Jay Gruden Redskins Presser: I don't care about Mason Foster's negative social media message

Jay Gruden talked to reporters after today’s practice. He gave some brief injury updates. Tony Bergstrom(knee/ankle), Colt McCoy(fibula), Ryan Anderson(hamstring), Josh Doctson(concussion), Jordan Reed(toe), Matt Ioannidis(shin), and Ty Nsekhe(knee) didn’t participate in practice today. Gruden said the Redskins will probably sign either Matt Flanagan or J.P. Holtz from the practice squad due to Reed’s injury. He addressed Mason Foster’s latest social media outburst, along with other players venting publicly. Gruden also spoke about switching to Josh Johnson at QB

Injury updates:

Jordan Reed:

J.P. Holtz/Matt Flanagan:

“They’ve come along good, really, I like them both. J.P. is kind of a tweener between tight end and fullback, he can line up at both those spots. Flanagan is more of a tight end in the core so to speak, so we’ll have to make that decision probably Thursday or Friday who we’re going to bring them up for. That’s the big issue right now. We have some guys that are a couple of week injuries, don’t want to put them on IR. We don’t really have a lot of room to waive people, but we’ll figure something out Thursday or Friday if one of them comes up.”

Mason Foster:

D.J. Swearinger/Zach Brown:

“Yeah, it’s important to mention how they speak to the media and how the media views their comments and how comments can be taken out of context from time to time and blown up into a headline. We made that talk at the very beginning of training camp and every so often we have the same talk. At the end of the day, with the amount of microphones in their face and social media, there will be things said that can be taken the wrong way or said in a poor fashion, so to speak, that could do damage to a team or a person’s livelihood so to speak. So, just got to tell them to be careful, both those guys are highly emotional guys. They play very hard. They want to win and they’re all frustrated, as we all are. We’ve just got to be careful with what we say.”

Disconnect between players and coaches:

“We always make an effort to bridge a gap. At the end of the day, like I said, it’s up to the coaches to coach and the players to play. There are some things as coaches that we have to hone in on and make sure we understand the skillset of our players and try to put them in the best positions possible, and then it’s up to them to go out and make some plays. There were some plays to be had that we did not make, there were some things from a coaching standpoint that we have to do better. Anytime you lose a football game, I hate to say it’s the coaches’ fault. It’s never the players fault, it’s a combination of a lot of things and that’s areas we need to improve on. At this moment in time we’re 6-7 and half a game out of the playoff race so we have a lot to play for, a lot of reason to try to get together, all of us, and make this thing work.”

Ha Ha Clinton-Dix/Montae Nicholson:

“I think everybody in general needs to step up on both sides of the ball and special teams and coaches and all that stuff. But as far as Ha Ha is concerned, he’s done some good things. There are a couple plays out there that would probably be viewed as a poor angle or what have you and it may be true. But I like Ha Ha as a player, I like him as a person, I like the way he works. I think he’s going to get better and better within the defense and just understanding the depths and techniques that we’re playing with he’s going to get better. As far as Monte is concerned we have not lost faith in Monte at all. I mentioned it the other day I think there might be a place where he might have a package or two where he can get back on the field.”

Josh Johnson:

Playoffs?:

Penalties/negative plays:

Missed assignments in run game:

“I think we miss-targeted a couple of runs, which happens from time to time with all the movement, when you do jet sweeps, fly motions, all that stuff and people move sometimes to center points here, they rotate over here, we get the point wrong so to speak. Sometimes when you line up stagnant and we get the point right, but we get our butts kicked in or make a wrong read with the back or what have you. Everything has got to be right on the offensive line. It’s got to be 10 guys working in unison, including the back with his reads and footwork and the quarterback getting him his right play. The big thing is we have way, way too many negative runs. Negative runs have been the death, that and penalties, both of those two things have been the curse of this offense and that kills our drives, that kills our momentum, that kills our ability to call plays, keeping everything open in the playbook. When you have second and 18, and third and 15, your playbook goes down to this…when you’re first and 10, second and six and third and two, everything is open and we haven’t had that luxury.”

Simmie Cobbs, Jr.:

“Simmie has been great. He’s been great. [Darvin] Kidsy has been great also, so if need be if one of those guys needs to be called up, I won’t hesitate for a second. Like I said though, it’s a matter of roster spots. We don’t have a whole lot available so, we’ll figure it out. I think Josh has a chance to be ok. He’s getting checked out by an independent guy and hopefully we’ll know more tomorrow.”