On Friday, Oct. 25, 2013, Redskins HC Mike Shanahan addressed the media following afternoon practice at Redskins Park in Ashburn, VA.
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On the team's injury report:
"We have four guys listed as questionable. That's [defensive end Stephen] Bowen, [safety] Reed [Doughty], [nose tackle Chris] Neild and [wide receiver Leonard] Hankerson."
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On if safety Reed Doughty had a setback with his concussion:
"No, he just didn't practice today. He's going to get tested tomorrow as well, see how he's doing… The whole week he hasn't been perfect. That's why we gave him some time off."
On how Doughty will be evaluated moving forward:
"Day-by-day. If he passes it tomorrow, he can play."
On how he has improved as a coach since leaving Denver:
"I just think that once you're in the league and you've experienced as many situations as you do as a head coach – what I mean by that [is] the draft, free agency, assistant coaches – just the position as a head coach, you've kind of been through it a number of times. You're hoping that you're constantly improving."
On how big of a boost defensive touchdowns provide:
"Well, turnovers is always a big key. We talked about it last year. We were number one in the NFL in the fewest turnovers and defensively we were in the top five. If you do that as a football team, usually good things happen. So hopefully by the end of the year we're in that category where we can say that we're one of the top teams in turnovers and if it does, it relates to wins and losses."
On why punter Sav Rocca's ranks near the bottom of the league in many categories:
"Our returns. Anytime you get big returns for touchdowns, your numbers are going to be down. Especially in that, and that's the only thing that matters."
On if the offense has evolved since last season or he has had to hold it back some since quarterback Robert Griffin III did not have a full offseason:
"Well, anytime you don't have an offseason there's going to be some growth in that area and especially when somebody's coming off of an ACL. You get a chance to see what they can do as time goes on. The maturation of the quarterback position does take some time. It doesn't happen overnight, especially coming off an injury. You try to get people as many reps as they possibly can get and then you decide by how they practice what they're able to do. I think we talked about early – you guys have been asking about the running game – I said, 'Just be patient and kind of judge us as the year goes on.' I think the last couple games we've had a couple hundred yards each game and that's not easily done. So hopefully we can build on that and be a very effective offense."
On if Griffin III is facing less pressure: *
"Anytime a defense has to cover the whole field, it does slow down a pass rush sometimes - different things we talked about last year. The more options you have on offense, the more threats you have, the better chance you have to keep a defense off-balance. Sometimes it changes week-by-week. Sometimes just the threat of the run or the threat of the quarterback slows down the defense. As we talked about before, we've got a lot of directions we can go depending on who's the quarterback, who's in at the game. You're one play away from somebody else being in there – if it's a wide receiver, a quarterback, an offensive lineman. So you're constantly adjusting, but you want to have a system that you feel comfortable in, a system that is a proven system. We've got a lot of players that believe in what we're doing, so hopefully we can keep putting points on the scoreboard."
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