On the last day of practice before the Washington Redskins travel to face the New York Jets, head coach Jay Gruden and offensive coordinator Sean McVay spoke to the media. The injury situation is starting to become quite concerning with five starters already having been ruled out with concentrations on the offensive line and secondary.
Gruden reiterated the idea that the Redskins have a “heck of a team not playing” due to injury but believes he still has a “heck of a team playing”. There are no excuses when it comes to injuries because everyone in the NFL deals with it but when you put together a list of every player that has missed time for the Redskins you get up to 14 impact players. Of these 14, 10 are starters and the other 4 of which are special team playmakers. Although Gruden said he does not anticipating making any roster moves before Sunday, the head coach said he cannot even “imagine having any more” injuries. Gruden painted a vivid picture of the Redskins misfortune because of all of the “fluke injuries” that are occurring.
Sean McVay concurred with Gruden and Kirk Cousins that preparing reserve offensive linemen to start is a great challenge, especially given the Jets strong defensive line. Although many of called this weeks starting center Josh LeRibeus as a bust for a third round pick in 2012, McVay believes the SMU product is more mature and going to “do a nice job” on Sunday. McVay credited offensive line coach Bill Callahan for doing “an excellent job getting those guys ready to go”.
The team decided against moving either rookie Brandon Scherff or second year Morgan Moses to play left tackle over Ty Nsekhe because they will like the disruption in continuity would be more harmful in the long-term. Nsekhe is certainly a step up from the likes of Willie Smith, possibly the number culprit of Robert Griffin III’s concussion injury, but he will definitely be the weak link that the Jets try to exploit. McVay said Nsekhe is probably excited for the opportunity he has in front of him on Sunday.
Contrary to what Jay Gruden preached on Wednesday, McVay says that there IS value to having DeSean Jackson on the field even if he is not 100 percent. Washington’s offensive coordinator was correct that Jackson would draw a lot of attention “because of the things he’s been able to do over the course of his career with regards to those big plays”. McVay said a “65 percent”, as Gruden quantitatively described Jackson’s health, would be used in the same way that Atlanta’s Julio Jones was able to be utilized last week when not fully healthy. Without Jackson, Jets’ Darrelle Revis will have the chance to take a different Redskins receiver to his island.
With Matt Jones not having progressed much from his toe sprain, McVay does not think that the team will be anymore limited in their ground game would he miss action. “We’re confident in Alfred’s ability to carry the load like he’s shown he can do over the course of his career”. Although Jones looks to have a bright future, hopefully in Washington, a full work load for Alfred Morris could be just what he needs to get back on track. McVay credited the Falcons for loading the box, which resulted in a season low 51 rushing yards last week. With or without Jones, the Redskins will have a tough job going up against the Jets front seven behind an inexperienced offensive line.