Washington Redskins: Chris Thompson deserves more touches
By Donny Starr
Though Jay Gruden doesn’t plan on giving Washington Redskins running back Chris Thompson more touches, he’s more than earned a bigger role.
Washington Redskins running back Chris Thompson finished Sunday’s 27-10 win over the Oakland Raiders with 38 yards rushing, averaging 4.5 yards per carry. He caught six for 150 yards and a touchdown. But I guess that’s not his place on the roster to do such a thing.
ESPN reported that Jay Gruden will not increase Thompson’s work load just because of one good game. He told reporters that he knows that the lightning-fast back will push for more touches, but won’t get his wish.
That’s interesting, however, given the injury situation in the Washington backfield. Here’s the current status of the Redskins running backs:
- Rob Kelley (ribs): Reportedly day-to-day. He sat out Sunday’s game.
- Samaje Perine: On Monday, Perine was diagnosed with a bruised hand. He is day-to-day.
- Mack Brown: Rushed six times for 27 yards after Perine got injured.
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If Perine had performed well, everyone would be touting justification for the Redskins drafting him. That didn’t happen. Not only did he hurt himself, but he fumbled the ball. In his defense the hit was brutal.
Here’s the concern: Do the Redskins really have time to split hairs? The team, as of Sunday night, was running like a well-oiled machine. Let’s say Kelley does get healthy before Monday night’s Week 4 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs. He starts, and the yards rake up for him, but end results differ.
Cousins connected well with Thompson and the ball was moving. The Chiefs are 3-0. They need to have the team that was present in Week 3 showing up for Monday Night Football. Otherwise, the Redskins are going to get dismantled.
Thompson needs to show that it wasn’t a “flash in the pan” performance and utilize every touch as a way to win at least the No. 2 start behind Kelley. Perine is going to take some time to develop, obviously. Mack Brown plays his position well as a No. 3 or 4 guy.
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Gruden should wait until after the KC game to make a better evaluation. Otherwise, he’ll enter a week of doubt and questions that could have been prevented.