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Skins Quotes 8/9: Jay Gruden

Boone

The Commissioner
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August 9, 2014
Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center

Head Coach Jay Gruden

On the plan for defensive end Jason Hatcher:
“Slowly but surely. Get him in some individual drills, see how he does and hopefully we’ll get him ready by the third week of preseason, maybe fourth, but we will see how he does. It depends on how he feels after he trains and making sure there is no other damage or what have you, but he’s coming along very well.”

On tight end Jordan Reed:
“He got sick. He had a 24-hour virus, I think it was. He was throwing up a little bit. He should be OK tomorrow, I hope.”

On tight end Mike Caussin:
“He has a sore knee. His knee swelled up a little bit and we kept him out, just inflammation a little bit from a past injury, I believe. We are monitoring him and hopefully we’ll get him back for Cleveland.”

On running backs Chris Thompson and Roy Helu, Jr.:
“Thompson sprained his ankle on a catch that he caught across the middle. It’s very minor but we’re going to monitor him, so I don’t have any idea. If the swelling goes down quickly, he might be ready for Cleveland, we’ll see. Roy Helu has a mild knee sprain and he’s day to day.”

On what stood out to him from the game and what he wanted to correct today:
“Defensively, I was impressed with the way we ran around, flew around to the football and we played some good situations. We got some red zone, we got a red zone stop in there, we had fourth down stop in the red zone, we stopped some screens, we had good pressure on the quarterback and that was exciting. Overall I was just impressed with the communication and then pursuit to the football and then the tackling I thought was outstanding. Very few missed tackles, which was exciting. When you see the guy on the ground for the Patriots, you freeze the film and you see six or seven red hats around the ball, that’s what I like to see. It was good pursuit football and good sound football and it was good. It was a good start for our team. Offensively, obviously the running game was very good. I like the way our backs were finishing runs, getting yards after contact. I like the way our receivers were blocking. And in the passing game, I thought we were pretty disciplined in our routes and didn’t have any drops – I don’t think that I can remember. So guys were flying around and they were all doing the right thing. I was impressed with the rookies the way they came out and there were very few mental mistakes, so it was a good day for a lot of people. Obviously there is a lot to work on and there is a lot we can do better, but very pleased with their effort and their knowledge of the scheme so far.”

On if he has an update on Stephen Bowen and Leonard Hankerson:
“I really don’t. That’s something Larry [Hess] will have to talk to you about, but they are working their tail off and you can see progress. Every day I see Leonard out there working hard, running routes, with Larry on the side doing everything he can in his power to get ready. Whether it’s going to be for the season opener, whether it’s later, we don’t know yet. Same with Bowen. Bowen, I talked to him today, he said he felt as good as he’s ever felt in a long time, so that’s progress that he’s making. He’s got to get out there, do the drills and the key is after he does the drills, what happens. Is there is soreness? Does it swell back up? So we have to just make sure that we take it day by day, just keep working at him and see how they do once they put the work in, see how their body handles it.”

On the signing of safety Da’Mon Cromartie-Smith:
"He's a big, good-sized kid. Ran around good at the workout, so we thought it was important to give him an opportunity. He fits in there. We had to let go of Peyton Thompson today, but you know we needed a little bit of safety help with Ryan Clark’s injury, so we'll give him a shot. But he's a good-sized kid and ran around good and has some knowledge of the defense."

On if there is concern safety Ryan Clark’s hamstring may take longer than a couple days:
"No. Well, I don't know – it’s a hamstring [laughter]. Those things are… anybody who's pulled a hamstring, you never know, but Ryan has the treatment that he needs. He's getting all the work done that he has to get done and he'll be ready I think sooner than later but you just never know with those things. Then when you come back, you’ve just got to make sure you take it slow and make sure it’s totally healed before you go full speed so we’re going to be very safe with him."

On if he was surprised how well the communication went on Thursday:
“It was very good. The quarterbacks did a nice job. I was trying to get the play out as fast as I can. The only delay of game [that] happened was my fault, really, because I was waiting to see the replay on the screen to see if Aldrick caught the ball and took so long. We were waiting, waiting, waiting to see if I should throw the flag or not because the booth didn’t see the replay either. And then then the referees winded the clock. I probably should have taken a timeout there, but I had to see if Aldrick caught it and we took the delay, but other than that, it was a pretty clean game by everybody. Defense, I think the communication was clean with Coach [Jim] Haslett and the linebackers and then obviously the quarterbacks did a nice job of getting the play out quickly and getting everybody set.”

