On Saturday, July 27, 2013, Redskins HC Mike Shanahan addressed the media following afternoon training camp practice at the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center in Richmond, Va.
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On why defensive end Chris Baker left the practice field:
"Just cramps. Had an IV. He should be ok."
On if he was impressed by the performance of kicker Kai Forbath in today's practice:
"Yeah, especially when he kicked that 58-yarder. It hit at the top of the net. But it's always good to put kickers through those situations, even if it's 64 [yards]. They start to relax when they practice it. He had a little wind today, so that helped. But very consistent – it was nice to see."
On running back Roy Helu, Jr.:
"It is always nice to get a player back that has had injuries and he feels like he is full speed. He has worked extremely hard to get back to where he is right now. Now it is a great opportunity for him to take advantage of all these reps he will get here over these four preseason games. I look forward to him getting better every practice, get him back into football shape and getting back to where he was a short time ago."
On quarterback Robert Griffin III's 'emphatic' slide in practice today:
"I laughed too. I thought it was good. From one year to the next, you always emphasize different things and it's got to become automatic. No matter what you do, there has got to be emphasis there. The player's got to believe in it. They have got to think it. If it's in practice, if you usually do it in practice, it happens in games. I do not care if you're talking about turnovers, offense, defense, if you stress it and it is important to you, it will be important to them."
On if he said anything about Griffin III's slide:
"I just laughed and he was going the other way. We went on to the next play."
On the rule change requiring players to wear thigh pads:
"I'll probably do it twice before the preseason game, just to get used to wearing full pads. They have to know the new rules. We're going to have the officials come in next week, explain all the new rules in detail, and after we do that, then we'll get a couple of days of full pads before we have our first preseason game… What they're trying to do is get players to help protect themselves. So if it's thigh pads, with a contusion in the quad area, or if it's the knee, you're just padding yourself - you're trying to protect the players, and it's mandatory. We'll see how it works."
On the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center:
"The new facility is great. We've got two excellent fields, plus kind of a half field here. Maybe not a half field but a quarter of a field. That works out great for us, so we have all the room that we need. The fans have been great, been very supportive. And our players appreciate playing and practicing in front of these people. We had a chance to get the [University of] Richmond coaches in here yesterday. It was great to get a number of collegiate coaches in here, especially from the University of Richmond, to get them to be here and be part of our practice. So it's something that we're happy about and hopefully we can continue the type of practices we've had over the past few days."
On the advantages of having training camp away from home:
"Well, what I had said in the past, anytime you're out of place for three and a half weeks and the family members aren't around, you can wake up early, you can stay up late and you can get more sleep and at the same time you get more football. And so it's pretty advantageous for me to be in a setting like this, because it takes a lot of pressure off the players, you can concentrate on football, little bit more free time between each other, we're not travelling as much going home, taking care of the kids, doing the responsibilities that most parents do. So if you have this type of facility is great. The hotel we're staying at, at the Omni, has done a fantastic job taking care of us. It's a good setting. I think players enjoy it. There will always be a couple wrinkles here and there that you have got to work out, but it's been good so far."
On how last year's playoff experience impacts expectations for this season:
"You always want success. Once you have success, people believe in themselves. When you give the type of effort in the offseason and you have success, you believe you've earned that success. That's what I believe our players believe, that they've earned the right to succeed. Once you do succeed and you see the aftereffects, you want it even more. So hopefully we take it day by day and keep on improving."
On the progress of wide receivers Aldrick Robinson and Leonard Hankerson:
"Well, what you like is consistency and if you take a look at Aldrick, everybody knows what type of speed he has. Can he make the big play? I think everybody has seen that, but for him to really step up his game, he's got to be consistent with the underneath routes as much as the deep routes. Hankerson, the same thing; he's got to be more consistent, not only blocking, but catching the short route, the deep route. Like he had today, the one ball he had in his hands and dropped it at the last second. He has to have that concentration level. He has to be mentally tough to make those plays in practice, which will carry over to games. That's why you practice. They are a lot more comfortable with the system. You can see it. They are much improved, but we've got to, that's why you have camp, we've got a ways to go… If they want to be a starter, if you want to be a difference maker, you've just got to keep on improving. You've got to make big plays when the spotlight is on and to do that you've got to be consistent in practice. If you're not consistent in practice, you're not going to be consistent in the games. And that's what we stress to them; if you don't do it in practice, it's not going to carry over to game situations. So hopefully we keep on getting better here over the next month."
On wide receiver Donté Stallworth:
"Donté had a hamstring this morning. [He had] a slight hamstring pull. We kept him out. Pierre [Garçon], we decided to keep him out. He went through three days of good workouts. Sometimes guys that don't participate in our OTAs, I don't want to overwork them. You know, give them a little break. Same thing with London Fletcher; we kept him out. Now these guys want to go, these guys want to contribute. I've got to kind of slow them down when they haven't practiced for a while. Get them back in football shape. That's a problem that you want, is guys that want to practice and you've got to slow them down a little bit."
On safety Brandon Meriweather:
"Here's a guy that didn't have a practice… I could see him wanting to go. He's a guy that you've got to slow down because he wants to be out there. If you say, 'Hey, take yourself out. Slow down.' He doesn't know what that means. We've limited some of his reps. We've limited them overall because I do see him being a little bit, or at least on the edge, where I don't want to him to push himself too hard. We've got to get him back in football shape, probably more so than the rest of the guys I mentioned.
On reportedly bringing in linebacker Joe Mays for a workout:
"Can't say we brought him in for a workout, but he should be in in about 25 minutes… I don't know if we'll sign him or not, I don't know. But when we bring a guy in, we usually bring him in for a reason, but to say we're going to sign him, I can't confirm that.
On how tight end Jordan Reed is handling the learning curve in the NFL after not being able to participate in OTAs or minicamp:
"Even though he wasn't able to participate, he was in all the meetings and he did have the one-on-one situations where he was working out with Robert [Griffin III] at that time, with a number of other guys. They do get a lot of mental reps even though it's not in a team situation. They're just not used to the snap count and some of the things that take time. But I've been impressed with him both mentally and physically. He's not there yet like all rookies, but he's adjusted well."
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