Ron Rivera talked about the amount of hitting that has been going on in practice over the last few days. Rivera dressed the team down on Saturday, and since them it seems there has been an aggressiveness to the team that has affected everyone. This is the physicality that Rivera and the other coaches are hoping to get from the team.
Chase Young returned to practice today after being held out with a hip flexor for over a week. He was only put in for a series of goal line drills, and Rivera said it was a good situation for him where he could protect himself. Young mad two big plays during this session, batting down a pass, and blowing up a play for a sack.
Is Troy Apke due for a breakout year? He’s been getting most of the work with the starters at free safety, and has been making a lot of plays in training camp. Rivera has taken notice of the 3rd-year safety, and said he has stepped into the forefront. Hes handled the situation very well and is showing growth.
Logan Thomas is another player who seems to be making plays every day, and is catching the eye of reporters and coaches. Rivera likes the rapport between Thomas and starting QB Dwayne Haskins Jr. He has been a good red zone target, and continues to catch TDs. Marcus Baugh is the most athletic tight end in camp, and Jeremy Sprinkle is the most stout.
Rivera once again praised Dwayne Haskins for his improvements and taking leadership on the team. He has been getting the majority of the snaps with the starters, and continues to make the right plays, which Rivera said is more important than the big plays.
This is the strangest NFL season in a long time, and Rivera said the biggest thing he misses is preseason games, but he also misses the intimacy of OTAs and mini-camps where you can look into a player’s eyes to see their frustration as they learn new things. The Washington Football Team is installing new everything across the board, and every practice is crucial for the team to succeed. Some positions are harder than others to evaluate with limited practice and contact. Rivera listed special teams, linebackers, and tight ends as examples.
The offense had several fumbles today and Rivera was not pleased. The goal is to avoid turnovers on offense and force turnovers on defense. One side has been winning that battle. Rivera looked at the stats for Carolina and Washington over the years, and saw a need for improvement, and a lot of that is the mentality of the team.
Training Camp Press Conference - Head Coach Ron Rivera https://t.co/41OuVrGzEA
— Washington Football Team (@WashingtonNFL) August 24, 2020
Hitting in practice:
Ron Rivera says the hitting today was a natural part of the effort, part of being in good positions. "It's the kind of physicality we're hoping to get."
— Matthew Paras (@Matthew_Paras) August 24, 2020
Plenty of hitting at WFT camp - Ron Rivera says the "hitting will come natural" and that the collisions are inevitable. "It's the kind of physicality were hoping to get."
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) August 24, 2020
Rivera said it's important to practice game-like situations. Practices have been physical, but that's what Rivera wants to simulate that to get ready for the season. That has been happening organically, Rivera said, because the players are practicing hard.
— Zach Selby (@ZachDSelby) August 24, 2020
Chase Young:
Chase Young was out during goal line drills today. Rivera said they want to ease him back into practice so he can get a feel for things again.
— Zach Selby (@ZachDSelby) August 24, 2020
Ron Rivera says they picked goal line drills for Chase Young because he can protect himself a bit and ease him back in.
— Chris Russell AKA The Rooster (@Russellmania621) August 24, 2020
Ron says team will be in shells tomorrow and Thursday at FedExField.
Rivera said they wanted to put Chase Young in a situation where he could starting working his way back, but they did not want to overload him. That's why he was in goal line drills after not playing in 7-on-7 and other team periods.
— Kyle Stackpole (@kylefstackpole) August 24, 2020
Team President Jason Wright:
Ron Rivera...."Jason played" says that's important and he let them all know that his door is open.
— Chris Russell AKA The Rooster (@Russellmania621) August 24, 2020
On @whoisjwright
Rivera said it was special to introduce Wright to the team. Said he gets it, he played. Told team his door is always open.
— George Wallace (@GWallaceWTOP) August 24, 2020
Troy Apke:
Rivera thinks Troy Apke has "stepped into the forefront" and has shown growth throughout camp.
— Zach Selby (@ZachDSelby) August 24, 2020
Rivera said that safety Troy Apke is "handling the situation very well and showing growth."
