Friday, July 25, 2014

Redskins 2014 in RVA: Day 2....

The weather cleared, the sun was bright and the work was no-frills and serious as the Washington Redskins took the field Friday morning for their second full practice at the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center. It was only their second appearance on the turf since yesterday's afternoon walk-through was cancelled shortly before severe weather came through the Richmond area.

Attendance was down from last year's second day morning session, a sign that new head coach Jay Gruden's decision to hold full practice in the morning earlier than last year's morning walk-through sessions, and not in the late afternoon may have an effect on overall attendance, but it is too soon to tell how Redskins fans will adjust to this and make their plans to visit accordingly.

Robert Griffin III was on full display during drills and 7-on-7's, showing no ill effects of the knee which captured all the attention in RVA last summer. There is also no knee brace.


Dozens of high school football coaches from across the Commonwealth were in attendance for morning practice, including new Patrick Henry head coach Bryan Davis and assistant Dan McGraw, for the Washington Redskins High School Coaches Clinic, sponsored by the Redskins Charitable Foundation.

Guest speakers discussed areas of improvement coaches can make with their student-athletes in nutrition, conditioning and performance. The main speaker was none other than head coach Jay Gruden's rather famous brother, Jon Gruden, who won a Super Bowl as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002 and is now an ESPN NFL analyst, most notably the color commentator on Monday Night Football.

In his usual fiery, upbeat tone, Gruden pronounced Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel as having the quickest release of any quarterback he's ever seen, noted he coached high school football after being fired by Tampa Bay, and discussed the critical importance of earning the effort of your players. He earned a rousing standing ovation for his presentation.

Gruden is an ambassador to high school football across the nation in his travels with ESPN, according to Redskins President Bruce Allen.

See a complete wrap-up of the Coaches Clinic, and full coverage of the Redskins in Richmond in the next edition of the Hanover Herald-Progress!


Thursday, January 9, 2014

Gruden Becomes 27th Head Coach in Redskins History.....

Multiple media sources, including NFL Network, report today that Jay Gruden, current offensive coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals, a one-time player/coach in the Arena Football League, and brother of former Tampa Bay head coach, and Super Bowl champion Jon Gruden, now an ESPN Analyst on "Monday Night Football", has been hired as Mike Shanahan's replacement to become head coach of the Washington Redskins.

Reports say the decision was finalized last night and Gruden could be introduced as head coach as early as this afternoon.

Gruden guided the Cincinnati offense, with young stars like A.J. Green and Andy Dalton, to three playoff appearances and one AFC North division title in his three seasons in the Queen City.

Speculation now begins on who will comprise his coaching staff.  The bigger question already being asked his how Gruden will get along and utilize franchise quarterback Robert Griffin III.

The relationship between Shanahan and RGIII had always been a backstory during their two-year tenure together in Washington after Griffin was selected with the #2 pick overall in the 2012 NFL Draft.  Adding to the mystery was Griffin's knee injury at the end of his rookie season. The subsequent rehab became the #1 story overshadowing the first-ever Redskins Training Camp in Richmond last summer at the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center.

We won't know for one hundred percent certain how Gruden will affect the day-to-day operations of training camp in RVA, which attracted over 165,000 visits over three and one-half weeks, generating some $10.5 million of economic activity to the region according to a report released Monday by the City of Richmond, until the Redskins prepare to arrive in the Capital City in late July.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Year One: A Review....

The City of Richmond, Bon Secours, and the Washington Redskins are all hailing (pun intended) the first preseason at the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center as a success.

And they should be.

The expectations were for 100,000 people to come watch the Burgundy and Gold practice off Leigh Street behind the Science Museum of Virginia.  Over 165,000 came.

Now here's what we don't know.  They believed 60 percent would come from a 100-mile radius to visit. How many people came from Charlottesville, from Norfolk/Virginia Beach, from North Carolina, from Southern or Southwest Virginia? And, interestingly enough, how many left the usual friendly Redskins confines of the Beltway area and Northern Virginia to come to #RVA?

Those answers should be forthcoming, at least we hope so. One thing is certain. The Redskins weren't quite the "cash cow" for area business that city leaders lauded at several events at the Center during its construction.

But that, in and of itself, can be blamed mostly on the City of Richmond. When a city official admitted at the July 8th "grand opening" that they were "still working on" tourist vacation packages, 17 days before camp opened, that sent a message to observers that maximizing tourism opportunities surrounding the Redskins in 2013 simply couldn't happen.  Reason?  No time.

Monday Morning Quarterbacks will now ask why these packages weren't in the works during the first four months of the year when the city was in "Redskins or Bust" mode in completing the Center in time for this preseason. They have a right to.

2014 will be the bellweather year for area businesses to see if the Redskins, over a three-week span, can have what we labeled "The NASCAR Effect" when posing a question to Mayor Dwight Jones at a May 20th press conference at the facility. At the time, he was optimistic it would. We believe the numbers will show, for 2013, a blip rather than a jolt, especially in suburban areas such as Hanover County.

