Practice Wrap-up

After Saturday's full-contact scrimmage, head coach Jim Zorn could see the weariness in his players.

He went ahead with Sunday morning's practice, open for fans, but decided to cancel the afternoon session.

"They worked hard and gave great effort, and it really took a lot out of them," Zorn said. "I don't want to physically tax them again with another practice [Sunday] afternoon. We'll get in a lot of good meeting time [Sunday] night."

Still, Zorn expects more from his players.

He promised a pair of tough Monday practices, including the final open practice for fans.

"My encouragement to them is to push through," he said. "We still have a lot of work to do, and the mental part gets hard. The mental strain wears on the players and that is when you begin to see mistakes."

The Redskins entered the practice with injuries out of Saturday's scrimmage.

The most notable injured player was defensive tackle Anthony Montgomery, who fractured a bone in his hand during the scrimmage.

He said he could be sidelined 2-4 weeks.

"It's kind of frustrating, but I am just thankful that it is nothing major like a knee or a shoulder," Montgomery said. "I can still come back during the preseason. If it was half a season, or alls season, it would be a lot worse.

"You never want something like this, but I can come back with a speedy recovery, so I am thankful for that."

Zorn admitted that it was difficult to run a practice with so many players banged up.

"The rotations get messed up, the healthy players have to work harder, and you cannot evaluate the players that are injured," Zorn said.

He added: "Sometimes players will pull themselves out of practice when they are sore, but not injured. I have not seen any of that [here] and players are continually pushing through the soreness.

"That is a sign of a mature and veteran team that really wants to be playing."

Here's the recap of Sunday morning's practice:

8:20 a.m. ET

Football And Life

Sunday's practice starts with a touching story.

Around 8 a.m., the Redskins Charitable Foundation brought out an 8-year-old boy named Joey Filetto, Jr., from Pasadena, Md., who has leukemia. He recently underwent spinal tap chemotherapy.

As part of the Make-a-Wish Foundation, Joey wanted to spend time with his favorite player Chris Cooley.

On the main practice field, there was Joey and Chris shaking hands, getting to know each other, tossing the football back and forth.

Then Joey tried a field goal, with Chris as the holder. The kick was short.

So Chris told Joey to try punting it through the goal posts.

After several attempts, Joey's kick sailed through--to the applause of Redskins fans who had come to watch the practice.

As players filtered out to practice, Chris introduced Joey to several of his teammates. Mike Sellers stopped by to say hello. So did Jason Fabini and Todd Collins.

Chris introduced Joey to Jon Jansen and Kedric Golston as they arrived for practice.

"Go long," Joey said.

Jansen ran about 5 yards and caught Joey's pass.

Joey said he wanted to meet Jason Campbell. Upon Campbell's arrival, Cooley introduced him to the Redskins quarterback.

"You've got to see Joey's arm, he throws a nice spiral," Cooley said.

Campbell and Cooley decided to run a play, and they huddled up. Campbell whispered a play call into Joey's ear.

As quarterback, Joey needed a center. Just then Todd Yoder walked by. He would suffice.

Yoder snapped to Joey, who took a step back and lofted a pass--a nice spiral--to Cooley.

Pass complete.

Cooley had to go to practice, so the two new friends exchanged well wishes.

Cooley promised he would visit with Joey again after practice.

It was a great scene, also captured on video by Redskins.com TV and some local television stations.

8:40 a.m. ET

First Look at Practice

After Saturday's full-contact scrimmage, head coach Jim Zorn has players in shorts and shoulder pads.

So this should be a light practice.

After warm-ups, players work through individual drills

Devin Thomas (hamstring) is not practicing, obviously, but he is out watching practice.

LaRon Landry (hamstring), Rocky McIntosh (knee) and Chris Wilson (calf) are stretching under the watchful eye of physical therapist Larry Hess.

Eric Shelton limped out to practice late, so he is not practicing either. No word yet on his injury status.

Anthony Montgomery, fresh off a broken hand, is on the practice field getting in some light running. Scheduled for surgery on Monday, he has a large wrapping covering his right hand.

Don't see linebacker Rian Wallace. He suffered a fractured bone in his hand, too.

8:55 a.m. ET

Roster Moves

Two new Redskins on the field today.

The Redskins have signed offensive lineman Fred Matua and defensive tackle Zarnell Fitch, the team has announced.

Matua is 6-2 and 315 pounds. He was a 2006 seventh-round draft choice by the Detroit Lions. He spent time on the Cleveland Browns practice squad last year. He played college ball at USC.

Fitch is 6-3 and 320 pounds. He was a 2006 undrafted rookie pickup by the New York Jets and also played for the Baltimore Ravens. He played college ball at TCU.

The Redskins have waived defensive lineman J.T. Mapu and offensive lineman Kerry Brown. They could be placed on injured reserve if no other team picks them up.

Mapu suffered a knee ligament injury and Brown sustained a shoulder injury in Friday's practice.

9:01 a.m. ET

More Scrimmage Stats

Wasn't able to include all of the stats in Saturday's scrimmage recap. Here are some more notable stats from the sheet compiled by the Redskins Public Relations group:

Colt Brennan was 4-o-f7 for 22 yards and Derek Devine was 2-of-6 for 14 yards.

Horace Gant had two receptions for 26 yards, but also a dropped pass.

Billy McMullen had two catches for 22 yards, plus a touchdown grab that was called back due to a penalty.

