RICHMOND, Va. -- Theres no quarterback controversy at Washington Redskins training camp. Instead, theres plenty of optimism coming off a division title.Kirk Cousins is the unquestioned starting quarterback, even if he doesnt have a long-term contract and will be playing on the franchise tag. Coach Jay Gruden doesnt expect Cousins contract status to be a distraction at what is mostly a distraction-free camp.The contract will take care of itself, Gruden said Wednesday on the eve of the teams first workout. We wont have any conversations about the contract, about his future contracts, any of that stuff. All were going to focus on is this year and him getting better and being the best quarterback he can possibly be.Cousins maturation as a quarterback is the biggest reason for positivity after the Redskins surprisingly won the NFC East before losing at home to the Packers in the wild-card round. The Redskins cut Robert Griffin III as expected, and the 2012 No. 2 pick is trying to rejuvenate his career in Cleveland.Meanwhile, Cousins will make $19.95 million on the franchise tag, and the expectations are high for him after throwing for 4,166 yards and 29 touchdowns.Hes got a year out of film, people are going to study on him and hes going to have to study other people and prepare himself no differently, and were going to coach him no differently, Gruden said. Hes a great football player, made great strides last year. Were all excited about it. But hes got to continue that progress.Gruden wants his entire team to continue making progress and has already seen a noticeable improvement in the quality and quantity of in-house talent from when he arrived. And homegrown players will be counted on more than Washington first thought because of injuries.The Redskins wont have Junior Galette after the outside linebacker tore his right Achilles tendon, a rough development after he missed last season with a torn left Achilles tendon. Gruden said Galette was devastated but that the team will adjust, perhaps giving more responsibilities to young players such as Preston Smith, Houston Bates and Lynden Trail.For this football team, injuries are part of the game, Gruden said. We have to rebound. ... We still have some good pass rushers in here, and theyre going to have to produce.The Redskins could shift converted defensive lineman Trent Murphy back to outside linebacker, Gruden said, but thats not the plan for now.Its also not the plan to find outside help at running back behind Matt Jones, where Washington lacks any significant NFL experience. With Alfred Morris gone, Jones will shoulder the load, and the Redskins hope to get what they need from Chris Thompson, Mack Brown and seventh-round pick Keith Marshall.We have some guys in the building were going to look at, Gruden said. And if it doesnt work out, were always looking -- every position. The scouting staff have their eyeballs across the league and whos available. But hopefully we dont need to go that route, but if we do, there are going to be good players we can talk about.During his camp-opening news conference, Gruden praised the good players the organization is in the process of developing. One of those was safety Kyshoen Jarrett, but a shoulder injury and nerve damage from the season finale in Dallas led to his release on Monday.Gruden said the news never came out to be good enough on Jarrett and hopes he can function in normal life outside football.Game notes Gruden said guard Shawn Lauvao (torn ligaments in left ankle) is feeling well and hopes hell be able to practice at some point during training camp. ... The Redskins signed receivers Kendal Thompson and T.J. Thorpe to fill out their 90-man roster.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys .J. -- Josh Cribbs was in the Pro Bowl in February and out of a job six months later. NHL Jerseys Outlet . Coach Tom Thibodeau says the former MVP will probably start travelling with the team in the next few weeks. Rose tore the meniscus in his right knee at Portland in November and was ruled out for the remainder of the season by the Bulls. https://www.chinanhljerseys.us/ . Now, correct me if Im wrong but I saw one official distinctly pointing at the net indicating a good goal but after an inconclusive review they overturned the goal. Shouldnt the ruling on the ice (good goal) stand after an inconclusive review? Why was this overturned? James Veaudry Pembroke, ON -- Hey Kerry, Youll get a lot of these, but why was the Montreal goal against Nashville Saturday night overturned? Eller puts the puck on net and the on ice ruling from the ref behind the net is a Montreal goal. Custom NHL Jerseys . -- Edmontons Val Sweeting is two wins away from a trip to Winnipeg to play in Canadas Road of the Rings in December. Wholesale NHL Jerseys .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. RIO DE JANEIRO -- American sabre fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad had spoken so often and movingly about her life as an openly observant Muslim and African-American woman at this particularly tense juncture in world events, it was easy to forget sometimes that her Olympic journey was about delivering a medal along with her message.But the athlete in the 30-year-old Muhammad showed up Monday midway through her Round of 16 match at the Rio Summer Games against Frances Ceclia Berder. Muhammad was fighting to stay in the Olympics. She got frustrated over a lost lead and then a series of calls, and the white-hot competitiveness she always told us was in her -- Trust me, she often said with a laugh, its there -- came spilling out.Muhammad pulled off her masked helmet and began talking to the referee after Berder went ahead, 11-7. Scoring is always highly subjective in fencing, especially when both fencers clash blades or trade touches at nearly the same instance. The athletes often both pump a fist at the same time, trying to buy a call or lay claim to the same point. But this time, Muhammad got a yellow card warning. Her early 6-2 lead and the match had changed to the rallying Berders favor now, and a few moments later, the ninth-ranked Frenchwoman, who sat one slot behind Muhammad in the world rankings, stopped Muhammads Olympic run two wins short of the medal round with a 15-12 loss.