Richmond Region Tourism should already have plans today for 2014 vacation packages to lure families to spend their vacation in our area.  Imagine a vacation plan, reasonably priced, that includes the chance to go to Redskins camp for free on more than one occasion (depending on their practice schedule, remember, they were away from the camp August 7-9 for their first preseason game in Tennessee), tickets to Kings Dominion, tickets to the Science Museum and Children's Museum, tickets to the Flying Squirrels, car rental and accommodations within 5-15 miles. With Kings Dominion in the package fold, that brings hotels at VCC, the growing Lewistown Road area, and of course, Ashland, into play as well as the I-295 hotels in Mechanicsville. Add in guests eating at restaurants close to the hotels...you get the picture.

It would behoove Hanover County to have a long conversation with those at Richmond Region Tourism to work to create such a summer vacation package, drawing the county closer to those coming in trying to get RGIII's autograph. Municipalities east of here may try the same thing, using Busch Gardens, Water Country, and Colonial Williamsburg as their response to Kings Dominion. But Kings Dominion and the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center are only 20 miles apart. Busch Gardens is 55 miles away.

And, to guard against a big run by Virginia Beach officials, negotiate separate packages for families who would come to Richmond for a couple of days to see the team on their way to four nights along the sand. We're certain a few Atlantic Avenue properties would have open ears to such a deal.

When May, 2014 arrives, let's hope Richmond Region Tourism is getting regular phone calls and web hits with people from all over the Mid-Atlantic making reservations for their "Redskins in Richmond" opportunities.

And hopefully, 2014, with a year's better planning in marketing, will ring cash registers in the Ashland/VCC/Mechanicsville triangle....

************

FINAL NEWS AND NOTES:

--The Redskins host the Pittsburgh Steelers Monday night in their second preseason game. Expect Kirk Cousins under center for the first half, with Rex Grossman and Pat White, battling for the #3 quarterback spot on the roster, splitting second half reps.

--The players fighting for roster spots we will focus on for the rest of preseason are rookie CB Chase Minnifield (UVA grad, trying to follow in his dad's footsteps into the NFL) and WR Leonard Hankerson, whose career has been highlighted with many dropped passes. With such fierce competition at wide receiver, will he do enough to make it another year on the 53-man roster, and will the decision to keep/cut him be based solely on training camp 2013, or to a degree, his past?

--Best memories of Training Camp?
   1) The kids walk tradition
   2) The accessibility of the players to the fans for autographs and pictures. No, we can't expect them to sign everyone's sign or card or such, after all they are there to work and prepare. But this group of players went above and beyond this year.
   3) The ability, on most days, to get in and out of the area surrounding the Center with little idling time in your car. Oh yes, there were plenty of instances where that was not the case, but they were fewer than this writer expected. Kudos to the city and to security in and around the Center.

--What Needs To Be Improved?
   1) Fan Appreciation Day: 25,000 people don't fit into that 17-acre campus. Period. Maybe splitting that day into two sessions, opening the gates twice, a la a baseball doubleheader, could solve the problem, with the team practicing in between. The simpler solution is to move to another facility for the day, but with all the millions having been invested there, we don't think Bon Secours would take kindly to the #1 attended day of camp NOT being at their location.
   2) Some Areas of the Field: Yes, it's been an unusually rainy summer in RVA, but 2013 proved it can happen. And the rains exposed a flaw in the preparation of the area around the fields.  Lots of muddy tracks to avoid, even days after it rained. Unless it's a driving rain, we shouldn't see people sending out Tweets warning fans coming to the Center to wear their worst pair of shoes.
   3) Viewing: All fans were warned, for weeks, that there would be no bleachers. Thus the fight for rope spots ensued. People standing five or six deep along the yellow ropes had obstructed views. Our suggestion is, unless you want to fight for the yellow, "head for the hills" and bring a chair or blanket. You see the players better at the sacrifice of being able to be close enough to see if they spilled something on their practice jersey.
   4) Emergency Evacuation Planning: We were at the Center August 10th as a small, but powerful storm cell bore down on the north side of RVA. It even caught the National Weather Service by surprise, as their severe thunderstorm warning was issued long after the storm began between Short Pump and Glen Allen.  It hit at the worst possible time: 15 minutes before 2pm practice. The fans stayed, then started scrambling for any cover as the first of several major lightning strikes were seen. The worst of the storm was north of the camp, along I-295. What if the center of the cell had hugged Broad Street instead?  With deadly lightning, 60 mph plus winds and rain so hard you couldn't see, where would the assembled thousands go to ensure their safety?  We do not know if the Redskins made any announcements directly to the crowd asking them to seek shelter. If they didn't, they should have. Mid-to-late summer is prime time for sudden severe weather in Richmond. The team needs to ready to insure, to the best of its ability, the safety of their fans in the event that this happens again.  And it will.

OVERALL GRADE: A few minor problems were overcome by the smiles and cheers of 165,000 people. A-

Here are a few pictures from the final week of practice in Richmond to help tie you over until next year!




Friday, August 16, 2013

FINAL DAY FOR REDSKINS IN RICHMOND.....

It didn't seem like three weeks and one day, but time marches on.

