Players get taste of life under Callahan

Drills more uptempo than with Gruden

ASHBURN, VA. — After captains led the rest of the team in stretches, the music cut out and it was down to business.

The Washington Redskins huddled up before practice began, did sprints before leaving the field and it was clear that Club Jay is over and Camp Callahan is here.

Interim coach Bill Callahan on Wednesday ran his first practice since replacing Jay Gruden and made some fairly significant chances he hopes can end Washington’s winless season. Among them were the addition of officials to call penalties, a noticeable faster tempo and a focus on conditioning to alleviate some of his team’s secondhalf struggles.

“It’s really the focus of fundamental football: just really trying to get back to some really hardcore fundamentals,” Callahan said.

“I thought we got through a lot of good physicality and a lot of good fundamental drilling. I think that’s the key. I think that’s the name of the game. If you’re not good in your fundamentals, you’re not going to have them later in the game. That mental toughness about fundamentals is important.”

One criticism of Gruden during his five-plus seasons was he was too lenient on players and didn’t adequately prepare them for games. Far more goes into the Redskins’ 0-5 start, but Callahan appears eager to put a focus on accountability.

Part of that is cutting down on penalties after 45 accepted for 331 yards in the first five weeks significantly contributed to the team’s worst start since 2001.

Callahan put a call into the NFL office to find some local college officials being groomed for the pro game and hopes their presence at practice transfers over to the game Sunday at the similarly winless Dolphins and beyond.

“Our officials had the ability to communicate to that player as to what they did, what they did wrong,” said Callahan, who was offensive line coach and whose unit was heavily penalized. “It’s something that takes the burden of the coaches and makes the player more aware of what he should do and having the proper leverage and the proper hand placement to prevent a penalty. So, that’s a huge focus for us as we work hard to try to eliminate penalties within the unit and on each side of the ball.”

Even before team work, every drill went quicker than under Gruden. That emphasis wasn’t lost on players.

“It was definitely a more up-tempo practice, faster practice, more plays than last time,” defensive lineman and team captain Jonathan Allen said.