National Football League

Penalties, anemic running game concern for Redskins

Published Aug. 13, 2016 7:19 p.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

foxsports

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) A day after getting a better look at the Washington Redskins' sloppy preseason debut in a 23-17 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, coach Jay Gruden says penalties and the team's running game will get more attention.

The Redskins were whistled for 14 penalties for 123 yards and ran the ball 24 times for just 79 yards in the loss. Their top three running backs, Matt Jones, Chris Thompson and Keith Marshall, had no yards on eight tries.

Some of the penalties - namely holding calls on tackles Morgan Moses and Takoby Cofield - could be blamed for hampering the running attack, but guard Spencer Long said even this early in preseason camp, there's no excuse.

''It was just sloppy,'' Long said after a practice in which the defense dominated. ''Obviously, there's no excuse for that. We've got to clean up our play, and that will come with time as well. I could sit here and say it's a result of Game One, but we're pro football players and there's no excuse for that.''

---

Online: AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/AP-NFL

share

Get more from National Football League Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

National Football League