The Washington Redskins hold their final practice of 2013 at the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center this morning at 10:30.  General Manager Bruce Allen will be speaking around 10AM.

There will be no helmet walk for kids after practice today, and probably little or no autograph signings, as the players have been instructed to leave immediately for Redskins Park in Ashburn after practice is over.

This is to get the team up to their regular season facility to make final preparations for their Monday night matchup at home against Pittsburgh. Then the team will go into "week-by-week" prep mode, mirroring regular season weeks, before their August 24 game vs. Buffalo and their August 29 preseason finale on the road against Tampa Bay.

After that is the roster cutdown to the final 53-player roster, and then they play for real.

COMMENT: Lots of hay has been made this week about RGIII, his desire to compete, possible friction with him and head coach Mike Shanahan.  And I believe that's all it is, hay.  Media types at three-week long marathon events, spending hours upon hours a day at the facility, are looking for any nugget of a story, especially if they smell a big one and can scoop everyone else.

Shanahan will never do anything to squelch the competitive desire of his quarterback. Ever.  Remember, he once had a guy named John Elway as his quarterback, and though there were times they didn't see eye to eye and got into, as Shanahan called them earlier this week, "knockdown, dragout fights", the tandem took home two Vince Lombardi trophies together in 1997 and 1998.

Shanahan also knows it's a special thing to have an ultra-motivated quarterback who is also multi-talented. After Elway retired in Denver, he turned to Bubby Brister.  Brister was motivated, but he was NO Elway, NO RGIII.

Ignore the rhetoric.  Shanahan and Griffin leave Richmond in fine shape, and in September, if RGIII is 100 percent and the Redskins start off strong, few will remember RGIII's comment, his impromptu press conference, and the thousands of words written about all this.

WHAT DO YOU THINK:  We want to hear from you!  Tell us in the comments section here your thoughts on the RGIII/Shanahan situation, plus who will be the Redskins' 3rd string quarterback?  Which wide receivers and running backs make the cut?  Did UVA product Chase Minnifield do enough to make the squad?  Tell us!  And THANKS for making our blog a part of your Redskins Training Camp experience!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

RVA Camp Winding Down....

The crowd numbers keep amazing Redskins officials and more.  Over 10,000 came to the one practice on Wednesday (midday at 12:40pm), and looking at today's crowd, it looks like another 10K has come on Thursday.

Drills continue through around 2:30 or so, then the team prepares for their final practice at Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center Friday morning at 10:35.

NEWS AND NOTES:

--The Redskins signed free agent LB Quan Sturdivant today.  He played collegiately at UNC and has spent time with the Arizona Cardinals, who drafted him in 2011, and the Kansas City Chiefs.

--DeAngelo Hall practicing fine without issues on his ankle/foot hurt early in training camp.  We watched him moving around early in today's practice; a good sign for Skins fans and their defense.  Defensive Coordinator Jim Haslett met with the media before today's practice.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Rough and Tumble Tuesday at Training Camp....

As training camp winds down, the pressure of making an NFL team and having your dreams come true only gets greater.

Tuesday at the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center, pressure turned two players into combatants after the whistle, while one saw his first shot at NFL stardom shelved due to injury.

Then, out of the blue, RGIII made an appearance at the post-practice press conference.  Griffin was only available to the press on July 24th and the last three Mondays, including yesterday.  No one saw him coming back this afternoon.

First, the fight.  UVA grad, cornerback Chase Minnifield and wide receiver Aldrick Robinson tangled during practice Tuesday afternoon. Minnifield is fighting for a roster spot and Robinson is in the same boat, up against a seemingly endless number of veterans such as Devery Henderson, Donte Stallworth, and stalwarts Santana Moss and Pierre Garcon.

Then the bad news. Rookie safety Phillip Thomas suffered a torn Lisfranc ligament in his foot and will be out for the 2013 season.

"It'll be about a four-or-five month recovery time. We'll put him on IR," Shanahan said.

Before the head coach made his usual post-practice comments, the second-year QB superstar stopped by to clarify some issues, trying to dispel reports in media saying he was at odds with his coaching staff, specifically over his recovery timeline.

"I just want everybody to know that if there's any questions about a rift between me and coach, or if there's a conflict, there is no conflict. Coaches coach, I'm a player. Coach has a plan and I'm abiding by that plan."

If you're heading to the Skins' 12:40pm practice Wednesday, you should see Griffin participate in 11-on-11 full-team drills.

Who knows what else you may see as the preseason pressure reaches the boiling point.





Monday, August 12, 2013

PRACTICE TIME CHANGES FOR FINAL WEEK.....

Earlier Monday, the Washington Redskins announced time changes for some practices for this, their final week in Richmond.

TUESDAY is now a normal 2-a-day with 10am walkthrough and 3:20pm full practice.
WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY remain "one practice" days at 12:40pm.
FRIDAY's final practice in RVA has been moved back to a 10:35am start.

Remember, chance of more showers and storms on Tuesday; a redux of Saturday is possible.  We'll keep you posted here and on Twitter/Facebook!