It had been more than two and a half years since Keenan Robinson had started and finished a game at linebacker. But when he took the field in Washington’s season-opener against Houston, he said, he wasn’t at all nervous.
“I think the preseason games really helped,” Robinson said. “I’d played preseason games, but they were regular season games for me. So it was easy to transition.”
Robinson recorded six tackles for the Redskins in their 17-6 loss to the Texans, his first full game since replacing London Fletcher at the mike linebacker spot.
The fourth-round pick in 2012 looked right at home patrolling the middle of Washington’s defense and frequently was around the ball. But perhaps more importantly, he said he felt comfortable communicating with the rest of the defense, which, as the mike linebacker, is one of his main responsibilities.
“It was great, man. It actually went pretty good, pretty smooth,” Robinson said. “Obviously there’s going to be time when communication’s harder to accomplish because [of] hurry up, the microphone might not be working. There are times where we’re going to have to persevere through obstacles such as fan noise. … As long as everybody’s playing the same call, we’ll be fine.”
Robinson had not started and finished a game at inside linebacker since the Holiday Bowl in Dec. 2011, during his senior year at Texas. He missed parts of his first two seasons with the Redskins because of two separate pectoral injuries, tearing his right pectoral in 2012 and his left on the first day of training camp last year.
SEE ALSO: Redskins owner Dan Snyder announces support of Roger Goodell
“Every time he tackled somebody the last couple years, something happened,” defensive coordinator Jim Haslett said at training camp.
During the preseason, however, Robinson proved to be durable. And in the process, he showed what has impressed Haslett and the rest of the coaching staff in practice all along: size, speed and awareness.
“Just his energy, his understanding of the defense, his ability to communicate and then tackle,” first-year coach Jay Gruden said. “[There is] no substitute for playing experience and the more he gets, the better he’s going to be. He has all the tools, he’s got all the smarts and the more comfortable he gets, the more of an impact he will be in the NFL.”
In Robinson’s eyes, one of the keys to Sunday’s matchup will be slowing running back Toby Gerhart and, by extension, forcing the Jaguars into deep passing situations on third down. Robinson said Gerhart is similar to last week’s opponent, Arian Foster, in how he utilizes cutback lanes, but he runs with a more punishing, north-south style.
Personally, Robinson said, there are several areas from Week 1 in which he would like to improve. When asked about those specific areas, he grinned.
“I’m not sure. You’re going to have to talk to Coach about that,” he said jokingly. “I’m just saying as far as me being able to just be cleaner in reads, me being able to be cleaner in certain situations, that I can be able to do better. Because there’s always room for improvement.”
• Tom Schad can be reached at tschad@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.