For Patrick Ramsey, it had been so long since he had been under center that he felt like one of the 15 rookies at Friday's mini-camp practice. The third-year quarterback was back on the Redskins practice field, participating in scrimmages for the first time since his 2003 season ended last December.
"I've been in the training room so long, it felt like forever," Ramsey said. "I was almost as wide-eyes as the rookies. Really, this is my first time at full speed since Miami."
After practice, Ramsey said his right foot felt strong.
"Physically I felt like I was moving my feet okay," he said. "I think I need to get a little stronger pushing off of it and transitioning with my hips. There was no pain--that was obviously a relief and a positive."
Ramsey's 2003 campaign ended after Week 12 last year when a bone bruise in his right foot worsened as the season progressed. It is still unknown when he suffered the injury. He finally had surgery to repair the bone bruise last December.
He ended his sophomore season throwing for 2,166 yards, 14 touchdowns, nine interceptions and a QB rating of 75.8.
This offseason, Ramsey is expected to compete for the starting job with veteran QB Mark Brunell. He has admitted to being anxious to get back on the practice fields and perform in mini-camp scrimmages with Brunell and backup Tim Hasselbeck. In the March mini-camp, Ramsey performed in passing drills but sat out the scrimmages.
The first thing Ramsey noticed during the scrimmages? The defense, now led by assistant head coach-defense Gregg Williams and defensive coordinator Greg Blache, is much more aggressive than last year's unit.
"They're doing some different things over there and they're really flying to the ball," Ramsey said.
Said Gibbs: "You're putting these quarterbacks in tough situations so that they can get good hard work. We're not blocking everybody so [defenders] are flashing by them. So it's a tough situation sometimes for the quarterbacks in there."
Ramsey said the new offensive scheme being installed by coaches continues to intrigue him.
"Hopefully we'll be where we want to be at the end of training camp, then we can peak at the right time so we can all be on the same page," he said. "Once we do, I think it'll be a dangerous scheme."