Eric Shelton led the ground game with four carries for 15 yards. Marcus Mason had five carries for nine yards.

Demetric Evans had one tackle and two pass deflections.

Along with his scrimmage-ending interception, Cedrick Holt added two tackles and a forced fumble.

9:15 a.m. ET

RBs On Pass Routes

Rumor is that practice will be cut short after an hour, following Saturday's strenuous scrimmage.

Marcus Mason ran to the left, then cut across the middle to haul in a pass from Jason Campbell.

Next play, Nehemiah Broughton ran the same route, except to the right, and grabbed a pass from Todd Collins.

Short passes are a trademark of most West Coast offenses. Get used to them.

9:20 a.m. ET

Raymer's Back

Former Redskins center Cory Raymer visited Redskins Park to watch practice from the sidelines.

Raymer keeps close ties with several former teammates, including Jon Jansen.

Raymer played for the Redskins from 1995-2001 and again in 2004-05.

9:20 a.m. ET

11-on-11 Work

Tight end Jason Goode ran a perfect route and was wide open 20 yards downfield. The pass was high, but he leaped up and had the ball in his grasp. He could not hang on.

First play of 11-on-11 work for Jason Campbell: a muffed snap with Casey Rabach.

On the next play, Jason Campbell dropped back and saw his primary and secondary receivers covered. He pump faked twice. Then he looked to the left and threw a quick pass to Todd Yoder for a solid pickup.

Next play, same thing. Jason Campbell looked off his first two options. The pocket was collapsing, so he scrambled ahead for yardage.

Antwaan Randle El pulled in a Jason Campbell pass across the middle of the field, but Danny Verdun-Wheeler had solid coverage and kept Randle El in front of him.

Santana Moss pulled up in front of cornerback Matteral Richardson and pulled in a 20-yard pass.

Under center, Jason Campbell recognized the defensive formation. He saw Matteral Richardson was coming in on a blitz and pointed it out. Ladell Betts picked up Richardson's blitz, giving Campbell time to complete a pass to Santana Moss.

Randy Thomas pushed defensive lineman Kevin Huntley to the outside, giving Jason Campbell time to complete another pass to Santana Moss.

Again, Jason Campbell throws to Santana Moss, who makes a catch in stride as cornerback J.T. Tryon races over to push Moss out of bounds.

9:33 a.m. ET

Derek Devine

The battle for the No. 3 quarterback is between Derek Devine and Colt Brennan.

Late in Sunday's practice, Devine took the reps against the first-team defense.

His first two passes were off the mark, prompting one fan to remark that Devine is not making a strong bid for a roster spot.

This first-team defense could make anyone look bad, though.

Devine completed his first pass, a slant to Horace Gant, for a nice gain.

His next pass was tipped away by Reed Doughty.

Devine rolls left and throws a deep pass to Burl Toler, who was in triple coverage. Fred Smoot, Doughty and Shawn Springs were all in the vicinity, and Toler had to pull up to have a shot at the ball. The pass fell incomplete.

On the next play, Devine scrambled right, then left. As soon as he turned left, Jason Taylor broke free of his blocker and had a clear shot at Devine for a sack.

Last play of the practice, Devine threw his best pass: he connected with Toler in stride on a pass downfield. Toler slipped past Doughty's tackle and raced downfield for a solid gain.

9:45a.m. ET

Chris Samuels

Left tackle Chris Samuels started to increase his workload on Sunday. Stephon Heyer had seen most of the action with the first team early in training camp.

Samuels had minor elbow surgery in late June, so coaches decided to rest him in the early part of training camp.

"It feels pretty good right now," Samuels said after practice. "We'll test it out probably Monday or Tuesday."

Asked for his thoughts on training camp, Samuels said: "It has been pretty cool for me. I haven't been able to go through any contact at this point. Overall, I think everything is going well for the team. The coaches are doing an excellent job."

10:10 a.m. ET

Chris and Joey Revisited

Chris Cooley met up with Joey Filetto, Jr., again after practice. The two of them sat down for an interview with a television reporter.

Cooley bragged on Joey's throwing arm and asked if he would rather be a quarterback or a punter.

"Quarterback," Joey replied.

Cooley said it felt like Joey could be his little brother.

"I woke up this morning and knew I was going to meet him, and thought how awesome it was that he was looking forward to it," Cooley said. "It was very cool. I wanted to show him a good time.

"We had some fun, threw the ball around, we ran some plays. It was a good day not just for him, but for me, too."

Added Cooley: "It is really cool to make someone's day like that. It is unfortunate when someone has to deal with [leukemia], especially as young as he is. He is a football player; he is a quarterback.

"To be able to have him come out, hang out and meet all of us was awesome. It was good for us."

10:24 a.m. ET

End of Day

Jim Zorn cancelled the Sunday afternoon practice session, giving players a much needed break.

It gives me a needed break, too. I'll take it.

Marcus Washington was the last Redskin off the practice field. He stayed late to sign autographs.

Several fans chanted, "Marcus! Marcus! Marcus!"

Joked Washington: "Sounds like we have a choir over here. Maybe you guys should be in Sunday school."

1:14 p.m. ET

Storms

It's a good thing that Sunday afternoon's practice was cancelled.

Ominous thunderstorms rolled through the Ashburn, Va., region about 15 minutes ago.

Huge chunks of hail are pounding down around Redskins Park.

Hail to the Redskins indeed. More like Hail on the Redskins.