Daily Progress: Redskins training camp in full swing

[matty dread]

Redskins training camp in full swing

By Joe Crisp

Special to The Daily Progress

Tuesday, August 2, 2005

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Ashburn--The Washington Redskins opened training camp with their first practice Monday morning in the sweltering August air of Ashburn, Virginia.

It was clear the players had put forth a high-energy effort, as they trudged slowly off the practice fields, drained by their first practice in full pads in preparation for the 2005 season.

Several veteran players still had enough energy, however, to stop and field questions from the large group of reporters that had converged on Redskins Park to witness the team’s second training camp of the new Joe Gibbs era.

Among the most notable events of Monday’s practice was the return of veteran lineman Jon Jansen from an Achilles Tendon injury that sidelined him for the entire 2004 season.

Jansen, fresh from his first full-pads practice in nearly a year, was clearly elated to be back in the lineup, despite what he described as a “messy” first practice for the offense as a whole. Jansen said he experienced no discomfort from the healed injury during practice, and that his mobility and strength is where it should be for full practice conditions.

Responding to reporters’ questions about nationally televised comments he made on a draft show in April, referring to Gibbs’s 2004 offense being a “1992 offense”, and Gibbs’s playful suggestion that Jansen might be placed on the scout team as punishment for those remarks, Jansen deadpanned, “as long as I’m in pads and not on the sideline, it doesn’t matter to me right now.”

Jansen clarified his somewhat controversial comments by stating, “we looked at our offense last year, and broke it down and said ‘these are the things that worked for us,’ and we’re going to keep those and improve on those. The things that didn’t work for us, we threw some of those out, we tried to improve on some, and we’ve added some different things, and I think it’s going to be a great offense for us. I was excited about it last year. I always thought I would’ve fit in pretty good back in [‘92], so I was pretty excited about it, and I’m just as excited about it this year.”

Commenting on Jansen’s return, fellow lineman Chris Samuels said, “It’s a good thing. He’s a leader and a talented player. He’s a ‘Dirtbag’, and we’re happy to have him back.”

Regarding the prospects for the 2005 version of Gibbs’s offense, which could feature the shotgun formation for the first time in Gibbs’ career, Samuels said, “we adjusted a few things here and there, but there’s things that’s going to help us out big-time in the running game and passing game.”

The Redskins are hoping two of those things are their newest offensive weapons, speedy wideouts Santana Moss and David Patten, acquired to replace departing starters Laveranues Coles and Rod Gardner.

The Redskins expect that the speed of Moss and Patten will open things up downfield, and subsequently give more running room to potentially explosive tailback Clinton Portis, as defenses are forced to pull safeties and corners off the line of scrimmage to prevent the deep pass and compensate for the speed of the Redskins’ new wideouts.

Commenting on his role with his new team, Patten, who won three Super Bowl championships with the New England Patriots said, “hopefully, I can just come in and be an addition, and bring a positive mentality, attitude, character and integrity, because in the end, that’s what gets you to the championship.

"Don’t get me wrong, everybody needs talent. The bottom line in this league, if you don’t have talent, you won’t be successful, but those are the intangibles that separate you.”

Clearly, Patten was a free agency selection of Joe Gibbs to enhance the veteran leadership and character of his squad, but fleet-footedness, precise route-running and sure hands were certainly major factors in the acquisitions of both Patten and Moss.

“Without a doubt, if you had to pull out one strength off the top, it’s speed,” said Patten. “Myself and Santana, that’s what we bring to the table. We’re not big guys; we feel like we’re physical, and we’re going to show that, but when all is said and done, hopefully we can come out and run past a few people.”

Incumbent starting quarterback Patrick Ramsey agrees. “You’re going to see speed,” said Ramsey of Moss and Patten.

“Obviously, most receivers in the NFL are fast. But even by NFL standards, these guys can really burn, they can stretch it out and run away from people. These guys have so much speed that they can create a lot of separation, so it gives you a lot of opportunities to hopefully complete a lot of passes downfield.”

For his part, Portis - who struggled through his transition to Gibbs’ conservative, grind-it-out offensive philosophy last season - is excited about the possibilities of a more aggressive approach.

The ever-jocular Portis shared his fantastical vision of the revised offensive gameplan he has suggested to Coach Gibbs: “I think we’re going to get out there and run four ‘go’ routes and just give me draws. They can’t cover everybody out there. Let’s see how they match up.”

Joe Crisp writes for The Warpath

[wildbill]

Upbeat and positive.

Like it, special year is upon us.

[GoDannyBoy]

You have to love Portis. That guy is contagious!

[redskin-one]

Thanks for the posting. Always good to hear what the players are saying. They all seem very upbeat.

[jschlesi]

Thanks for the insights

[RabidFan]

Nice to have Jansen back and to hear the Samuels bring back the "Dirtbag" line again.