On Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013, Redskins HC Mike Shanahan addressed the media following afternoon practice at Redskins Park in Ashburn, VA.
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On the injury report:
"[Tight end] Jordan Reed did not practice with his concussion. [Defensive end] Stephen Bowen, knee, did not practice. [Cornerback] Josh Wilson with his toe was limited. [Safety Jose] Gumbs, ankle, was limited as well. [Cornerback] E.J. Biggers, knee, was full practice. DY, [fullback Darrel Young] was limited – had a slight tweak in his hamstring. And [wide receiver Leonard] Hankerson had an ACL and LCL surgery today. Recovery time is in the seven to nine month area."
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On if Hankerson's ACL injury was discovered during the surgery:
"Yes. They thought there was a possibility, but they weren't sure. When they looked at it, it was about 90 percent."
On wide receiver Joshua Morgan's focus this week in practice:
"He's had a good couple days of practice. He's practiced well and he looked good today, and hopefully will tomorrow and the next day as well. But he's practiced well."
On if he changes his approach to practice and meetings during losing seasons or if he values consistency:
"I think it all depends on how you coach. I'm pretty consistent with the way I approach practice. If your practices aren't done right, you repeat a lot of plays and hopefully you don't repeat too many, so you kind of limit. You hope that you're practicing at a very high level where you don't have to repeat plays and sometimes you have to repeat plays if you're not really on top of it. Players know very quickly if you do repeat plays what kind of practice you're having. I've always been that way regardless. To answer your question, I'm pretty consistent."
On if he had to learn over the course of his career to be more consistent during difficult seasons:
"I have to learn to answer these type of questions: Is your team divided? Do they like each other? Do they still go out for pizzas on Thursday night? Do they go out for pizzas anymore? Anytime you have a little adversity, people are going to look to see if there is a locker room that's divided. That's part of it. Sometimes it does happen, but I understand what goes with losing."
On the timetable for Reed's return:
"No idea. You don't know about a concussion. If you've ever had a concussion, you really don't know until the next day. You wake up and see how you feel and the doctors will go through their tests. He did not pass the tests today, though."
On wide receiver Santana Moss' comments that wide receiver Nick Williams should get another opportunity to return punts:
"No, I'm not going to tell you if Nick Williams is returning punts on Monday night, but good try."
On how to determine is a player deserves a second chance if he does not seize his first opportunity:
"It's your gut feeling, what you think he'll do on game day. And when you watch a guy perform, you've got to always do what you feel is in the best interest of the team. Sometimes you'll throw a guy right back in there, other times you may wait. You migt put him in there in special situations depending on how the game's going, the score of the game. A lot of different ways you could go."
On Wilson's toe injury:
"Yeah, his toe was infected. It was inflamed. He wasn't able to wear a shoe yesterday, so he did not practice. Today, it went down quite a bit, so his practice was limited, but it's still sore."
On the decision to sign wide receiver Lance Lewis from the practice squad to the active roster:
"We've liked the way he practiced. I thought he did a great job in preseason making a couple plays. You could see his consistency on the scout team warranted us to bring him up. Now, he gets the chance to compete and we'll see how he does during the week and then make a decision on who's going to be our top 46 for gameday."
On if success containing Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson and Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean McCoy translates to stopping San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore:
"Everybody's got a certain scheme. Minnesota's scheme is a little different than Philly's, and if you take a look at San Francisco with their scheme, it's a little bit more of a power-oriented scheme, but they do run some zone blocking as well. They pull a lot of different people. All three teams you just talked about are very successful running the ball – some of the top teams in the National Football League. You've got to be ready for everything."
On if stopping the run the past two weeks gives him confidence entering Monday night:
"I think we have some confidence that we've got the capabilities to stop the run, but you've got to go out there and get it done. And as I mentioned, a team that runs 35-40 times, they're 6-0 when they run the ball consistently. They have an excellent offensive line, a lot of top draft choices, a great running back and a quarterback that has excellent speed that knows how to take advantage of defenses."
On why second-year quarterbacks are struggling after successful rookie seasons:
"Colin is in his third year, is that correct? I think that's a big difference. I think your first year, even if you're sitting on the bench, when you're learning NFL defenses you feel a lot more comfortable with the terminology. It's a big difference playing your second year than it is your first year. Your first year you've got a new playbook, new terminology, new teammates and you're getting a chance to see NFL defenses for the first time. But as we mentioned, or as we talked about, it's a learning curve. I think no matter what situation you're in or what type of offense you're running, you're going to learn a lot. Your experiences in college are going to be different than your experiences in the pros. The great ones have a lot of attention to detail every year and they keep on growing with every practice and they take it very seriously."
On the expectations for Morgan if he plays:
"When you have Pro Bowl ability, that means you have the talent to make plays. What you have to do is practice at a certain level every day and try to get those talents to work so it becomes automatic and there is no mistakes with depth of routes, catching the football, running a post route, running a comeback route and blocking responsibilities. As he gets better at that, he'll get more playing time. We're expecting him to practice at that level where when he does play, he makes those plays consistently. There are a lot of people out there that have Pro Bowl ability that don't play. We're going to get a chance to see his jump here very soon because of the injury [to wide receiver Leonard Hankerson] and his potential, so hopefully he takes advantage of it."
On if he has seen the approach he wants to see from Morgan recently:
"Yeah, I saw two excellent days of practice – one of the reasons why I had a talk with him. I talked to you guys [and said] that I was going to go with [wide receiver] Nick [Williams] and that part of it was special teams, but I talked to him not only about special teams, but about route running and the way you practice – those type things and what I expected of him."
On how often guys are caught off-guard by what they are told in those conversations:*
"I think my responsibility… I've never released somebody or cut somebody without talking to them. I'm the one that's released people [over] the last 20 years. I would never let a guy go and just let him go. I at least tell him what I think if I'm going to release somebody – same thing if a person doesn't dress for a game. I think it's my responsibility if a guy has been dressing out on gameday and he's been part of the 46 [to dress on gameday]. If he's no,t I'm going to explain to him why. Not only do I talk to him, but I show it on film so they understand where I'm coming from and hopefully when they get that opportunity again, they take advantage of it."
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