Sudfeld looked uncomfortable with the pass rush. He threw a pass right at linebacker Terance Garvin, who returned it for a touchdown. On the next play, Sudfeld overthrew wide receiver T.J. Thorpe and the ball landed in the hands of cornerback Jeremy Harris.

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As the first-team defense began a “defense” chant with the fans participating, Sudfeld was intercepted by cornerback Lloyd Carrington. He didn’t get a chance at a return, because the defensive players on the sideline stormed the field.

“It was a good, all-around effort by the defense,” Gruden said.

Gruden didn’t use his starters during the period because he wanted to get a better look at the backups. Quarterback Kirk Cousins led the first-team offense on a 16-play, 90-yard drive on Thursday that was capped with an eight-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Pierre Garcon.

“Today, I really wanted to feature the twos and threes and make sure they got the reps,” Gruden said. “And in the meantime give some of the ones a little bit of rest. They did some good one-on-one work, they did some good seven-on-seven work and first-and-10 work.”

Other observations from Day 9:

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● Running back Matt Jones returned to practice after dealing with knee soreness. He split first-team repetitions with Chris Thompson. Left tackle Trent Williams received another day off for the same issue. The Redskins also practiced without wide receiver Jamison Crowder (hamstring), tight end Jordan Reed (sprained thumb), nose tackle Terrell Powe (heart arrhythmia) and linebacker Steven Daniels (torn labrum). Gruden said he held out Williams, Crowder and Reed as a precaution with the team having Saturday off.

● McCoy had a pretty good practice. He made some nice throws against the second-team defense and displayed his ability to improvise outside the pocket. On one play, McCoy couldn’t find anyone open down the field and rolled out to his left to avoid the rush. He patiently waited to find wide receiver Rashad Ross open in the near corner of the end zone for a touchdown.

● Left guard Arie Kouandjio had one of his best outings during the one-on-one period. Although he has struggled at times during this portion of practice, Kouandjio proved to be hard to move against both starters and backups. He stood his ground against defensive end Chris Baker, who fell down on the rep. Kouandjio stepped over Baker in Allen Iverson fashion, causing Williams to yell at Baker, “Get up, Ty Lue!”

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● Rookie running back Keith Marshall displayed some power during an 11-on-11 period when he ran over cornerback Quinton Dunbar. Dunbar wasn’t pleased, and, on the next play, he made up for it. He wrapped up Marshall on a run play to the left side and forcefully threw him to the ground to make a statement.

● The Redskins continue to mix in players at left guard and nickel. Spencer Long received first-team reps over Shawn Lauvao, while Washington went with Kendall Fuller over Dashaun Phillips as the first-team nickel cornerback. It appears that Gruden will continue to rotate players at those positions in order to give everyone a fair shot at earning the role.