Most rookies hear about the heightened speed of the NFL game, but they don't really understand the difference from the college game until their first snap.

Rookie Maurice Hurt had three months of Redskins practices to get ready for it.

How did he do in his first NFL start in last Sunday's game vs. San Francisco?

By all accounts, Hurt made a good first impression.

"Guys are pretty fast and strong in practice, so I was prepared," he said. "The tempo [of the game] was fast and it may have taken me a second to adjust to it, but I think I did okay."

Head coach Mike Shanahan said he was pleased with how Hurt played, especially when he was matched up with 49ers defensive end Justin Smith.

"I thought he did an excellent job for his first game in the NFL against a very good football player," Shanahan said. "I thought he did a pretty good job run blocking, a pretty good job against pass protection against guys that were very talented – a very experienced group, at least the defensive end was very experienced. He went against a guy who knows all of the tricks."

Smith posted three tackles in the game, with one quarterback hurry.

Hurt and the Redskins' offensive line yielded just one sack in the game, a 19-11 Redskins defeat. The offense totaled just 52 rushing yards but the ground game was mostly abandoned in the second half when the Redskins fell behind by two scores.

Hurt is expected to start again this Sunday vs. Miami.

"Whatever they want me to do, I'll be there," he said.

Hurt joined the Redskins as a 2011 seventh-round draft pick out of the University of Florida.