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Skins Quotes 8/25: Jay Gruden

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August 25, 2014
Redskins Park

Head Coach Jay Gruden

On if he has determined if his first stringers will play on Thursday:
“Not really. I have in my mind, but I’m going to wait and see after tomorrow’s practice, but I feel pretty confident that the majority of them will not play.”

On being open to the possibility of his first stringers playing:
“Open to the possibility, depending on how many bodies we have here. After you make some cuts, you find out you don’t have as many people here as you thought. But I think the big thing is we want to come out of this preseason feeling good about ourselves going into Houston, and feeling good about yourself doesn’t always mean you’re leading the league in offense or leading the league in defense. Feeling good means you’ve prepared yourselves and you’re healthy, and we’re fairly healthy right now and that’s the big thing I want to get out of this group. I want to make sure we’re healthy going into Houston. So if we don’t play the starters, it’s only because I want them to be 100 percent healthy going into Houston.”

On if he wants quarterback Robert Griffin III to play Thursday:
“I think it would be beneficial to him in some ways, but I don’t think it’s mandatory that he plays. I don’t think it’s going to make or break our season whether or not he plays a quarter or a drive in the fourth preseason game at Tampa. I think the important thing is we move forward as an offense, correct our mistakes… which there were a lot of them, I should say, not just by him but by everybody. But I think we started to do that out here today. We’ll do it out here tomorrow. We’ve got next week to do it. So the Tampa game is not a make or break thing for Robert Griffin to have a successful season or not. That decision will come probably tomorrow after practice.”

On tight end Jordan Reed:
“He has a sprained thumb. He could have practiced today, but obviously he didn’t feel good enough to catch the ball. He should be OK by the time we play Houston.”

On the injury report:
“[Chase] Minnifield was down with his hamstring strain. [Brian] Orakpo has an ankle sprain. He will not play against Tampa, obviously. [Phillip] Thomas has a sore foot, reinjured his foot a little bit. We’re going to get it checked out some more. [Darryl] Sharpton practiced very limited. He’s still pretty sore on that thing, so he’s probably doubtful to questionable for the game on Thursday. Morgan Moses practiced. He was fine. Tracy Porter practiced but looked like he wasn’t quite himself, might have reinjured it a little bit, but we’ll see how he’s doing tomorrow. And Akeem Jordan has a slight thigh contusion. He should be OK.”

On if only the starting offense would play on Thursday and if he has seen enough from the starting defense:
“Yeah… I think the defense has done a great job. Offense has done some good things, too, it’s just you hate to end on a sour note. You know, we ended on a sour note. It’s still not the end of the world. You get on tape, you get your coaching done, you make your corrections and you move on. And that’s what we’ve got to do. Whether they play a series or not in Tampa, it’s probably 10 percent chance. I’m leaning toward no, but we’ll see how we are as far as bodies are concerned out there when we get ready to play Tampa. I want to make sure we have enough bodies to play against the Bucs.”

On if safety Phillip Thomas will have an MRI on his foot:
"He's going to get checked out, yeah."

On the factors that contributed to Griffin III's late throws:
"It's a little bit of everything. That could be a function of him not trusting the coverage, not trusting his footwork, but that's something that he's got to get out of. He's got to have a trust factor that the drop is going to match the receiver’s depth and all that stuff. He's got to let some things fly. He's just a little bit hesitant right now, which is normal with some new concepts. He's out here today, wasn’t hesitant at all. He was throwing the ball on time and accurate today, so we’ve just got to maintain that confidence going into games and that's something that hopefully will come in time. But, he hasn’t really shown that hesitancy like he did against Baltimore, for whatever reason. I don’t know if it was a push in the pocket where he felt a little pressure or maybe he saw a linebacker or what have you, but he's got to just learn to trust the fact that he's got to let some of those balls go, let the receivers do some work for him."

On how he can build Griffin III’s confidence:
“He’s got to do it – he’s got to continue to do it. You know, he’s in his third year like I said, and some of these route combinations are new to him. He’s got to trust the fact that he’s got to believe what he sees, but he’s got to see it first. In order to see it, he’s got to have some protection, he’s got to keep his eyes on the right spot, and go through his progressions and make his decisions and get the ball out of his hands. It will come. He’s got the ability to do it, he’s got the smarts to do it, he’s got the wants to do it, he’s just got to do it.”