On calling plays and being the head coach for the first time:
“It was… difficult [laughter]. It was different, because after the offensive series I like to usually go talk to the offense or talk to the quarterback, look at the pictures and I did that a couple times, I was like, 'Oh, I’ve got to go out there and coach!’ It’s something to get used to and this is what the preseason’s for. It’s not just the players, now. Preseason’s for the coaches, too, and how we handle our business and our communication and what we go through on game days. It was a great opportunity for me, personally, to go through that and figure out my routine on game day and I learned some things during the game that I’ve got to do better.”

On what he saw from special teams:
“Some really good things. We only punted one time which was good, but we covered he punt excellent; Akeem Davis went down there and forced a fumble. Kickoff, we had the offsides on the kickoff, which was very, very close, but other than that we covered pretty good. We missed a tackle on one kickoff and he squirted out there and Zach Hocker, made a heck of a tackle but overall I think our special team effort is where it needs to be. Now we just have to clean up some things with our protection and our vice and the gunners and all that good stuff running down there, the angles and the pursuit angles. Overall, I think they are buying in and I feel very good about the fact that they are buying in and they understand the importance of special teams and that is exactly where we want to be right now. Now it’s a matter of cleaning up our techniques and adding some things as we go along. The players that actually played special teams I thought did a good job with their effort and I think Coach [Ben] Kotwica is pretty pleased. Obviously all three phases of the game, there are some things to clean up.”

On using tablets on the sideline:
“The only weird thing was they were backwards. You know, you read left to right, but we actually had to go backwards, so it took a little while to get used to that, but it’s a good idea. It’s nice. It comes up quick for you, it pops up on there, but it’s a little bit different. I’ve never really been one to overuse those things. I like to just get a brief look at it and see if there is any blitz or any different coverage we need to see, but other than that I just like to move on and get to the next series. But those tablets do come in handy and I think it’ll take some getting used to by the coaches, but I think they were good.”
On if he experienced any connectivity issues:
“We did not. It was very clean. It was a good process for us. I don’t know how they [the Patriots] had it and we didn’t, but hopefully they get it cleaned up for the opposing team if that was the case.”

On what he hopes Hatcher will bring to the defense:
“Well ,we brought him here to rush – rush the passer. You see the progress that we’ve made, even just our first preseason game, just the pressure on the quarterback and [Patriots quarterback] Ryan Mallett just never really had a comfort zone of delivering the football. He felt pressure, and even though we didn’t get a ton of sacks, I felt like the quarterbacks knew that the pressure was there and Jason is going to be another element to that, an inside presence pass rush. With [Brian] Orakpo, [Ryan] Kerrigan, [Trent] Murphy, [Chris] Baker, [Jarvis] Jenkins on the inside, we have a system of guys, a number of guys that can come in there fresh and get after the quarterback. And also, in base downs, he can play the run a little bit and do his thing, but he’s a dominant player. He had 13 or so sacks last year and he’s going to be an added impact to our team once he gets healthy.”

On cornerback Tracy Porter:
“We know Tracy has got great ball skills. He’s got great speed. His cover ability is well-known. And he had the shoulder surgery. We kept him out of the game just to make sure his shoulder is 100 percent. We’ll probably keep him out one more week and maybe see if he’s ready to tackle Week 3. But he’s healthy. He’s ready to go. We just want to make sure he feels good about it from a mental standpoint. It’s strong enough. He’s going to get some more – just continue to rehab. But he’s doing a great job out here. He’s running around. I think he’s ready to play, but we just want to be very cautious with him and make sure he’s totally 100 percent before he gets out there and starts live tackling but he’s in good shape.”

On if the players are adopting his mindset:
“Yeah, I hope so. That’s what we are trying to do. We’re trying to adopt a physical style of play, obviously. Offense and defense, protect the quarterback, dominant in the run blocking, and obviously stopping the run and getting after the passer are very key elements. But there’s other elements that’s very important in football – your mindset is very important, how you handle bad events, how mentally tough you are and when things don’t go so well from a week to two weeks or from a play to a quarter, whatever it is, how you react. Only time will tell on that. We didn’t have a lot of adversity strike in the first game, but I think it’s going to be important how we handle adverse situations moving forward because some will come.”

On if it is a matter of finding the right players or instilling that mindset in existing players:
“A little bit of both. You know, you want to find the right guys that are very competitive and can handle that type… You have to be mentally tough to play football, there’s no question about it, because there are so many ups and downs throughout the course of the season that you have to react in a positive way when things don’t go so well and you have to still react solidly when things go well. You can’t get too big a head. But we have a group of guys out here that are battling every day, they’re competing, and we’re on the right track, but only time will tell when adversity strikes how they react and that’s our job as coaches to make sure we keep everybody pulling in the same direction.”

