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Redskins' Kelly May Get a Shot
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He continued to rest as the Redskins prepared to face the Steelers in Week 9 and relaxed during the bye week. Kelly rejoined his teammates as they prepared for last week's game against Dallas. Although Kelly did not experience knee problems, Zorn decided not to activate him against Dallas, which rallied in the fourth quarter for a 14-10 victory. Kelly expressed confidence he would have been ready, but Zorn had doubts, Hixon told Kelly.
"Coach Zorn felt like I knew most of my stuff, but there was some stuff I still had questions on 'cause I missed so much time," Kelly said. "If he dressed me out, he was going to put me out there a lot, Stan was saying, and he didn't want to put me out there knowing that I didn't know everything."
During practice last week, Kelly proved he could go "full speed" again, he said. His goal this week is to demonstrate to Zorn he has an improved understanding of the offense.
"I mean, three weeks without practicing, and then you've got another two or three weeks before that where I would go out in the beginning of the week," the knee would hurt and he would miss practice, Kelly said. "This week, I can kind of do both. I can go full speed and also run my routes. I went through a whole week of practice and didn't have any problems out of it. Now I can just make sure I have everything down with what I'm supposed to do out there. Just to help him have that confidence in me."
Drafted from Oklahoma with one of Washington's three second-round picks, Kelly (6 feet 4, 219 pounds) is the biggest wide receiver on the roster. Things began well for Kelly, 21, who made a good impression in training camp with his receiving and blocking skills.
Zorn and offensive coordinator Sherman Smith envisioned running special plays for Kelly, whose height and leaping ability could create matchup problems in the red zone. But Kelly, whom Zorn criticized for his poor conditioning at the beginning of training camp, struggled with those recurring knee problems and learning the playbook.
"When you're injured, everybody says, 'Stay in the film room, stay in your playbook,' but it's one thing to look at it on paper," Kelly said. "If you're getting no reps at it, it's totally different once you get out there. But I know I'm getting back to where I need to be."
