffin III’s rehab:
“He’s doing a great job, and like I said, for whatever injury he has, he’s probably going to recover quicker than the normal human being, faster than anybody probably. So, it won’t surprise me when he comes back. I’m sure it’ll be quicker than normal, but he’s doing everything he can to get right. What that timetable is, I have no idea. Only his body will know and the trainers.”
On his conversations with quarterback Kirk Cousins since last Thursday:
“Anytime you get a chance to really watch him on tape and really study and critique his performance, both good and bad, it’s great because he hasn’t had the many opportunities both in training camp and in the regular season [and] preseason to really, ‘Let’s watch what you are doing.’ Usually it’s, ‘Let’s watch what Robert [Griffin III] is doing and what would you have done?’ But now we can really focus in on his fundamentals, his eyes – where they are at, what his progressions are, what he is reading, his drops, ball security in the pocket. All that good stuff is really beneficial for him now that we can focus in on what he is doing and he can critique himself and move forward. I am sure he has done that. He is frustrated with some of the throws he made, maybe with some of the decisions. Moving forward I think it is a great learning experience for a guy like that. The big thing is that when you throw one, doesn’t mean you have to throw two. When you throw two, doesn’t mean you have to throw three and so on and so forth. We got to make sure we still are aware of the situation and how each play is its own entity and moving forward we just have got to eliminate them, try to do the best we can, and coach them up better.”
On what he has learned about the team:
“I think from a positive standpoint – which there are some positive things… It didn’t seem like it after the game, and we are 1-3 and there aren’t a lot of positives, probably as people would say, but I think from a positive standpoint, I think guys are flying around to the football and they are playing hard. And I feel like if you play hard, you have a better chance to win than if you don’t, and we had some great chances for us to really fall asleep, lose our aggression, loaf, so to speak. But I don’t think our guys are doing that. I just think that we were not making any plays, which is different. They were making great plays on the ball, their receivers and tight ends were making the contested catches and we weren’t. And offensively we just turned the ball over. But guys were playing hard, they were competing until the final whistle and that is something to be encouraged about. I think we still have the talent in this building that we can do some great things this year. We’ve just got to do things better and more efficiently and obviously smarter as far as what our assignments are and then obviously ball security.”
On Cousins:
“I mean, each interception is different. You can’t say that he is doing this all the time, ‘That’s why he threw four interceptions.’ Each interception was different. One of them at the very end he was trying to force the ball down the field. We told him to take a shot to DeSean [Jackson] down the sidelines; he kind of got hit and floated it on him. One of them he stared down Pierre [Garçon] a little bit long which made the safety come over and make a play. One he threw a little bit too early and didn’t really see the location of the corner; had bad ball location on the one to Ryan Grant on the sideline. So they are all different in their own way. They are all correctable mistakes in my mind and they will be corrected. I know that he is very aware of what he needs to do better and he will. He is a very aware kid and wants to do great. Very frustrated with the outcome but it’s not going to alter his performance moving forward. He will learn from it. He won’t go into a tank and be shell-shocked I hope. He has just got to play himself out of it and he will, like all quarterbacks do at that time.”
On who is responsible for calling bump and run coverage:
“That is a great question. We really need to focus on it from a staff [standpoint] and whether in the past it was left to their option in the past was the past. I think moving forward with the type of corners that we have – we have big, physical, long corners in [Bashaud] Breeland and [David] Amerson – their strength would be to get their hands on people and they have got to do a better job with that and not giving tight ends out there out in space or receivers out in space free releases and easy access. If they are going to be up there, let’s get them up there and press because they are both very physical and both very good at doing that. I have seen them in training camp do it quite often so I think it will be a… you know, we are playing whatever type coverage it is, if it’s a bump and run type deal or it’s a cloud over there, they are going to do a better job of getting their hands on them and being a little bit more physical.”
On cornerback Tracy Porter’s status:
“Same. He played second half of the game a little bit and played through his hamstring deal. He is just taking it very slow right now.”
On signing safety Jamarca Sanford and cornerback Richard Crawford:
“Well, Sanford has got some experience at obviously safety and he can help on special teams. We want to take a good look at him. Obviously, Trenton Robinson’s injury right now, we are not sure what his status is going to be so we needed to add another safety. Crawford has got the experience if Porter is still a little bit banged up. We will need another guy there, so he knows the system. Sanford, special teams and obviously has played safety, and we will make a decision later on in the week of who is up and who is not.”
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