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Team Notes week 14 2016
NEWS, NOTES, RUMORS AND OTHER GOOD STUFF
Directly from the desk of FlashUpdate Editor Bob Harris. The good; the bad; and yes. ... Even the Bears. There is no better way to jump start your weekend than browsing these always educational -- often irreverent -- team-by-team, Fantasy-specific offerings. ...Access specific teams by clicking on a team name in the schedule appearing directly to your left or by clicking on a helmet below; return to the helmets by hitting the link labeled "Menu" following each teams notes. ...
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Arizona Cardinals
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Kyler Murray, Desmond Ridder, Clayton Tune
RBs: James Conner, Michael Carter, Emari Demercado
WRs: Zay Jones, Michael Wilson, Rondale Moore, Greg Dortch, Zach Pascal
TEs: Trey McBride, Geoff Swaim
Atlanta Falcons
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Taylor Heinicke, Logan Woodside, Kirk Cousins
RBs: Bijan Robinson, Tyler Allgeier, Cordarrelle Patterson
WRs: Drake London, Darnell Mooney, Mack Hollins, KhaDarel Hodge, Van Jefferson, Scott Miller, Jared Bernhardt, Josh Ali
TEs: Kyle Pitts, MyCole Pruitt, John FitzPatrick
Baltimore Ravens
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Lamar Jackson, Josh Johnson
RBs: Derrick Henry, Justice Hill, Melvin Gordon, Keaton Mitchell
WRs: Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, Nelson Agholor, Tylan Wallace
TEs: Isaiah Likely, Charlie Kolar, Mark Andrews
Buffalo Bills
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Josh Allen
RBs: James Cook, Latavius Murray, Ty Johnson
WRs: Khalil Shakir, Curtis Samuel, Trent Sherfield, Deonte Harty
TEs: Dalton Kincaid, Dawson Knox, Quintin Morris
Carolina Panthers
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Bryce Young, Andy Dalton
RBs: Chuba Hubbard, Miles Sanders, Raheem Blackshear
WRs: Adam Thielen, Diontae Johnson, Jonathan Mingo, D.J. Chark, Terrace Marshall Jr., Laviska Shenault, Ihmir Smith-Marsette, Mike Strachan
TEs: Tommy Tremble, Stephen Sullivan, Ian Thomas, Hayden Hurst
Chicago Bears
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Tyson Bagent, Nathan Peterman
RBs: Khalil Herbert, D'Andre Swift, Roschon Johnson, Travis Homer, Khari Blasingame
WRs: D.J. Moore, Keenan Allen, Tyler Scott, Trent Taylor, Velus Jones Jr., Equanimeous St. Brown
TEs: Gerald Everett, Cole Kmet, Robert Tonyan, Marcedes Lewis, Jake Tonges
Cincinnati Bengals
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Jake Browning, Joe Burrow
RBs: Zack Moss, Chase Brown, Chris Evans, Trayveon Williams
WRs: Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Trenton Irwin, Andrei Iosivas, Charlie Jones
TEs: Irv Smith Jr., Mike Gesicki, Tanner Hudson, Drew Sample, Mitchell Wilcox
Cleveland Browns
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Jameis Winston, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Tyler Huntley, Deshaun Watson
RBs: Jerome Ford, D'Onta Foreman, Pierre Strong Jr., Nick Chubb
WRs: Amari Cooper, Elijah Moore, Jerry Jeudy, Cedric Tillman, Marquise Goodwin, David Bell
TEs: David Njoku, Jordan Akins, Harrison Bryant
Dallas Cowboys
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Dak Prescott, Cooper Rush, Trey Lance
RBs: Ezekiel Elliott, Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn, Hunter Luepke
WRs: CeeDee Lamb, Brandin Cooks, Michael Gallup, Jalen Tolbert, KaVontae Turpin, Jalen Brooks
TEs: Jake Ferguson, Luke Schoonmaker, Peyton Hendershot
Denver Broncos
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Zach Wilson, Jarrett Stidham
RBs: Javonte Williams, Jaleel McLaughlin, Samaje Perine
WRs: Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims Jr., Lil'Jordan Humphrey, Brandon Johnson
TEs: Adam Trautman, Chris Manhertz, Greg Dulcich
Detroit Lions
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Jared Goff, Teddy Bridgewater
RBs: David Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs, Craig Reynolds, Zonovan Knight
WRs: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Josh Reynolds, Kalif Raymond, Jameson Williams, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Antoine Green
TEs: Sam LaPorta, Brock Wright, James Mitchell
Green Bay Packers
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Jordan Love, Sean Clifford
RBs: Josh Jacobs, A.J. Dillon, Patrick Taylor
WRs: Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson, Dontayvion Wicks, Samori Toure, Malik Heath
TEs: Tucker Kraft, Ben Sims, Josiah Deguara, Luke Musgrave
Houston Texans
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: C.J. Stroud, Case Keenum, Davis Mills
