Washington Redskins Coach Jay Gruden said the team had its best practice last week leading up to the 47-14 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. Now, he wants to see the players maintain that energy level this week against the Carolina Panthers.
Gruden elaborated on why he set aside time during practice for the first-team offense to go against the first-team defense. The team finally had a fairly healthy squad and so he let the starters loose on each other, something Gruden said he did “a little bit” last season.
“We had our full set of defensive backs out there, so I thought it was a good time that we started doing some competitive periods just to keep them on edge,” Gruden said.