Problems with the Defense, IMHO

There are two problems for this year: first, except for Griffin our d-line is mediocre. Second, and this is scary to deal with, it looks like our entire defense could only be slightly above mediocre as well. We all knew, or at least suspected that this might be the case before the beginning of last season, but seemed to forget it after our defense so severely overachieved. Drunk on our own success, every last person on this board - and I absolutely include myself in this - forgot that we are a defensive of relatively pedestrian talent - at least on paper. Moreover, we all forgot that our defense had played above its abilities, remarkably, for an entire season, and would have to continue to overachieve to maintain that level of success. We all praised the genius of Greg Williams, deservedly so, and took it for granted that with Lavar back 21 points a game from the offense this year would get us 14-2.

The key to all of this was the exotic blitz packages that no one could seem to find an answer for. That, and smart linebacker play (led by Pierce) to check the run. We could get to the qb and force a rushed throw on third and long. This disguised the weakness of our front four as well as our relatively mediocre coverage skills, particularly with our second and nickel CB's. Now that teams have learned how to effectively parry any blitz we bring (seemingly 100 percent of the time) it is becoming clear that we don't have the coverage skills downfield to effectively defend the pass. Which brings me back to my first point, that our defensive line is lacking. Until we can count on the guys up front to consistently generating pressure ala Carolina, we are going to continue to get burned.

I know someone will argue that we played well defensively today; that we only gave up 16 points and stood strong at the end of the game. And that's true. But this is the third straight game where our defense had the whole field to stop our opponent with the game on the line and couldn't do it (I'm counting the end of the Eagles game because of the ease with which they got in scoring position, even though we stopped them in the redzone). I'm not trying to beat up on our defense. I love their heart and character, and admire the success they have had as a unit. I'm just suggesting that maybe we need to reevaluate how good we really are.

Sorry this was so long but these last two games have caused alot of emotion to build up inside and this is the best way I can think of to vent (I tried punching my coffee table but that didn't work).

Seems like we blitz more in the first half, and the second half when we do blitz, the offense always finds the hole we blitz from.


The QB's jerseys have been too clean.

Nice post. Having such a good defense may have been the worst thing that could have happened to us. We, we being mainly the Redskins front office, figured that GW could work his magic again. And maybe he can, but they definitely need to give him some more talent. But it could also be a situation where they have talented players just not getting enough playing time-Rogers, Clemons brothers, Boschetti, Killings.

Honestly, I think a fair amount of the blame can be put on Frost for not kicking good punts when he needed to.

There are two problems for this year: first, except for Griffin our d-line is mediocre. Second, and this is scary to deal with, it looks like our entire defense could only be slightly above mediocre as well. We all knew, or at least suspected that this might be the case before the beginning of last season, but seemed to forget it after our defense so severely overachieved. Drunk on our own success, every last person on this board - and I absolutely include myself in this - forgot that we are a defensive of relatively pedestrian talent - at least on paper. Moreover, we all forgot that our defense had played above its abilities, remarkably, for an entire season, and would have to continue to overachieve to maintain that level of success. We all praised the genius of Greg Williams, deservedly so, and took it for granted that with Lavar back 21 points a game from the offense this year would get us 14-2.

The key to all of this was the exotic blitz packages that no one could seem to find an answer for. That, and smart linebacker play (led by Pierce) to check the run. We could get to the qb and force a rushed throw on third and long. This disguised the weakness of our front four as well as our relatively mediocre coverage skills, particularly with our second and nickel CB's. Now that teams have learned how to effectively parry any blitz we bring (seemingly 100 percent of the time) it is becoming clear that we don't have the coverage skills downfield to effectively defend the pass. Which brings me back to my first point, that our defensive line is lacking. Until we can count on the guys up front to consistently generating pressure ala Carolina, we are going to continue to get burned.