On what the team needs to work on following the first preseason game:
“Everything. Our run game was solid, but we can get better. Our protection was solid, but we can get better. Our routes were good, but we can get better. Our quarterback play was pretty good, but it can be better. There’s not a phase of the game that I saw that didn’t need work. We were far from perfect. We’re always striving for perfection. I doubt we’ll ever reach perfect, nobody ever does, but we’re going to sure as hell try. But as long as the guys know that every day is a work day and we have a long way to go before we get Houston as far as where we want to be progression-wise, I think we’re in good shape. But we have a lot to work on, no doubt.”

Defensive End Jason Hatcher

On being able to practice:
“I’m really excited, man. It seems like it’s been forever since I’ve been on the field, so the day I was actually able to do some stuff – not, you know, taking reps right now, but just kind of working my way through individuals and taking it day by day.

On his plan after being cleared:
“Just individuals for the first week and next week I’ll take some live reps and see how I respond from there. From then on, I’ll just work my way back in and [I’m] looking forward to trying to play in that third preseason game to kind of knock some rust off and get ready for the Texans.”

On the last thing to come along for him in the rehab process:
“I think it was more so just the mental part of it, just to say, you know, 'My knee is good’ and go out there and just playing on it as hard as I can. So once I did that, I was able to get over it mentally.”

On how he dealt with the frustration of rehabbing:
“I just fed off my teammates, man. From the looks of it, we’re going to have a great defense and that’s what’s very exciting to me. That kind of motivated me to work hard just to be an integral part of that group, man. It’s a special group of guys and they work hard and they want to win and I’m very happy to be a part of it.”

On his strength returning from the injury:
“Yeah, my explosion is kind of there, but it’s one of those things that I’ve got to work through, you know, getting a 300-pound human being laying on me and see how I respond from there. So it’s one of those things I’ve got to work through. That’s why they’re kind of progressing me along, so next week I’ll get some game reps, like I said, and I’ll see how I feel to have a human being laying on me and see how I respond from there.”

On what stood out about the defensive linemen from the first preseason game:
“Just the hustle, man. That’s the one thing we put our emphasis on. You can make a mistake, but never take a play off. Finish every play. Those guys really hustled to the ball and that was very motivating to me to get back and just, like I said, be a part of that group. They play hard every down and I think we looked good for the first game. But it’s the preseason. We have got to see how we respond to when teams start game planning against us.”

On what he can bring to the defense:
“Just my wisdom as a vet and just getting after the quarterback, just making the quarterback uncomfortable. That’s one of the things, that’s one of the reasons why they brought me here so I just have got to continue to just get after the quarterback.”

On how glad he is to have elected to go ahead and go through with the surgery before the season:
“I’m very glad. It was one of those things that we sit down and discuss – whether I wanted to manage it every game. After every game I’ve got to you know do a lot of rehab to get it back right, and it was just… the bad outweighed the good. So I just went ahead and had the procedure done. And I’m very happy the way it’s responding so I’ve got a little way to go. I’m very happy where I’m at right now.”

On if getting surgery was a tough decision:
“Yeah, you know just a new guy just getting signed, it was a big deal. Just you being a human, you’re kind of like. 'I’m just getting here, you know? What [are] my teammates going to think? What [are] the GM and owner going to think?’ So it was one of things that was a hard decision to make but I’m very happy I did it.”

On how much pride does he take in hustling on screens and moving laterally:
“Yeah, I take pride in that. If you look at film on every D-line in the league, there’s not many guys running 30 yards down the field making plays. A lot of those guys look at the screens like it’s foreign to them, so I take pride in getting to the football and making plays down the field.”

On what it will be like to play against his former team:
“Oh man, it’s going to be a little strange, but it’s going to be very, very, very exciting because it’s a new team and, like I said, I’m looking forward to playing with these guys. I played against these guys and they just – they don’t stop. So it’s going to be a good game Monday night, but that’s not where my focus is at right now. I’m just focusing on one day at a time, getting back on the field and playing this third preseason game to get ready for the Texans.”
 
So, McVay won't be callin the play ?

What does he do, just come up with a gameplan ?

He was a TE coach. Do you want him coming up with a game plan?

By all accounts, he seems to be very smart. I'm sure Gruden will ask him for input. But I don't want him deciding what running play we're running on first down.

This will be a great learning experience for him. He can watch how an offense is run, and be a second set of eyes for Gruden. He can also do a few other things that will free up some time for our HC--like running some offensive drills in practice.
 
Capable of, and known for are two different things.

Gruden is here because he's known for being an expert on offense, and he's great with quarterbacks.

If you were a new HC, and running an offense was why you were hired, would you suddenly just turn it over to someone who has never done it before?

McVay can be a huge asset. He can scout opposing defenses, and save Gruden ten hours a week. He can tell him things about our current TEs and WRs. He can learn his system, and take his place in practice when Gruden is needed elsewhere. He can suggest plays that he feels will work against certain teams.

He can do a ton. And he'll be allowed to run the offense more and more in coming years.
 

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