Jay Gruden Redskins Presser/Injury Report: Jamison Crowder most "iffy" for Cowboys game

Jay Gruden talked to the media after practice today. He started by saying a few words about Redskins reporter Rich Tandler who passed away yesterday.

Gruden went over the team's ever-growing list of injuries. The Redskins had 7 players who did not practice yesterday. He said he didn't want to rule anyone out yet, but Troy Apke is most likely out. He attempted to return, but pulled his hamstring again.

Jamison Crowder will likely miss his 2nd game in a row with an ankle injury. Gruden called him the most iffy of the players who didn't practice today. The rest of the list mostly consists of players who have been dealing with injuries for several weeks[Paul Richardson Jr.(shoulder/knee), Adrian Peterson(shoulder, ankle), Brandon Scherff(knee), Shawn Lauvao(calf), Danny Johnson(forearm)].

Chris Thompson(rib/knee) and Ryan Kerrigan(chest) were the only players limited at practice. Trent Williams(knee) was a full participant and Morgan Moses doesn't have his name called on the injury report this week.

Stacy McGee returned to practice today after spending the first 6 weeks of the season on the PUP list following offseason surgery for a groin injury. Gruden said he looked good, but he might need a week or two of practice before he returns to the field. The Redskins released veteran DL Ziggy Hood on Tuesday, but the team might need that spot for another position right now.

He hopes CB Joshua Holsey can return to pracrice tomorrow after a toe injury landed him on the Non-football injury(NFI) list.

RIP Rich Tandler:

Injury updates:

Troy Apke:

Stacy McGee:

Joshua Holsey:

Jonathan Allen/DaRon Payne vs Cowboys run:

"We faced some diverse run schemes already. You don’t think New Orleans [Saints] is, but they’re very diverse with all the jet sweeps and traps and the toss cracks. Then Carolina [Panthers] comes to town and they have the zone reads and the quarterback powers and all that stuff. We’ve had some diversity we faced already, but Dallas is another unique-type team. They can line up and bust you between the tackles and they can get outside and the quarterback can run. It’s a great challenge for those guys and those guys just have to hold up against Zack Martin (Cowboys guard) and [Joe] Looney (Cowboys center) and those guys on the interior and hopefully free up the linebackers.”

DaRon Payne:

“Yeah, makes a lot of difference, especially when you’re last in the league in run defense statistically. I know the last few games really put us over the top. We weren’t that bad for the first handful of games, but when you have a weakness, you have to address it. Daron Payne was what we thought was the best run-stopper and Vita Vea (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) in the draft and we’re lucky to get him. Obviously, paid huge consideration for adding a player of that caliber, now if it was just an ordinary guy, we wouldn’t have taken him in the first round. But we felt like he could be a dynamic, not only run player but also help us in the pass rush.”

Payne has played up to his expectations:

”Yeah no doubt, no doubt, you saw him yesterday or last week. Even though he didn’t have any sacks, he ran down a screen, forced a fumble, he runs to the football, he holds the point of attack extremely well, gets off blocks. He’s a good player.”

2nd half scoring:

"We’ve got to do better at halftime of addressing what we need to do to attack the defense. Also, we’ve just got to do a better job of finishing plays. We’ve left a lot of plays out there that schematically look to be OK, we’re just not finishing. We’ve just got to do a better job in that regard, try to get in better situations. The Arizona game, we had a pretty big lead, so we kind of hunkered down a little bit, try to run some clock. Same with Green Bay, we tried to work the clock a little bit more, just try and keep Aaron Rodgers over there tying his shoes. Then last week, we had a couple of mishaps, but we’ve addressed it. Mainly, it’s coming in at halftime, getting the coaches together, getting the plan together, how we are going to attack and continue to attack.”

Jordan Reed:

"Yeah, it’s hard to double tight ends. You can do it, but it’s hard. Some of these teams that play these zone coverages, it’s a matter of him finding the zone and finding the hole and he’s really pretty good at that. He’s also good at separating man-to-man but he’s really good at finding holes in zones. Sometimes they can roll a coverage to him, or what have you, but he’s just got a great knack for finding holes, that’s what makes him so effective. When you’re beating zone coverage you have to do that, then beating man-to-man, he can beat the guy, whether it’s a safety or a linebacker. He will take that just about any time. We just don’t see a lot of man-to-man, with a few exceptions.”

DeMarcus Lawrence:

Ezekiel Elliott:

"Well I think number one, we have to gang tackle like always, but I think there is going to be certain defenses where we are going to possibly have a free hitter, whether it’s in the hole or within four or five yards, we’ve got to make the tackle. These one on one tackles against ‘Zeke’ are easier said than done but that’s what has to happen. Great backs can make the unblocked player miss, or run through him for another five or six yards and that’s what he’s done in his career. They get hat-on-a-hat-on-a-hat because there is always a free player coming and that guy has got to make his presence felt and make that tackle, or at least hold him up until guys get off blocks and can make the tackle.”