On if not game planning for the preseason has affected Griffin III’s performance:
“We’re running concepts that should be successful. They should be more successful than they are. We ran a couple outside zone plays where the guard went the wrong way a couple times and that can never happen. We had some other pass plays that should be OK – shouldn’t be as bad looking as they were. We should be better at what we’re doing. There is an element of things we haven’t done yet, but that’s no excuse for us. We should have been better against Baltimore than we were. The short week is no excuse, the lack of major installing of offensive plays shouldn’t be an excuse. We’ve got to be better executing at what we do. We ran the outside zone, that’s what we do, and we ran some play-actions off of it, that’s what we do, and we ran some dropback pass concepts that we will have against Houston that we should have been better at.”

On if defensive end Jason Hatcher has any setbacks following his first game back:
“No. He’s good. He played well and he felt good today, so that’s a good sign.”

On what factors he will consider when deciding whether or not to play his starters Thursday:
“I think the major consideration is how many guys we have at what position left on the team. We have got to make sure we field enough guys that we can play a football game. We have 75 guys now – two punters, two kickers… a long snapper – so we’ve just got to make sure we have enough healthy bodies that we can function against Tampa Bay. We’re not going to wear out the guys that are playing, so that’s one consideration. The other one is let’s see how we’re progressing in practice and making sure I feel good about resting the guys that I’m going to rest, that they’re ready to play in the regular season.”

On safety Phillip Thomas:
“It’s a concern because it’s the same foot. He’s going to get it checked out again, and it’s just sore. It’s still bothering him. You can see a little bit that it looks like it’s bothering him a little bit, but we’ve got to get it fixed because he’s a good football player and we need to make sure he’s healthy when he’s ready to play.”

On releasing linebacker Rob Jackson:
“Yeah, it is tough. He’s a good player, great guy. He’s worked hard, but part of the factoring – it’s not just how well you play that position, it’s what you do that can help the team in other spots, special teams for instance. Unfortunately, we drafted Murph [linebacker Trent Murphy] and we have some other young kids that are playing well and it was just time to move on. There’s a chance we could bring him back later on if he doesn’t get picked up, but he was a good Redskin for a while and we wish him the best. But it is a very process when you let anybody go, especially a guy that’s done so well for your franchise.”

On hits by safety Brandon Meriweather:
“The first one where he tackled the running back, I thought that was a legal hit. And then the second one, he did the best he could, it looked like. [Joe] Flacco threw a late one across the middle and he saw the ball and he tried to lower his target. Unfortunately, as he was lowering his target, the receiver felt him and lowered his head also at the same time. It was a bang-bang play. It’s going to be up to the commissioner and the people looking at that whether or not he’s going to get fined or what have you. It’s out of my hands. But I thought he tried – in his best interest he tried his best to lower his target and avoid the helmet-to-helmet contact, but sometimes when you’re lowering and your receiver lowers at exactly the same time, it’s very difficult. But he’s trying to lower it. Ryan Clark had one later in the game on [Dennis] Pitta. He did a great job of lowering his target with his shoulder and got him in the stomach/rib area and it was a clean hit. We’ve just got to keep preaching that to our secondary guys that it’s an emphasis on it, obviously. It’s important to not try to go helmet-to-helmet for their sake along with the other players’ sake.”

On if he is concerned about a possible suspension for Meriweather:
"I have no idea. I’m going to leave it up to the commissioner. I don’t have any idea as far as that rule is concerned right now. I thought he did as good of a job as he could to lower his target, like I said. Whatever they do disciplinary-wise, I have no idea."

On the offense finding its own identity:
"You always want an identity. Our identity needs to be found. What are we going to be? Are we going to be a running team, I guess? I think for us to think we are going to be a straight dropback passing team is a little naïve. For us to think we are just going to hand it off every time is a little naive. I think our identity has to be diversity and we have got to be able to be good at both. We have got to be able to run the ball. We have got to be able to get some play-actions off of the run and there are going to be times when we have to do some dropback. There are going to be times we are down 14 or 17 to nothing where we can’t run the ball. We have to throw the ball, pick up the pace. We need to be pretty good at everything but obviously the strength of our football team at this moment would be – I would say – our running game. We have to continue to work on that and work on handing that ball off and being good at something, really good at something and I think we are pretty good in the running game."

On Reed:
"He hurt his thumb, sprained his thumb. He will be OK. He just didn’t feel good about catching the ball, a little sore. He did a lot of running on the outside though so he will be fine for Houston. Out for Tampa."
 
Not a huge fan of this comment:

"We need to be pretty good at everything but obviously the strength of our football team at this moment would be – I would say – our running game. We have to continue to work on that and work on handing that ball off and being good at something, really good at something and I think we are pretty good in the running game."
 
To me it seems like he is running concepts to see if they can do it and not their normal offensive schemes. Heck, it doesn't even seem like they are planning against defenses or teams but instead just trying to see if they can run plays or not.