RBs: Joe Mixon, Dameon Pierce, Mike Boone, Dare Ogunbowale
WRs: Nico Collins, Stefon Diggs, Noah Brown, Robert Woods, John Metchie III, Xavier Hutchinson, Tank Dell
TEs: Dalton Schultz, Brevin Jordan
Indianapolis Colts
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Joe Flacco, Sam Ehlinger, Kellen Mond, Anthony Richardson
RBs: Jonathan Taylor, Trey Sermon, Evan Hull
WRs: Michael Pittman Jr., Josh Downs, Alec Pierce, Isaiah McKenzie, D.J. Montgomery
TEs: Mo Alie-Cox, Kylen Granson, Will Mallory, Andrew Ogletree, Jelani Woods
Jacksonville Jaguars
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Trevor Lawrence, Mac Jones, C.J. Beathard, Nathan Rourke
RBs: Travis Etienne Jr., Tank Bigsby, D'Ernest Johnson
WRs: Gabe Davis, Parker Washington, Tim Jones, Jamal Agnew, Christian Kirk
TEs: Evan Engram, Brenton Strange, Luke Farrell, Elijah Cooks
Kansas City Chiefs
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Patrick Mahomes, Blaine Gabbert, Carson Wentz
RBs: Isiah Pacheco, Clyde Edwards-Helaire
WRs: Marquise Brown, Rashee Rice, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Justin Watson, Kadarius Toney, Richie James, Justyn Ross, Skyy Moore, Mecole Hardman
TEs: Travis Kelce, Noah Gray, Blake Bell, Jody Fortson
Los Angeles Rams
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Matthew Stafford, Jimmy Garoppolo, Stetson Bennett
RBs: Kyren Williams, Royce Freeman, Zach Evans, Ronnie Rivers
WRs: Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua, Tutu Atwell, Ben Skowronek, Demarcus Robinson
TEs: Tyler Higbee, Brycen Hopkins, Colby Parkinson, Hunter Long, Davis Allen
Miami Dolphins
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Tua Tagovailoa, Mike White, Skylar Thompson
RBs: Raheem Mostert, De'Von Achane, Jeff Wilson, Salvon Ahmed, Christopher Brooks
WRs: Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Odell Beckham, Braxton Berrios, Cedrick Wilson, Chase Claypool, River Cracraft
TEs: Durham Smythe, Jonnu Smith, Julian Hill, Tyler Kroft
Minnesota Vikings
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Nick Mullens, Jaren Hall, Sam Darnold
RBs: Aaron Jones, Ty Chandler, C.J. Ham, Kene Nwangwu, Cam Akers
WRs: Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, K.J. Osborn, Brandon Powell, Jalen Nailor
TEs: Josh Oliver, Johnny Mundt, Nick Muse, T.J. Hockenson
New England Patriots
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Bailey Zappe, Jacoby Brissett
RBs: Rhamondre Stevenson, Antonio Gibson, JaMycal Hasty
WRs: DeVante Parker, Demario Douglas, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton, Kayshon Boutte, Matt Slater, Kendrick Bourne
TEs: Hunter Henry, Pharaoh Brown
New Orleans Saints
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Derek Carr, Jake Haener
RBs: Alvin Kamara, Jamaal Williams, Kendre Miller
WRs: Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, A.T. Perry, Keith Kirkwood, Lynn Bowden, Michael Thomas
TEs: Juwan Johnson, Taysom Hill, Foster Moreau, Jimmy Graham
New York Giants
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Tommy DeVito, Drew Lock, Daniel Jones
RBs: Devin Singletary, Matt Breida, Gary Brightwell, Eric Gray
WRs: Darius Slayton, Wan'Dale Robinson, Jalin Hyatt, Parris Campbell, Isaiah Hodgins, Sterling Shepard
TEs: Darren Waller, Daniel Bellinger, Lawrence Cager, Chris Myarick
New York Jets
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Trevor Siemian, Tyrod Taylor, Aaron Rodgers
RBs: Breece Hall, Israel Abanikanda
WRs: Garrett Wilson, Xavier Gipson, Jason Brownlee, Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, Mike Williams, Charles Irvin
TEs: Tyler Conklin, Jeremy Ruckert, C.J. Uzomah, Kenny Yeboah
Oakland Raiders
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Aidan O'Connell, Gardner Minshew, Brian Hoyer
RBs: Alexander Mattison, Zamir White, Ameer Abdullah, Brandon Bolden
WRs: Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers, Tre Tucker, Hunter Renfrow, DeAndre Carter, Kristian Wilkerson
TEs: Michael Mayer, Austin Hooper, Jesper Horsted
Philadelphia Eagles
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Jalen Hurts, Marcus Mariota, Kenny Pickett, Tanner McKee
RBs: Saquon Barkley, Kenneth Gainwell, Boston Scott, Rashaad Penny
WRs: A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Julio Jones, Olamide Zaccheaus, Quez Watkins
TEs: Dallas Goedert, Jack Stoll, Grant Calcaterra, Albert Okwuegbunam
Pittsburgh Steelers
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Justin Fields, Russell Wilson, Mason Rudolph, Mitchell Trubisky
RBs: Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren, Anthony McFarland Jr.
