Jay Gruden: We discussed Colin Kaepernick, but we’re looking for QBs familiar with our system

Jay Gruden gave some Redskins injury updates after last night’s loss to the Eagles on Monday Night Football. Colt McCoy had successful surgery on his broken right fibula last night, and Dr. Gruden is hopeful he can be back in 2-4 weeks. The team will not put him on IR right away, hoping that he can come back at the end of the season if there are still meaningful games to play. The team will be working out a new batch of QBs this afternoon, and will compare them to the group worked out when Alex Smith broke his leg. The team is looking for someone familiar with Gruden’s system. That is the reason Gruden gave for the team not making an offer to Colin Kaepernick.

Tony Bergstrom has a high ankle sprain and will miss a few weeks. The team also lost LG Jonathan Cooper for the year with a torn bicep. The Redskins will be holding open tryouts for guards as well today. Ty Nsekhe and Luke Bowanko stepped in last night.

Injury updates:

"The other injuries; (Jonathan) Cooper obviously had a bicep tendon tear he will require surgery, Jonathan Cooper will be out. (Tony) Bergstrom has a high ankle sprain. He will be out a couple weeks at least. Ryan Anderson had a hamstring strain and will probably miss a week. Fabien (Moreau) had a knee contusion, came back in the game a little bit and then (Quinton) Dunbar, (Matt) Ioannidis, (Trey) Quinn – we’re waiting to see how they are."

QB workouts:

OL Workouts:

"We worked out a couple guards this morning and then the big thing is we just have to figure out what to do with Ty (Nsekhe) filled in at guard and did an OK job. So, do we put him at guard full-time or do we want to leave him as a backup tackle because Morgan is banged up and Trent is playing with a cast on his hand? If you put him at guard and something happens then who is your backup tackle? We have another guy in-house here (Austin Howard), so who is your left guard and right guard kind of puts us in a pickle. If Ty takes one of them, we can put Luke (Bowanko) in there at the other one assuming that Chase (Rouiller) is OK. Chase banged up his knee a little bit, so we just have to figure out the best possible five guys that we can put on the field and then figure out what they know and what they can handle.”

Tony Bergstrom:

Colt McCoy:

Silver lining?:

"Well, we’re 6-6 and we still have a lot to play for. We’re not out of anything right now. It’s not like we’re 0-12 and we’re just playing for whatever, we’re actually playing to try to get into the playoffs, possibly win the division, heck we still have a lot out in front of us. Defensively, we’re fairly healthy; there is a silver lining there. We just have to play better. We have to play more physical. We’ve got to be more sound, we have to tackle better, we have to do everything better on defense – we have to step up our game to heights that we never have before and it just has to be done in order for us to get where we want to get. Great defenses can overcome a lot of deficiencies within your football team and that’s what we have to expect from our defense. So, there is a silver lining, we’re healthy on defense, we have a quarterback that has some experience, we still have some weapons around him that are getting healthy with Chris Thompson, Jamison Crowder coming back for the first time, Jordan Reed, Vernon (Davis), Josh Doctson is playing well, so we’re OK. The edges with Trent (Williams) and Morgan (Moses), they seem to be OK right now so that’s a good thing.”

Defense:

Colin Kaepernick:

Mark Sanchez:

“Accelerate? I think we’re going to have to try to study what the Giants do and then try to fit what he knows into what the Giants do and try to come up with a game plan that is both functional and something that he can handle, not to mention the new offensive linemen that we’re going to have in here also. So, a lot plays into it. I’ve got to figure out who the starting left guard is, right guard, and go from there. But we’ll try to do the best we can to make plays fit that are good that he knows. That’s the fine balance that we have.”

"I think the reason we signed Sanchez in the first place is he had some experience and obviously has played a lot of football, won some playoff games, a little bit of knowledge with Coach (Matt) Cavanaugh. Coach Cavanaugh coached him for a little bit, but as far as his strengths, shoot – other than his experience he has been pretty efficient from time-to-time. I think the thing that he has struggled with is turnovers, quite frankly throughout his career. We just have to make sure that he protects the ball in the pocket. He had a ball stripped that he recovered and then he threw the interception. Those are things that the way we’re going to have to win a game against the Giants. We can’t have any of those. We have to make sure we protect the ball, punt when we have to punt, let Tress Way do his thing and then we have to play great defense without a doubt.”

What percentage of the playbook is available to Sanchez and what the biggest challenge will be in getting him ready:

”I think when he first got here in his first game as a backup against Dallas he probably had about 10 percent of the playbook and then this game here he probably had about 20 percent maybe. Now, I think it’s just everything as far as getting him ready. You saw the pre-snap penalties and how he handled the snap count and then we had to move guards around and then we’re going on a silent count on the road and that is a whole process that new guards have to now have to tap the center and we had false start penalty because of that which cost us. There were a lot of just pre-snap things that we have to get to know and we have to get better at. Obviously protection calls at the line of scrimmage with all of these different fronts and blitzes that you see and then the run game, the run game is the run game. You have a safety down over here, you got to audible, and you have to do all these things in the run game. It is easier said than done but we just have to get him a package of plays that he is very comfortable with – that he can handle – and then try to get him to get us in the right play with things that he can understand and do.”

Will Quarterbacks Coach/Passing Game Coordinator Kevin O’Connell continue to call plays with Sanchez like he did last night:

”Yeah, I’ll pick it back up. Now that we know Mark is the quarterback, we’ll come up with a plan to utilize his strengths and really utilize what he knows. Then obviously, he’s going to have to learn some more stuff, that’s what quarterbacks do on a weekly basis. He’s mentally been in the league along enough where he can handle it now. I think he has a pretty good understanding of our formations and a few of our base concepts in the running game and in the passing game. We’re going to have to push the envelope a little bit, but we’re not going to overload him and do too make different crazy things. For the most part, he’s going to have to learn a few new concepts but I think he’ll be fine.”

Holding penalties:

Adonis Alexander:

"Well we’re looking at him. He’s a big guy. He’s shown some promise throughout practice and we’re trying to get him in there a little bit. Danny [Johnson] and [Greg] Stroman and obviously Adonis are three very young players - all three of them have had their issues of being pretty good and all three of them have had their issues of being rookies. They’re all three I think are going to be good players for us, but all three have had their ups and downs throughout their first season here. But Adonis is a guy that we’re going to try to implement a little bit more. Big kid, physical, can run a little bit so we’ll try to get him a little more but we’re not down on Danny or Stroman at all. We’re just trying to mix and match a little bit and get the best people out there and see what happens when the lights cut on. Some people raise their level of play; some people kind of succumb to the pressure a little bit. We never know until we throw them out there. We intend on trying to use him a little bit more and more every week.”