GTripp0012
09-08-2008, 11:32 AM
(For the defensive review, a “successful play” is any unsuccessful play run by the Giants, per the baselines I set in the offensive review)
Greg Blache
When people said that Greg Blache’s schemes were no-nonsense, they weren’t kidding. The Redskins used a 4 man front on all but three plays: and all three of those were goal line stacks where they had 5 men on the line.
Formation Breakdown:
Base 4-3: 39%
4-3 Solid (Washington over TE): 31%
4-3 Stack (2 or more LBs walked up): 6%
*Safety in Box: 8%
Nickel: 14%
Dime: 6%
Goal Line: 4%
*- pertains only to plays in which the Redskins were in a version of the 4-3
When Springs comes back healthy, Blache is going to want to make use of the nickel formation a lot more often — it should be the Redskins’ best. One of the most interesting things I found is that in the Nickel formation, it’s Marcus Washington that comes off the field for the extra DB. On Thursday, Justin Tryon was active, and served as the dime back on four plays. He was never targeted.
Blitz Tendencies:
5+ rush: 36%
6+ rush: 15%
7+ rush: Once
Safety Blitz: 18%
Corner Blitz: None
DL coverage: Once (Griffin)
Greg Blache appears to be a big fan of the safety blitz. Bringing your safeties on nearly 1/5 of all passes? He does seem willing to bring extra pressure when he thinks it can get there. The Redskins were very successful when they blitzed…although from the mid third quarter on, the Redskins never sent more than 5 guys at the snap. The Griffin coverage was a play in which the Redskins were caught in a nickel package when the Giants went with 5 WRs, so they dropped him into a middle zone.
Pass defense
Pass Rush (2 sacks):
No hits on Eli Manning tonight, which is a bit disturbing, but they did sack him twice and hurry him often.
Hurries/Sacks
Andre Carter: 3 Hurries, 1/2 Sack
Reed Doughty: 3 Hurries
Kedric Golston: 2 Hurries
Chris Wilson: 1 Sack
LaRon Landry: 1/2 Sack
Anthony Montgomery: 1 Hurry
Lorenzo Alexander: 1 Hurry
Demetric Evans: 1 Hurry
Jason Taylor: 1 Hurry
Jason Taylor was largely ineffective in his Redskins debut, partially due to his knee, and partially due to the amount of double teams he saw…all of which is fine by the Redskins and Andre Carter who had the first of many very productive days this year. Given all the hurries and the two sacks, it would be inaccurate to say the Redskins generated no pass rush on Thursday, but there is room for improvement. Lorenzo Alexander really impressed me vs. the pass, and Kedric Golston played the best of any lineman on our team in the first quarter, but he got a bit banged up and Montgomery played almost the whole second half.
Passes defensed/Interceptons
Fred Smoot: 1 Interception, 1 Pass defensed
Carlos Rogers: 2 Passes defensed
LaRon Landry: 1 Pass defensed
Smoot played really, really awful prior to his Hip Pointer, he was toasted all day. Landry didn’t have his best game either. The linebackers certainly didn’t help things: you just have to get underneath that curl route to Burress.
Carlos Rogers did play very well. A few times, Burress was able to get the best of him, but he’s developing into a No. 1 corner type quickly, and he’s capable of locking down Marques Colston next week. Now, if only he would catch the football.
The secondary, overall was the bane of the defense in the first half, but it’s play did not drop off when Smoot got hurt. Springs’ return should improve the quality of this unit, but the linebackers must step up in the future.
Overall consistency of pass defense, as measured by success rate:
18/38 = 47%
Lots of room to improve, and just a slightly below average day, but overall a good start to the season against what looks to be a top passing offense. Once the pressure started to get there, the Giants couldn’t get anything going.
Run defense
Alright, run defense. This didn’t go over quite so well. Brandon Jacobs rushed for 116 yards on only 21 runs, good for 5.52 yards per attempt. Jacobs is a top ten RB in the NFL, but things will only get harder when the Redskins have to play the Cowboys and Eagles. The Giants line also looked very cohesive and was a handful for our front seven. Kevin Boss probably got away with 10-15 holding calls.
