ASHBURN, Va. -- The Washington Redskins have the day off Tuesday, as they do every week. For many players that means treatment; it could also mean community events or even the first day of film work for the upcoming opponent (Tennessee). Here are three areas of interest:
Both Leonard Hankerson and Stephen Bowen will start practicing Wednesday for the first time this season. Both opened on the physically unable to perform list and were therefore unable to return until Week 6. The Redskins will then have three weeks to decide if they want to activate them or place them on injured reserve. Both players have expressed strong optimism that they’ll be able to play. The question then becomes: Who gets cut to make room for them?
I want to take a look at some third downs to see what’s going wrong for the offense and quarterback Kirk Cousins in particular. My guess is that it’ll be a lot like his interceptions -- one play it’s this mistake, another play it’s a different issue. But third down is the money down for a quarterback (Philip Rivers leads the NFL in this area with a 136.1 passer rating; Cousins is last among starters at 39.8). That said, two future Hall of Famers, Drew Brees and Tom Brady, rank 22nd and 23rd in this ratings, respectively.
I know Jay Gruden spoke about potential changes during his news conference Monday, but don’t get your hopes up for some magic solution Tuesday. The Redskins always work players out on this day, but it’s not typical for them to make a big impact even if they’re signed. Also, corner David Amerson will start to undergo the concussion protocol. He looked OK after the game, talking to teammates. Safety Ryan Clark aggravated his ankle injury and linebacker Brian Orakpo exited with soreness in his ankle. Linebacker Perry Riley remains day to day with his knee injury. All would be expected to get treatment on Tuesday.