Redskins preparing for Superdome by cranking up noise inside practice bubble

The Washington Redskins’ coaching staff is cranking up the music inside the team’s practice bubble this week to help players prepare for Sunday’s game in New Orleans’ Superdome.

“It’s going to help us a lot because I hear it gets extremely loud there,” running back Alfred Morris said. “It definitely helps with just not making mental errors like jumping offside, just little things like that because with all the music, you really can’t hear Robert [Griffin III] and I’m like right behind him or right next to him and you can’t hear his cadence.”

Using artificial crowd noise isn’t a new trick, but having the practice bubble to simulate sound reverberating off a dome is something the Redskins are getting to try out to start the 2012 season.

“It was really loud in there the other day having the music going, especially as loud as we had it going,” linebacker Ryan Kerrigan said. “That’ll be good preparation, especially for the offense because that’s when it’s going to be the loudest, when the Saints are on defense. I think it’s good preparation, not only for us but mainly for the offense.”

Defensive end Adam Carriker is enjoying the noise, which clearly has more of an impact on offensive players. As Stephen Bowen pointed out, it should be quieter when the Saints are on offense.

Having music blaring can be more of a benefit than a harm for concentrating.

“To me, that’s game-like, that’s what the game’s going to be like. You’ve got to get ready for that. I enjoy that; the louder it is, the more I like it,” Carriker said. “It’s like listening to music before the game; it helps get you up. If you can’t get into the game when the crowd’s going crazy, then you’re doing the wrong thing.”

Cornerback Josh Wilson argued that “a loud stadium affects the defense as much as the offense” because of the communication necessary to get play calls from the middle linebacker to the outside. But he’s not particularly alarmed by the music playing in the bubble.

“I’ve been so used to that because that’s kind of everybody’s staple. Anytime you go into a dome like this a lot of coaches try to just pound that music into you,” Wilson said. “I actually like to sit behind the speaker when I’m on the sideline because it kind of gets on your nerves. Honestly on the field, I played in Seattle for 3½ years, it doesn’t get too much louder than it is out there.”

The Seahawks’ stadium seems to be the standard for some Redskins players. But the Superdome could change all that, even after this week of preparation.

“I guess it does help, the noise inside. But we played in Seattle last year and that 12th man was ridiculous,” fullback Darrel Young said. “If it gets louder than that like they say it will, then I don’t know what’s going to happen.”