WRs: George Pickens, Allen Robinson, Calvin Austin III, Miles Boykin
TEs: Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington
San Diego Chargers
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Easton Stick, Justin Herbert
RBs: Gus Edwards, Joshua Kelley, Isaiah Spiller, Elijah Dotson, J.K. Dobbins
WRs: Josh Palmer, Quentin Johnston, Jalen Guyton, Derius Davis
TEs: Donald Parham, Stone Smartt
San Francisco 49ers
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Brock Purdy, Josh Dobbs, Brandon Allen
RBs: Christian McCaffrey, Elijah Mitchell, Jordan Mason, Kyle Juszczyk
WRs: Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, Jauan Jennings, Ray-Ray McCloud, Ronnie Bell, Danny Gray
TEs: George Kittle, Charlie Woerner, Brayden Willis, Ross Dwelley, Cameron Latu
Seattle Seahawks
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Sam Howell, Geno Smith
RBs: Kenneth Walker III, Zach Charbonnet, DeeJay Dallas, Kenny McIntosh
WRs: DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Jake Bobo, Cody Thompson, Dareke Young
TEs: Noah Fant, Will Dissly
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Baker Mayfield, Kyle Trask
RBs: Rachaad White, Chase Edmonds, Sean Tucker, Ke'Shawn Vaughn
WRs: Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Trey Palmer, Kaylon Geiger, Deven Thompkins, Rakim Jarrett, Russell Gage
TEs: Cade Otton, Ko Kieft, Payne Durham
Tennessee Titans
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs: Will Levis, Malik Willis
RBs: Tony Pollard, Tyjae Spears, Julius Chestnut
WRs: Calvin Ridley, DeAndre Hopkins, Treylon Burks, Nick Westbrook_Ikhine, Tyler Boyd, Kyle Philips, Colton Dowell, Chris Moore
TEs: Chigoziem Okonkwo, Josh Whyle, Trevon Wesco
Washington Redskins
Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 7 December 2016According to ESPN.com's John Keim, the Redskins' primary offseason issue shouldn't be how much they will spend on quarterback Kirk Cousins. It should be how much they will invest in their defense. If they don't make the playoffs -- and they have made that task more difficult for themselves -- it will be that side of the ball that kept them out.
This is a team sport, and the offense also needed to do a better job in the Redskins' 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday.
A sack/fumble was returned to the Redskins' 10-yard line, and Arizona converted that into a touchdown. The offense failed to score a touchdown after a first-and-goal from the 1. The offense struggled in protection.
But the defense continues to be the bigger issue.
When the Redskins needed a stop Sunday, they couldn't get one. They had cut their deficit to one point late, then gave up 14 yards on a fourth-and-1. Josh Norman was called for holding on third-and-5, then his team allowed a 42-yard touchdown reception.
Now the Redskins have lost their standing in the wild-card chase, thanks to Tampa Bay's win at San Diego. The Bucs now have control of the final playoff spot; the Redskins will need some help -- from others and their own defense.
And head coach Jay Gruden would like a little more help from the rushing attack.
As CSNMidAtlantic.com's JP Finlay notes, since the Redskins inserted Robert Kelley into the starting running back spot, Washington's ground game has stabilized and improved. It's well documented that Kelley limits negative plays in the run game -- something his predecessor Matt Jones struggled with.
Kelley got his first start in London against the Bengals, and he ran the ball 21 times for 87 yards and a touchdown, good for more than 4 yards-per-carry. From there, Kelley gained 97 yards against the Vikings and 137 against the Packers, both Redskins wins. And in those post-bye week victories over the NFC North foes, Kelley got the ball 22 and 24 times respectively.