Defensive Line:
The Giants ran at Jason Taylor early and often with a lot of success. He’s never been good against the run, and with the knee, he’s just a sitting duck back there. Kareem McKensie might have taken his wallet. Taylor did not finish the game, as the coaches opted to give Evans some reps at LE. Andre Carter fared much better on the right side vs. the run, as he has really developed his three years here as a run defender. The starting tackles were disappointing. Golston and Griffin held their own for a while, but got driven off the ball on some of those crucial 10-20 yard runs. Griffin got better against the run as the game went on, but Golston did not return in the second half. Anthony Montgomery took his place and — one really horrible play aside in which he was driven back about 8 yards — he brought some stability to the run defense. Monty is a bit underrated as a pass rusher, but he’s certainly the best run stopping DT we have. L. Alexander can be moved by interior linemen, though I wouldn’t want to have to block him when he is rushing the passer.
Linebackers and Reed Doughty
The linebackers struggled with overpursuit all day, causing some nice lanes for Jacobs. I thought, minus one or two poor tackling plays, Reed Doughty played pretty well vs. the run. London Fletcher put in just another day at the office, though it seems whenever he made the smallest mistake, the Giants would capitalize it for a nice play. Things he got away with last year are going to cost the Redskins this year vs. the run. Marcus Washington and Rocky McIntosh each made one terrific individual play, which gives me hope for the future, but they also both made a handful of mistakes in overpursuit, which gives them something to improve on this year.
Overall consistency of run defense, as measured by success rate:
16/31 = 52%
This stat paints a rosier picture because the Redskins defended Derrick Ward well. It also goes a long way to suggesting that the Redskins should have no trouble handling a poor rushing offense. The gap discipline was pretty good, all things considered, so the Redskins should be able to correct their run defense issues by next week.
Overall efficiency, as measured by success rate:
34/69 = 49%
Not a bad debut as Redskins DC by Greg Blache, and a promising beginning versus a powerful offense. There are improvements required in key areas, such as with the linebackers, but the health of Shawn Springs should give this team the boost it needs to remain a top ten unit if it can stay healthy elsewhere. The only issue I took away from today was Fred Smoot’s lack of cover ability — we’ll watch how that turns out in future games.
Greg Blache
When people said that Greg Blache’s schemes were no-nonsense, they weren’t kidding. The Redskins used a 4 man front on all but three plays: and all three of those were goal line stacks where they had 5 men on the line.
Formation Breakdown:
Base 4-3: 39%
4-3 Solid (Washington over TE): 31%
4-3 Stack (2 or more LBs walked up): 6%
*Safety in Box: 8%
Nickel: 14%
Dime: 6%
Goal Line: 4%
*- pertains only to plays in which the Redskins were in a version of the 4-3
When Springs comes back healthy, Blache is going to want to make use of the nickel formation a lot more often — it should be the Redskins’ best. One of the most interesting things I found is that in the Nickel formation, it’s Marcus Washington that comes off the field for the extra DB. On Thursday, Justin Tryon was active, and served as the dime back on four plays. He was never targeted.
Blitz Tendencies:
5+ rush: 36%
6+ rush: 15%
7+ rush: Once
Safety Blitz: 18%
Corner Blitz: None
DL coverage: Once (Griffin)
Greg Blache appears to be a big fan of the safety blitz. Bringing your safeties on nearly 1/5 of all passes? He does seem willing to bring extra pressure when he thinks it can get there. The Redskins were very successful when they blitzed…although from the mid third quarter on, the Redskins never sent more than 5 guys at the snap. The Griffin coverage was a play in which the Redskins were caught in a nickel package when the Giants went with 5 WRs, so they dropped him into a middle zone.
Pass defense
Pass Rush (2 sacks):
No hits on Eli Manning tonight, which is a bit disturbing, but they did sack him twice and hurry him often.
