The goal is now to get Jones healthy to play in the regular-season opener on September 12 against the Pittsburgh Steelers at FedEx Field.
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“We think the recovery time will be pretty quick”, Gruden said Monday.
“It’s really good work for them to be able to get out there with the ones, against the ones, and have to perform play in and play out”, coach Jay Gruden said earlier this week. He said he was feeling much better and isn’t anxious about missing out on game action. Kirk Cousins has also played just one series and was held out of the second game so backup Colt McCoy could get reps against a quality New York Jets defense.
“I don’t know that I need to play in four, but to play in some is very helpful”, Cousins said this week. “I’m moving fast in my healing process right now”, Jones said.
Gruden also said running Chris Thompson, the lone back with National Football League game experience, is “a little sore right now”. None are expected to play in the preseason finale next week at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, making the Bills game an important test. Gruden also said that undrafted rookie Rob Kelley will get a lot of first-team work in the final two preseason games, with seventh-rounder Keith Marshall also in the mix.
Jones suffered the injury in the team’s Friday night preseason game against the New York Jets. Yet he still sees a benefit in preseason play, however much or little he gets of it.
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Gruden has given no indication so far that Washington will look externally for running back depth, and Kelley, Marshall and Brown will get chances to keep it that way. “That’s why this is such a good game for us because coach (Rex) Ryan over there has a great blitz package and those guys have got to be on top of what they’re looking at and their identification. They show a lot of promise, they’ve got a lot of talent, but obviously they’ve got to put in the field on Friday and we’ll have a better picture of it after that”. It’s the only time they see extensive action until the regular season. “And then I think he’s a good, physical runner that squares runs off and does a nice job finishing falling forward”.
