FAIRFAX, Va. -- The Washington Redskins have added a new element this week in the quest to make their player-run practices look and feel like the real thing.
On Wednesday, a friend hired by quarterback John Beck stood atop a 10-foot metal platform with a camera, videotaping the plays.
"It's tough when you don't have tape to go back and critique," Beck said. "That's really the story of the lockout -- just doing what we can. It would be ideal if we could be at our facility with our coaches, talking with them, watching their tape, but we can't. Even though it's very basic, we can still learn a lot from this."
Beck bemoaned that he couldn't review his footwork and coverage reads after the first two player-run minicamps in April and May. When the players reconvened Tuesday for the first day of a three-day camp, he had his friend standing on the top row of the bleachers. Tight end Chris Cooley suggested using the platform instead to provide a better angle.
The players are reviewing the tape in the evenings at Cooley's house.
"After having two weeks of not watching it and watching it for the first time yesterday, it's nice to be able to go back, spend an hour and see how you're running, see what your routes look like," Cooley said. "I felt like here were adjustments that I was able to make today after just watching some subtle things instead of just coming out and running."
Early during Wednesday's practice, Beck launched a tight spiral but overthrew tight end Logan Paulsen. That's one play certainly worth reviewing.
"We can sit down and look at Logan's route," Beck said. "Did he come out of it well? If he did, now I can take a hair off the ball. He might say, 'I didn't come out of it well. Your ball was on the money.' You can say was it A, B or C, and now can we (fix) that."
Wednesday's workout was attended by 32 players, including former Redskins cornerback Justin Tryon, now with the Indianapolis Colts.
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press