I know someone will argue that we played well defensively today; that we only gave up 16 points and stood strong at the end of the game. And that's true. But this is the third straight game where our defense had the whole field to stop our opponent with the game on the line and couldn't do it (I'm counting the end of the Eagles game because of the ease with which they got in scoring position, even though we stopped them in the redzone). I'm not trying to beat up on our defense. I love their heart and character, and admire the success they have had as a unit. I'm just suggesting that maybe we need to reevaluate how good we really are.

Sorry this was so long but these last two games have caused alot of emotion to build up inside and this is the best way I can think of to vent (I tried punching my coffee table but that didn't work).


While I agree with most of your thread, I have to disagree about with your assessment of the mediocrity of the defense. Walt Harris has been the target of myself and several others who have watched him miss tackles, play the receiver while never looking over his shoulder to play the ball. If you take away the plays he alone has given up you have a win against the Bucs last week. Agree? Just look at how he has fallen to all time low in covering the 2# wideouts. Not the 1#. The people that are scoring on him are no-names. The loss of Smoot is definitely felt at this juncture. But no reason crying over spilled milk. This team needs a face lift. Starting with the secondary and working its way to the WRs.

The stats don't lie. The Redskins have been the most balanced team on offense and defense most of the season. What has happened is, everyone anticipates the blitz and Williams is not changing his approach.

While I agree with most of your thread, I have to disagree about with your assessment of the mediocrity of the defense. Walt Harris has been the target of myself and several others who have watched him miss tackles, play the receiver while never looking over his shoulder to play the ball. If you take away the plays he alone has given up you have a win against the Bucs last week. Agree? Just look at how he has fallen to all time low in covering the 2# wideouts. Not the 1#. The people that are scoring on him are no-names. The loss of Smoot is definitely felt at this juncture. But no reason crying over spilled milk. This team needs a face lift. Starting with the secondary and working its way to the WRs.

The stats don't lie. The Redskins have been the most balanced team on offense and defense most of the season. What has happened is, everyone anticipates the blitz and Williams is not changing his approach.

I don't have the stats to back it up but based on my observations it seems that Williams certainly has changed his approach, that he blitzes significantly less this year. That's been part of the problem. We don't have the pass rush or coverage skills to play a standard cover-2 without exotic blitzing, even though we've had to. Take away our blitzing and it seems to me we are indeed pretty mediocre.

do you guys think that the loss of pierce is bigger than we thought? seems like a bunch of big plays were given up by guys out of position- pierce was excellent in making sure everyone was lined up correctly before the snap.

While I agree with most of your thread, I have to disagree about with your assessment of the mediocrity of the defense. Walt Harris has been the target of myself and several others who have watched him miss tackles, play the receiver while never looking over his shoulder to play the ball. If you take away the plays he alone has given up you have a win against the Bucs last week. Agree? Just look at how he has fallen to all time low in covering the 2# wideouts. Not the 1#. The people that are scoring on him are no-names. The loss of Smoot is definitely felt at this juncture. But no reason crying over spilled milk. This team needs a face lift. Starting with the secondary and working its way to the WRs.

The stats don't lie. The Redskins have been the most balanced team on offense and defense most of the season. What has happened is, everyone anticipates the blitz and Williams is not changing his approach.


Remember, Football games are won and lost in the trenches. After watching our team play the last few weeks there can be no doubt our lines (both offense & defense) need shock treatment. Problem today: that ugly head called lack of pass rush.

I totally agree longtimefan. We need a pass rush in a big way. I hope we get a legitimate pass-rusher in the offseason. But, I think our cap situation precludes the acquisition a big free-agent. Plus, don't expect to get a quality pass-rusher through the draft when we don't have a 1st rounder and pass-rushers are rarely found in a rookie class.

I've been screaming for a pass rusher for as long as I can remember. It's disappointing to me that this team has not been able to adequately replace Bruce Smith, who was by no means a top flight pass rusher with the Skins, but the closest we've had in years. I can't believe that the FO has been unable to pick one up or that they just don't care to.