ASHBURN — Washington did not practice in pads Tuesday, which means it was supposed to be a day without hitting between the offense and defense.
Supposed to be.
During a team drill, safety Troy Apke went flying in to make a play on the ball, colliding with wideout Terry McLaurin — resulting in a loud clang as their helmets smashed into each other. It was a play that caused some players, coaches and observing media members to jump up.
If Jay Gruden were still on the sidelines, no one would have been surprised to see Apke get an earful from the former Washington coach for nailing one of the team’s up-and-coming offensive stars.
But Ron Rivera has made it clear that he’s fine with contact, as long as it isn’t over-the-top.
Apke’s hit on McLaurin? Result of a bang-bang play, Rivera said.
“On plays like that, the ball gives the right of way to the offensive guy,” Rivera said. “We’ve got to just reiterate that. I’ll talk to Troy about that a little bit later.
“But, it’s hard to fault guys that are playing hard.”
Rivera said he had to remind his team throughout Tuesday’s practice that they had to be aware they weren’t in pads. Rivera, though, has liked the intensity that his team is starting to show consistently in practice. Since beginning his first training camp with Washington, Rivera has stressed the need to play a fast pace.
As long as his team continues to play with tempo, Rivera said there will continue to be hard hits.
He doesn’t see it as a bad thing.
“Guys were in good football positions and the collisions are unavoidable,” Rivera said. “Really at that point, you want to make sure that they’re forming up, tackling properly, they’re keeping their heads up, they’re in good square positions.”
Rivera does have limits. A day earlier, the 58-year-old coach called out Shaun Dion Hamilton after the fourth-year linebacker practically close-lined running back J.D. McKissic.
The hit would have been electric in a game, but in a practice setting, Rivera yelled that Hamilton couldn’t do that. After Hamilton said, “My bad,” Rivera replied with, “I know it’s your bad, but we can’t do that.”
Hitting in the Rivera era can be, pardon the wordplay, jarring.
Later into Monday’s practice, Apke popped tight end Logan Thomas so hard, the ball came flying out and it was recovered by Hamilton. The defense has forced a few fumbles throughout camp as a result of making hard contact.
Running back Adrian Peterson called the difference “night and day” when asked compare it to last year’s training camp. The former MVP has been with Washington for three years and had been occasionally critical of the atmosphere under former coach Jay Gruden.
Peterson said this coaching staff is “demanding a lot from us,” but added the players are excited and adapting to the change.
On Saturday, Rivera ripped into his players for not practicing hard enough and on Sunday, they responded with the effort the coach wanted.
“We’re just trying to do our part and making sure we get this ball rolling in the right direction,” Peterson said. “We do it in the right way, in their way. The tone has been set and it’s up to us to go out and execute and have that same mindset when we approach practices, knowing things are going to start coming around and rolling around really fast.”
Rivera approves of the intensity.
“That’s what we want to see,” Rivera said of hitting. “We want these guys to understand once they get on the field, it all should be natural. It all should come to them and be a part of what they’ve done because they’ve practiced fast and they’ve practiced hard.”
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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