#USA fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad made history 2day: She is the first American to compete in a hijab. #fencing pic.twitter.com/mllDimffb8- Rio 2016 (@Rio2016_en) August 8, 2016After that, it took the deeply disappointed Muhammad more than an hour to arrive at the postmatch media area. But when she did, the advocate who has caught attention in America and beyond for the grace of her message and eloquence of her example, was standing here again. She was asked to put her remarkable journey to this point in perspective. As usual, words didnt fail her.Someone suggested perhaps it had been a burden to undertake all she had done -- training at the same time she was speaking out tirelessly about being the first American Olympian to compete in a hijab; taking on what she calls misconceptions about Muslims in general, and specifically Muslim women like her who wear modest clothing in observance of their faith -- but she answered the same way she always has.Its been a blessing, Muhammad insisted.I feel like things meant for me will never miss me, she added. And I realize this moment is bigger than me. No matter what happens in my life, I try to accept it for what it is, whether its winning or losing. I realize even with hard work, sometimes you may fall short. I worked so hard for this moment. But at the end of the day, I feel this is part of being in sport and representing my country and the Muslim community. So I always end every single match with the same sentiment, and thats that Im thankful to God for the experience, for allowing me to even be present in this moment.She was smiling now.I think this was written for me. It just fell the way it did.Muhammad, who grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey, before attending Duke University, still has another chance to win a medal here in Rio when the U.S. women compete in the team sabre competition. But she hasnt elaborated much on her plans beyond that.The witnessing she did over the past two years, in particular, pushing back against the anti-Muslim rhetoric that has heated up around the world, both within and without the Muslim community, and her message of tolerance earned her widespread attention. Everyone from sports networks to political figures, womens organizations to religious groups sought her out. Entertainers such as Stephen Colbert and Ellen DeGeneres put her on TV, President Obama asked her to take part in a discussion panel when he made his first visit as president to an American mosque, and Time magazine named her among its 100 most influential people of 2016 and elaborated on her story.But nobody tells the story as well as Muhammad herself.Monday, she patiently, calmly, sometimes humorously recapped parts of it again in the cattle-chute media zone underneath Carioca Arena 3 for the latest wave of people whod never heard it before.ddddddddddddShe stressed how honored she was to represent the U.S. and the transformative effect sports has had on her life. She talked movingly about how she was struck at Fridays Opening Ceremony by sports beautiful ability to bring people of different cultures together under this umbrella for one purpose. ... I think thats the most important thing I take away from my whole experience at the Olympics. This whole message of tolerance.She also spoke of hearing from girls on social media who say she has inspired them to consider doing things theyve been discouraged from doing. She only obliquely alluded to the various examples she has given over these many months of how she herself has been discriminated against for wearing her hijab. (There was a stranger in Times Square who asked her if shes a terrorist who intends to blow something up; the South by Southwest security worker who smirked when she declined to remove her hijab while going through the medical detector, even though she explained she wore it for religious reasons. Yeah, well, youre in Texas now, he said.) Monday, she preferred to dwell on the takeaway she hopes people get.Muhammad was asked to name the biggest misconceptions she still fights, and she said: That someone is forcing me to wear hijab. That Im oppressed. That I dont have a voice. Anyone who knows me knows Im very vocal. ... Very comfortable expressing myself. She stressed what shes doing is not just to challenge misconceptions outside the Muslim community, but also within the Muslim community. I want to break cultural norms. I want to show girls that its important to be active, its important to be involved.Has she been successful changing peoples minds?I hope so, she said. I dont know necessarily what is going through everyones mind at this moment.Unless she reconsiders plans to retire from fencing, her Olympic career will end after the sabre team competition later this week.She hasnt said what she intends to do after the Olympics, beyond continuing to run her online clothing business, Louella, which makes modest clothing for religiously observant women. A couple of questions about the coming elections in November didnt tease out any of her plans, either. But its hard to imagine her sitting quietly on the sidelines given how Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump - a target of hers before -- has called for a national registry for all Muslims, much like some convicted criminals must now do. Muhammad has already called such talk a throwback to dark times in our nations history.It is hard to imagine her fading away quietly now.I think anyone who listens to the news reports at all would realize the importance of having a Muslim woman on Team USA, she said. Its not just any team, its the United States of America. And in light of whats going on in our country, the political thoughts that we hear about -- all these things -- I feel kind of circle back to my presence on Team USA and, again, just challenging those misconceptions that people have about who the Muslim woman is.Its almost like how could you not see that Muslims are like any other group, you know? We are conservatives and we are liberals, there are women who cover and women who dont. There are African-American Muslims, there are white Muslims, there are Arab Muslims. There are so many different types of Muslims. There are so many Muslim countries that have had women as their heads of state. Those are things that I want people to be aware of.If Muhammad is right -- if this indeed has all been written for her, and things intended for her will not miss her -- its smart to stay tuned. Her time in the 2016 Olympic spotlight is almost over. But Ibtihaj Muhammad is not the kind of woman whos inclined to sit on the sidelines for long. Already, she has made the conversation about race and religion in America more intelligent with her voice and example. It will be fascinating to see what she undertakes next. ' ' '