Jay Gruden answered questions from reporters after Redskins practice today. Three players have been ruled out for Sunday's home game against the Giants and four more are questionable. Gruden took a lot of questions about who will play guard this week after Jonathan Cooper was placed on IR and Tony Bergstrom is out with a high ankle sprain. He also talked about Josh Norman following Odell Beckham Jr.
WATCH LIVE: Head coach Jay Gruden speaks to the media following practice Friday. https://t.co/GopqKkVCN5
— Washington Redskins (@Redskins) December 7, 2018
Injury updates:
Gruden says LB Ryan Anderson (hamstring) and OL Tony Bergstrom (knee/ankle) are out for #NYGvsWAS. LB Zach Brown (illness), DL Matt Ioannidis (shin), C Chase Roullier (knee) and WR Josh Doctson (hip) will be listed as questionable.
— Washington Redskins (@Redskins) December 7, 2018
Matt Ioannidis:
"I don’t know, he didn’t do anything today but we’re going to check him out a little bit tomorrow and then right before the game. We will check him out and see how he’s feeling. He’s got a bruise down there that’s pretty deep. He’s seen a couple of specialists and I think we’ll have to wait and see.”
Josh Doctson:
Josh Doctson suffered a hip injury Friday, but coach Jay Gruden didn’t sound too concerned about it. He’s listed as questionable for Sunday vs. the Giants.
— Matthew Paras (@Matthew_Paras) December 7, 2018
Tony Bergstrom:
Not more medical scooter for Bergstrom, but in a walking boot. #redskins
— Kareem Copeland (@kareemcopeland) December 7, 2018
Guards:
Jay Gruden said they haven’t made a final decision on the guard spots. Could even rotate within the game. Could go big or more athletic. #redskins
— Kareem Copeland (@kareemcopeland) December 7, 2018
More Gruden on offensive line. Redskins might go with rotation that would have a huge line of mostly all tackles and then one a little smaller at times on Sunday
— Les Carpenter (@Lescarpenter) December 7, 2018
“Close, close. We’ll figure that out but we have a nice walkthrough tomorrow just to get our things tied down with who’s going to be in there communication-wise. It could be a rotational type thing. There’s no law that says you can’t sub guards in and out in between series and check out some different guys in different spots. We like to stay consistent but we have different flavors of guards. We have the mammoth guards we can put in there; we have the more athletic guards we can put in there. Right now, we’re leaning one way but we’ll hunker down tomorrow.”
Offensive line depth:
"Well, we did a lot in training camp. I talked about how important versatility is, then we lose [Tyler] Catalina, who is a very versatile guy who played tackle and both guards. Then we lose [Arie] Kouandjio who played both guards. Then, after training camp you have to let some of these guys go, like [Demetrius] Rhaney, who was a pretty versatile guy so we brought him back and then you only have so many guys you can carry on your roster.
The guys you carry, you try to keep them playing different positions, but we’ve lost so many, we’ve had to go to the streets and the guys that we’ve picked up; Zac [Kerin], he’s a versatile guy. He’s played center and both guards also. Austin Howard has played guard and both tackles, so those guys have been pretty versatile. Ty Nsekhe hasn’t played a whole lot of guard but he’s got the ability to play both tackles and guard now. So, it’s part of the deal. If you’re an offensive lineman, you better be versatile unless you’re a Pro Bowler like Trent [Williams] and he even played guard one year.”
Montae Nicholson/HaHa Clinton-Dix:
“It could be, yeah. We haven’t given up any hope or any thought of Montae as a good player, we just have… D.J. [Swearinger Sr.] is playing at a pretty high level and obviously getting Ha Ha with the experience I think back there has been pretty good but us having three good safeties is pretty important. Usually in the past, we’ve run through a lot of safeties around here throughout the season. Fortunately for us, they’ve all stayed healthy, so having three good ones is very beneficial, but Montae does have a lot of range and could help us.”
Mark Sanchez:
Gruden: “I don’t think Mark (Sanchez) cares who plays at guard...he just wants to be protected.”
— Les Carpenter (@Lescarpenter) December 7, 2018
“I don’t think Mark really cares who is at guard. He’s got a lot to worry about protections, routes, and all that stuff. He just wants to be protected and we have to do the best job protecting him. I think the style of runs could change depending on who is in there. The passes might change a little bit, but for the most part, if you want to be a physical football team, you want to have physical people in there, but we’ve had success with the pulling type guard plays also. So, the most important thing is making sure whoever is playing guard they know what the heck to do and then we’ll figure out athletically what’s best, what run concepts are best, protections and all that.”
Josh Norman vs Odell Beckham Jr.:
Jay Gruden said there’s a chance Josh Norman will travel with Odell Beckham. “He’s done fairly well with good receivers this year. It would be a good option.” But he said they’re not sure yet if it will happen.
— John Keim (@john_keim) December 7, 2018