Hurries/Sacks
Andre Carter: 3 Hurries, 1/2 Sack
Reed Doughty: 3 Hurries
Kedric Golston: 2 Hurries
Chris Wilson: 1 Sack
LaRon Landry: 1/2 Sack
Anthony Montgomery: 1 Hurry
Lorenzo Alexander: 1 Hurry
Demetric Evans: 1 Hurry
Jason Taylor: 1 Hurry
Jason Taylor was largely ineffective in his Redskins debut, partially due to his knee, and partially due to the amount of double teams he saw…all of which is fine by the Redskins and Andre Carter who had the first of many very productive days this year. Given all the hurries and the two sacks, it would be inaccurate to say the Redskins generated no pass rush on Thursday, but there is room for improvement. Lorenzo Alexander really impressed me vs. the pass, and Kedric Golston played the best of any lineman on our team in the first quarter, but he got a bit banged up and Montgomery played almost the whole second half.
Passes defensed/Interceptons
Fred Smoot: 1 Interception, 1 Pass defensed
Carlos Rogers: 2 Passes defensed
LaRon Landry: 1 Pass defensed
Smoot played really, really awful prior to his Hip Pointer, he was toasted all day. Landry didn’t have his best game either. The linebackers certainly didn’t help things: you just have to get underneath that curl route to Burress.
Carlos Rogers did play very well. A few times, Burress was able to get the best of him, but he’s developing into a No. 1 corner type quickly, and he’s capable of locking down Marques Colston next week. Now, if only he would catch the football.
The secondary, overall was the bane of the defense in the first half, but it’s play did not drop off when Smoot got hurt. Springs’ return should improve the quality of this unit, but the linebackers must step up in the future.
Overall consistency of pass defense, as measured by success rate:
18/38 = 47%
Lots of room to improve, and just a slightly below average day, but overall a good start to the season against what looks to be a top passing offense. Once the pressure started to get there, the Giants couldn’t get anything going.
Run defense
Alright, run defense. This didn’t go over quite so well. Brandon Jacobs rushed for 116 yards on only 21 runs, good for 5.52 yards per attempt. Jacobs is a top ten RB in the NFL, but things will only get harder when the Redskins have to play the Cowboys and Eagles. The Giants line also looked very cohesive and was a handful for our front seven. Kevin Boss probably got away with 10-15 holding calls.
Defensive Line:
The Giants ran at Jason Taylor early and often with a lot of success. He’s never been good against the run, and with the knee, he’s just a sitting duck back there. Kareem McKensie might have taken his wallet. Taylor did not finish the game, as the coaches opted to give Evans some reps at LE. Andre Carter fared much better on the right side vs. the run, as he has really developed his three years here as a run defender. The starting tackles were disappointing. Golston and Griffin held their own for a while, but got driven off the ball on some of those crucial 10-20 yard runs. Griffin got better against the run as the game went on, but Golston did not return in the second half. Anthony Montgomery took his place and — one really horrible play aside in which he was driven back about 8 yards — he brought some stability to the run defense. Monty is a bit underrated as a pass rusher, but he’s certainly the best run stopping DT we have. L. Alexander can be moved by interior linemen, though I wouldn’t want to have to block him when he is rushing the passer.
Linebackers and Reed Doughty
The linebackers struggled with overpursuit all day, causing some nice lanes for Jacobs. I thought, minus one or two poor tackling plays, Reed Doughty played pretty well vs. the run. London Fletcher put in just another day at the office, though it seems whenever he made the smallest mistake, the Giants would capitalize it for a nice play. Things he got away with last year are going to cost the Redskins this year vs. the run. Marcus Washington and Rocky McIntosh each made one terrific individual play, which gives me hope for the future, but they also both made a handful of mistakes in overpursuit, which gives them something to improve on this year.
Overall consistency of run defense, as measured by success rate:
16/31 = 52%
This stat paints a rosier picture because the Redskins defended Derrick Ward well. It also goes a long way to suggesting that the Redskins should have no trouble handling a poor rushing offense. The gap discipline was pretty good, all things considered, so the Redskins should be able to correct their run defense issues by next week.
Overall efficiency, as measured by success rate:
34/69 = 49%
Not a bad debut as Redskins DC by Greg Blache, and a promising beginning versus a powerful offense. There are improvements required in key areas, such as with the linebackers, but the health of Shawn Springs should give this team the boost it needs to remain a top ten unit if it can stay healthy elsewhere. The only issue I took away from today was Fred Smoot’s lack of cover ability — we’ll watch how that turns out in future games.