— Kyle Stackpole (@kylefstackpole) August 24, 2020
Apke has been with the 1s since the padded practices began last week.
Logan Thomas:
Ron Rivera says he loves the rapport that Dwayne Haskins is building with Logan Thomas. That's worth paying attention to
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) August 24, 2020
Rivera said Logan Thomas has shown that he can be a good target, especially in the red zone. He also mentioned that Marcus Baugh is probably the most athletic of the tight end bunch.
— Zach Selby (@ZachDSelby) August 24, 2020
Rivera mentions how good of a red zone target Logan Thomas has been. Haskins and Thomas have connected several times in the red zone the past few days. Rivera also called Marcus Baugh their most athletic tight end and added that Jeremy Sprinke is the "most stout."
— Kyle Stackpole (@kylefstackpole) August 24, 2020
Big, physical WRs:
Rivera said he wants big, physical receivers because of their ability to block. They're also friendly targets who have long arms and a big catch radius for quarterbacks.
— Zach Selby (@ZachDSelby) August 24, 2020
Rivera says Antonio Gandy Golden is still making a few mistakes..Needs to learn where he needs to be and using his frame/body to his advantage.
— Chris Russell AKA The Rooster (@Russellmania621) August 24, 2020
Likes big WR's because they can block.
Evaluating players in training camp:
Ron Rivera is asked which positions are harder to evaluate in a training camp setting with no preseason. He mentions linebacker and tight ends. With linebacker, it's hard to tell without the tackling.
— Matthew Paras (@Matthew_Paras) August 24, 2020
Rivera said special teams is especially difficult to judge without preseason games. Also mentioned linebackers and tight ends as being harder to evaluate without going full speed.
— Kyle Stackpole (@kylefstackpole) August 24, 2020
Dwayne Haskins Jr.:
Asked by @PeteHaileyNBCS about Haskins decision making matching up with his accuracy, Ron Rivera says "very much so." Coach seems happy with his QB today.
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) August 24, 2020
Rivera said Haskins did a nice job during the two-minute drill. He said Haskins made a bunch of the right plays today.
— Zach Selby (@ZachDSelby) August 24, 2020
Ron Rivera on Dwayne Haskins...said he "took it, took it" and the defense got frustrated and then he exposed them in man coverage.
— Chris Russell AKA The Rooster (@Russellmania621) August 24, 2020
Was very pleased with how he's responded.
More Rivera on Haskins: "It's not about making the big play, it's about making the right play, and he made a lot of right plays today." https://t.co/tOTmS3cPBc
— Kyle Stackpole (@kylefstackpole) August 24, 2020
Lack of preseason games:
Rivera says only thing really missing from this camp are the preseason games. He’s been pleased w the ramp up period and now the training camp portion. “It’s a process. We’ve got a long way to go.”
— George Wallace (@GWallaceWTOP) August 24, 2020
Ron Rivera says he's "very comfortable" with how Washington has built on its progress from the ramp-up period to the padded practices. He'd still like preseason games, but likes where the team is at overall. "We've got a long way to go," he said.
— Matthew Paras (@Matthew_Paras) August 24, 2020
Takeaways:
Ron says takeaways are huge...In Carolina they won 92% of the time when they won turnover battle from 2013-2017...
— Chris Russell AKA The Rooster (@Russellmania621) August 24, 2020
Here he said it was about 68% of the time. @WashingtonNFL @WSHFootballSI @theMMQB
Ron Rivera dropping an interesting stat on us.
— michael phillips (@michaelpRTD) August 24, 2020
When winning the turnover battle, Rivera's Carolina teams won 92% of the time.
League average: 78%
Washington: 68%
Gotta be opportunistic.
Physical mentality:
Love when @RiverboatRonHC says you have to play physical and "downhill" ..He cited in Carolina they won 72% of game when they ran for over one-hundred yards.
— Chris Russell AKA The Rooster (@Russellmania621) August 24, 2020
This guy is my kind of coach/mentality. @WSHFootballSI @theMMQB @SInow @funnydanny @granthpaulsen