Coming off the Green Bay win, it seemed obvious that getting Kelley the ball more than 20 times per game was a big boost for the Redskins offense. Against the Packers, Washington piled up more than 500 yards of offense and Kelley averaged 5.7 YPC.
The 'Skins headed to Dallas riding high for a Thanksgiving matchup, and quickly got into a big hole en route to a shootout loss.
Gruden explained after the game that being down multiple touchdowns early in the game forced Washington to get away from Kelley and rely on Cousins' arm. The QB's performance was impressive, he threw for more than 400 yards, but Kelley got just 14 carries.
In the Cowboys game, that made sense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, Kelley again got just 14 carries. And that did not make sense.
"There's no doubt about it, we would like to get more of [Kelley] involved," Gruden said on Monday.
The Redskins never trailed by more than a TD against the Cardinals like they did against the Cowboys. Washington even held two different second half leads in Arizona, and still, Kelley did not get the ball enough.
Further, Kelley was running the ball well in the desert. Where he struggled against Dallas -- 14 rushes for 37 yards, good for just 2.64 yards per carry -- Kelley gained more than 60 yards on 14 carries against the Cards, good for a 4.5 yard per carry average.
"We ideally would like to get that running game going a little bit more -- more touches for Robert because he's been very good as far as running the football," Gruden said. "We have got to make sure that we get him more involved, maintain the time of possession and stay more balanced."
Finlay went on to note that beyond a balanced offense, Cousins often throws his best passes off play action. Without a commitment to the run game, the play action passing looks struggle. Usually one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the NFL, Cousins did not play his best against the Cardinals.
Some of that was missing throws, and some of it was heavy pressure from the Arizona defensive line.
Regardless of the reason for Cousins' struggles -- he completed only 21 of 37 pass attempts -- more run plays might have helped the Redskins quarterback get into more of a rhythm, not to mention slow down the Arizona pass rush.
In six wins this season, the Redskins have run the ball nearly 28 times per game. In five losses, that number dips to 19 runs per game. The proof is in the numbers.
Other notes of interest. ... Cousins had his career-best streak of passes without an interception (187) snapped on the final offensive play in Arizona. That is the second-longest stretch in team history. Cousins too often appeared uncomfortable in the pocket, left several easy dump-off passes short and was sacked twice.
As NFL.com's Matt Harmon noted, Jamison Crowder looks like he's cemented himself as the top wide receiver on the team. Despite seeing seven of his eight targets from the slot, Crowder was on the field for 84 percent of the plays, compared to 79 percent of Pierre Garcon and 77 percent for DeSean Jackson.
Harmon reminded readers we did see a similar uptick in playing time for Crowder the last time Jordan Reed missed multiple games, so that could also be a factor here. Another trend that carried over was Vernon Davis being a full-time player, going out for a whopping 98 percent of the team's plays.
Davis recorded five catches in a tough spot against the Cardinals, who allow the lowest yards per game to tight ends.
Jackson caught a 59-yard pass in Arizona. He now has 35 career catches over 50 yards. No other player in the NFL has more since Jackson entered the league in 2008.
As noted above, Reed missed the Cardinals game with a sprained left shoulder. Gruden said Reed's status is day to day. According to Keim, Reed caught passes in individual drills and showed no discomfort when using both hands on Wednesday, but he did not take part in blocking or full team drills.
"We just have to wait and see," Gruden said. "Everybody is different with these types of injuries and hopefully he is a fast healer but we'll take him day-to-day, get him his treatment and go from there."
I'll be following up on Reed via Late-Breaking Update as the week progresses. ...
Also on the injury front. ... Safety Will Blackmon and center Spencer Long are going through the NFL's concussion protocol after being injured in a loss Sunday to the Cardinals.
Gruden said if Long is unable to play this Sunday at the Eagles that the team would have to look to bring in a backup center. Gruden said the team would look into the status of starter Kory Lichtensteiger, who's on injured reserve with a calf injury, and Ronald Patrick, who's on the practice squad.
The Redskins will get Trent Williams back after a four-game suspension, and Gruden said the plan is for him to be back at left tackle where Ty Nsekhe played during his absence. There had been some speculation about Williams sliding over to left guard against the Eagles, but it doesn't sound like that will happen.
"The plan moving ahead with (Williams) is he's our starting tackle and he's the best in the business, so we're excited to get him back," Gruden said.
DEPTH CHART
QBs:
RBs: Brian Robinson Jr., Austin Ekeler, Chris Rodriguez
WRs: Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Dyami Brown, Jamison Crowder, Byron Pringle, Mitchell Tinsley
TEs: Logan Thomas, Cole Turner, John Bates