1. Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said he would pick his starting quarterback “just before” the season opener vs. the New York Giants. Better bet: That’s when he wants the public to find out. There’s little doubt that Shanahan will have his starting quarterback taking all the first team reps on the Wednesday before the opener; he’ll just try to protect it from getting out. But he’ll let the Giants have to prepare for two quarterbacks as long as he can.
Shanahan would not say who would start Thursday vs. Baltimore. Our take: It makes sense if Beck does. After all, the coaches saw Grossman start three games last season, so they have a better idea of what he can do. But Beck is still an unknown. I’d want to see him face an elite defense, one that puts a QB under duress.
Regardless, both quarterbacks — Rex Grossman and John Beck — are expected to play with the starters Thursday, according to offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. His boss, and father, said he hadn’t yet made up his mind.
2. Tight end Chris Cooley said, once again, that he’ll play against the New York Giants in the season opener. And he said he hopes to return to practice next week, though how much he’ll be able to do is uncertain.
“This is the best my knee’s felt since last year, before I started having soreness,” Cooley said. “I’m so confident I’ll be ready in Week 1.”
Shanahan said, “Hopefully when he starts working out again, the knee doesn’t get inflamed like it did before and he feels a lot more comfortable.”
Cooley has not played in the first two preseason games because of his knee. He’s already received two blood platelet treatments to reduce the swelling. He had fluid drained from the knee last week. And taking time to rest the knee has helped, too. There’s also an anti-gravity treadmill that he works out on, which Examiner columnist Rick Snider is writing a column about for Tuesday.
“My mindset has always been to push through things and I was hurting it more, more, more,” Cooley said.
The lockout didn’t help Cooley, either, preventing him from getting any input on his rehab.
“My guess is it would have been taken care of earlier,” he said. “It’s something you end up managing for a period of time, managing two months, three months. [Others say] once they learn how to manage it, a proper workout routine for them, it seems to dissipate over time.”
3. This isn’t a surprise, but strong safety LaRon Landry won’t play Thursday vs. Baltimore. Landry’s hamstring is still bothering him and the Redskins aren’t even sure when he’ll return.
And defensive coordinator Jim Haslett said it’s hard to even know whether Landry will be ready for the regular season if he’s only able to play in one preseason game.
“I haven’t seen LaRon actually perform on the field in a while so that’s a good question,” Haslett said.
4. One benefit of facing a defense like the Ravens this week? It forces the quarterbacks to play differently, providing a better test than the Colts, who sat in a two-deep zone and rarely blitzed. It led to a lot of short passes, especially by Beck.
“These guys pressure more than what we saw last week,” Beck said. “When they pressure there’s some holes. The tough thing is protecting enough, giving enough time to find those holes and allowing receivers to get there. The big test is for our offensive line and backs in protection. It will be a good test for us. Theres’ a lot of playoff teams that run this style of defense.”
5. Defensive end Adam Carriker is questionable for the Ravens game because of blisters on his heels. From what it sounds like, these are rather severe (nasty might be a better word), but that should be obvious by the fact that he missed a game and then the subsequent practices.
6. Linebacker Perry Riley has looked pretty good in camp. But don’t look for him getting a chance with the starters anytime soon. Earlier this month, Haslett talked about Riley just needing time on the field. Well, he’s still saying the same thing.
“Not having the whole offseason hurts guys like Perry,” Haslett said. “They don’t get an opportunity to learn everything. That’s probably one of the hardest spots to learn in this defense. There’s a lot different combinations. It takes time to learn to play this defense. One minute you’re playing all the weak hooks the vertical stuff, one minute you’re playing all the three-receiver stuff, all the strong stuff. It takes a while.”
When asked if Riley would get a shot to work with the starters: “That’s up to coach Shanahan but right now we’d probably go with who we have unless something changes.”
7. Haslett on some players who impressed him vs. the Colts: “I thought we had a good opportunity for guys like [Brandyn] Thompson, who stood out to me. Guys like that stepped up. [Byron] Westbrook had a heck of a game. [Kevin] Barnes played a heck of a game. I know they didn’t have Peyton Manning, but it’s the NFL, they have good players out there. I thought those three in the back end stepped up and had an opportunity to perform. They did a nice job.”
8. Beck said he takes several factors into consideration when he decides to run with the ball, starting with down and distance and what the defense typically plays.
“All of that matters, especially on first down,” he said. “If you can run for eight yards, you run for eight yards instead of squeezing one in. Now, if it’s third down you have to get downfield to get the first down you might be more apt to try and squeeze one in there. On a few of those I felt they were so conscious of the pass that I knew I had in my pocket five to eight yards on the run.”
Sure enough, both of Beck’s runs came on first downs for a combined 17 yards. And another time he scrambled outside the pocket running to his left. This time rather than run he kept his eyes downfield and hit Donte Stallworth for 23 yards. It was third and 12.
9. QB Rex Grossman said he notices a difference being in the third year of this offensive system. Not sure if that was a hint-hint to Shanahan, but nonetheless Grossman sees a change.
“From 2009 to 2010 I felt more relaxed in the offense,” he said. “I felt I’ve taken the same steps. A lot of progressions in this offense you can learn it on paper and draw it up. But when you get to live action and you’re in practice your body takes over and your body goes through the progression and you have more ease about everything. That’s what I’m feeling. I feel real comfortable.”
10. Corner DeAngelo Hall on the changes this year: “I felt we were well-coached last year. We’re a much better team. Much more mature team. All the distractions are gone. It’s just football.”
11. Caps coach Bruce Boudreau is visiting Redskins Park today. Now you know.
12. Yes, running back James Davis has officially been released. Davis, you’ll recall, left the team two days after the preseason opener vs. Pittsburgh because of his lack of playing time in both practice and the game.
