Jay Gruden Redskins Presser: Trent Williams out again vs Texans

Jay Gruden answered questions from reporters after today's practice. Trent Williams is out again vs the Texans. Chris Thompson and Jamison Crowder will likely miss another week. Dustin Hopkins tweaked his groin and did not practice today.

Jay Gruden Presser

Injury updates:

Jonathan Cooper:

“Well, we don’t have anybody to rotate with so, they’re good [Laughter]. I thought they did pretty good, really. I was impressed with Jonathan Cooper coming in, a few days and really competed. I like that Morgan [Moses] fought through his injury, did a good job. Ty [Nsekhe] obviously has had some bumps and bruises but he’s done a good job. Obviously, Chase [Roullier] in the middle was great with the calls. [Tony] Bergstrom didn’t get any credit, but playing right guard, did a pretty good job also. There’s room for improvement and I think the more the play together, the better they’ll get. We’ve just got to get some other guys schooled up in case something else happens.”

Dustin Hopkins:

"He’s got a strain, he aggravated it. He just said he felt a little tightness in pre-game warm-up, and as the game went on, it got a little tighter. He’s going to kick on Friday and we’ll know more on Friday.”

Texans QB Deshaun Watson:

Scoring:

"Yeah, we’ve got to get more points without a doubt. I think the last couple weeks against Atlanta and Tampa Bay we had too many drives where we are wasting on penalties or dropped passes or self-inflicted wounds and that’s what we have to get rid of. Then, make the plays that present themselves. Then, eventually we’re going to have to have some guys run out of tackles and make some more YAC… some extraordinary plays. I like the offense we have. I like the fact that we have a lot of room for improvement and we’re still 6-3. Alex [Smith] is still feeling his way through with the receivers and tight ends and all that stuff but he’s getting better and better. I really think that we’ll get better. I’ve said that for eight weeks but we will.”

Redskins OL vs Texans defense:

Less 3rd and longs:

Jamison Crowder:

Alex Smith Presser

Jonathan Cooper:

“I think the task that was in front of him to come in on a short week, get up to speed and then go out there and execute, I thought was a tall task. It’s a good D-line, definitely the strength of their defense. I though he played great. I know he had a couple flags on him. The one on the screen [play] I thought was borderline, very questionable, but I thought he played great. I thought he went out… I think it’d be easy in that situation to be tentative and hold back. I thought he didn’t blink in the huddle around him. I thought he almost relished the challenge of it and I thought that was really neat to be around.”

Scoring more points:

“I think looking at the film there’s such small things that we talk about that we’re so close to – all of a sudden – it being a 28-point game very easily. I think even if you count the drive before the half – the two-minute drive – I felt like on a third-and-four that we didn’t execute on easily, could have been converted into a touchdown potentially. Yeah, not very far away from scoring a lot more points. So, situational things we do talk about. But certainly, the turnover we had where we only walked away with three (field goal) – hit the ball to Vernon [Davis] – all of a sudden, I think you convert two or three of those and all of a sudden it is almost a 30-point game.”

Consistent execution:

Finding a rhythm with WR Josh Doctson:

”I do. I do. I think a ton of that comes from the communication that’s put in, the work out on the practice field talking about all those different things, then going out there and doing it. He’s a guy that obviously has incredible ball skills. I think he’s a physical receiver and he’s played that way for the last few weeks, really physical. He’s a guy that often times when you do play X, you are getting pressed a lot and I think he’s done a great job against that against different types of guys, playing physical, playing big and I think [he] made a bunch of big kind of traffic catches the last few weeks.”

One game at a time:

Home field advantage:

”For me it’s cadence. The big thing offensively is communication that you can count on and obviously when we’re on offense, the ability to use verbal communication and that’s not a little thing. On the road, obviously noise and you’ve got signaling and going silent. To be at home and be able to communicate, I think you can do more in the huddle and do more at the line of scrimmage. So, all those things play into it. Then, obviously that is flipped though for our defense right? I mean those guys love the crowd noise to make it difficult on an opposing offense but certainly there is an emphasis for them with that noise to be able to communicate non-verbally at home.”

Jordan Reed:

"I think it’s not so much like, ‘Hey what has he done up to this point or how does it compare to years past?’ For me, it’s where are we going, is it heading in the right direction and are we continuing to get better. I think Jordan is a guy who can do so much. We put him all over the place and move him around and he’s matched up against everybody on the defensive side. So yeah, all the reps that we’ve had, all the stuff we get in practice has kind of continued to lay a foundation for us to build on. I think we are headed there. He’s a guy that certainly because of his skillset that we do a lot with and use a lot. I’m excited about it. I feel like obviously as you said, ‘hit our potential there’, he and I and this offense, but certainly I feel like it’s out there for us.”