Jordan Reed....dude, don't be getting dinged up already. Rak and his ankle...that's going to suck. But its good to see Moses is back out there.
 
Tandler just picked up on that quote. Probably the first misstep or mistake I've seen Gruden make. Not the best choice of words.

New arrival Desean Jackson doesn't want to hear that. Andre Roberts doesn't want to hear that. Pierre Garçon doesn't want to hear that. And RG3 certainly doesn't want to hear that.


Gruden identifies Redskins offensive strength | Comcast SportsNet Washington
 
is he wrong? Morris is averaging, what, 8 yards per carry? He had a 19 yard run against the Ravens when no other player was able to establish anything.

Dont like it? Do something about it. Want him to stop saying it? Do something to make him not be able to say it.
 
Oh he's right. Just don't want him to say anything that may come across as an unintentional slap to the face of someone like Jackson. The media is ruthless, and they'll run with it.

You don't have guys like Jackson and Garçon as WRs, and a QB who needs some confidence, and then say that our strength is the running game. Just has to be careful.
 
I'm a huge fan of it actually...our running game is potent by anyone's standard but a bit inconsistent. Run to set up the pass is a likely scenario...There are a lot of weapons on this offense but it's in transition and missing some talent on the O line. That's not the end of the road. San Fran and Seattle are running teams in a similar transition. They both have dominant Defenses...we don't.
 
Agreed. But one of the things we love about Gruden so much is his candid nature and how he will just tell it like it is.

But I dont want to see any WRs or QBs getting upset either.
 
If the team can get a upper middle result from our defense I see the team winning some games and finding an identity...If the O line can give a similar effort I see us as contending for a division title...that would be a nice way to making that a regular statement. Truth be told I believe we can win with either qb.
 
Gruden shouldn't state the obvious because he might hurt a wr's feelings?

Just from what I've seen since he's been here, I don't think Gruden gives a hoot in hell about their feelings.

And I like it!
 
Our identity needs to be found,” he said. “What are we going to be? We’re going to be a running team, I guess.”

He guesses? Gruden has made me shake my head quite a few times since preseason week 2.
 
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I think sometimes Gruden gets tired of the barrage of stupid questions and doesn't give much thought to his answers.
 
I mean, can we stop putting every word a coach utters, under the microscope ?
He's not hired, and not paid, to put on press conferences, and to appease everyone.
He's paid to coach a team to play well and win games, and that's it.
He's under no obligation to pander to every reporter's question, and every fan's concern.
Let's quit judging him by press conferences.
They mean zilch
 
The drama machine is already revving up. Keep it up DC media (and sadly - many REDSKINS FANS). When Gruden (and maybe many of our best players) decide they don't want to 're-up' in DC, it won't be any mystery why.
 
Imagine how much better of a team we would be, if the coach did not do a press conference every single day of training camp and preseason, so he had to give an essay on every player's hangnail, bowel movement, etc.
Think about all those hours he could devote to coaching the team, studying, and preparing for the regular season, if he didn't have to do that bull ****.
Especially since he's a first year coach, and needs every minute possible to get this 3-13 team turned around.
 
Our identity needs to be found,” he said. “What are we going to be? We’re going to be a running team, I guess.”

I like it. I think it's a subtle challenge to his offense: "Since we couldn't pass the ball even though we really wanted to, I guess we'll just hand it off until you guys get your **** together."

It also presents his philosophy as not being set in stone. Anyone who remembers Joe Gibbs' first six games here will recognize that trait as a good thing. :)
 
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Oops, sorry, double post.

See, this is why we can't have nice things.
 
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Well, Jay G., welcome to the other part of your suddenly steeper learning curve. Not only are you dealing with the issues common to all first time NFL head coaches you get to have a "Baptism by Fire" dealing with the predatory D.C. sports media.

You'll learn about Redskins fans too, unbelievably loyal to this team, fickle, impatient, and given to bi-polar fan disorder. Every misstep on the field will be an unmitigated disaster and a sure sign the team is doomed to be horrible; every well done scoring drive or defensive stop a sure sign of a playoff berth.

Best of luck and be a fast learner, o.k.?
 
Our identity needs to be found,” he said. “What are we going to be? We’re going to be a running team, I guess.”

He guesses? .
Don't know if you watched the interview but Jay Gru's humor gets interjected quite often and doesn't always convey in text (imagine that), the media quite often doesn't get it either and often fires up some crazy storyline because of it.

I heard mention(can't remember where) that folks outside of the team are the ones who determine the identity of a team. Players and coaches might want to be 'tough and physical' but until it shows on the field no one outside of the team is going to identify them as same.

If the team is successful then their identity will be anointed by the media, if they fail, the media will continue to pummel Gruden with the same questions
 

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