Problems with the Defense, IMHO

[djnemo65]

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).

[HailSkins81]

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.

[SmootSmack]

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.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

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

[steveo395]

Originally Posted by TheMalcolmConnection

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

frost is horrilbe...i have no idea why we got him, he blows

[#56fanatic]

Originally Posted by TheMalcolmConnection

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

Thank you. I have been saying this the past few weeks. This guy might hit a good one every 5 punts. The punting yesterday was awful. The one that he needed to get down the field at the end of the game, was an awesome 31 yards, giving the Raiders the ball on our 45 or so. Tupa last year would keep the field posting in our favor ALL GAME. I think our punting game has been over looked. Its awful. The guy is a killer in terms of field position.

[#56fanatic]

I believe our Defensive unit played better regarding the pass coverage. Moss never really got into a groove and pissed off most of the game. How does Marshall, a Middle LB, get assigned to cover Porter? That is twice in the past couple of games teams have got that match up. Last week in Tampa he was beet down the middle of the field by a WR,(galloway) and this week. What kind of defensive call is that? And again, late in the game we are blitzing when we have gotton absolutely no pressure on the QB all day. And again we give up two or three big plays at the end of the game when we need to control the Raiders and keep them infront of us. But we blitz, and get burned for 30 by moss. Blitz again and get beat by Jordan out of the backfield for 20. Its the same ole story game after game.

Gibbs deserves some blame too. 4th quarter, up by 3, with little over 7 minutes left. Three straight passes? what the hell is that. Portis was averaging alost 5 yards a carry and we come out 3 straight passes, two of them deep down the field. That is horrible. And again, I think we get the ball back, and again throw the ball two of the three downs. We got out coached, first, and out played second.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by #56fanatic

Gibbs deserves some blame too. 4th quarter, up by 3, with little over 7 minutes left. Three straight passes? what the hell is that. Portis was averaging alost 5 yards a carry and we come out 3 straight passes, two of them deep down the field. That is horrible. And again, I think we get the ball back, and again throw the ball two of the three downs. We got out coached, first, and out played second.

Didn't Gibbs catch hell from a lot of us last week for running late in the game? Now we throw and he's still hearing it from us. Guess it just goes to show the most popular decision is the one that works.

[#56fanatic]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Didn't Gibbs catch hell from a lot of us last week for running late in the game? Now we throw and he's still hearing it from us. Guess it just goes to show the most popular decision is the one that works.

Not from me buddy, you can go back and look at the posts I put up. I thought running the ball last week was the right think to do. This week it was the right thing to do also. dont throw me under the bus in regards to jumping on the ship every week. I call it like I see it. We should have been able to grind out 2 stinking yards last week, didn't and lost. We should have run the ball this week, and we didn't. Portis I think had like 6 to 8 carries in the second half. And we are freakin winning. We were plaing like we were down 13 points instead of up 3. It was bad play calling, nothing else. You dont come out and throw the ball 3 straight times, with 7 min to go in the game, and leading. its flat out rediculous!! Then, GW and again blitzes late, and again we get burned down the field. Moss on the 20 yarder on the side line, then Jordan coming out of the back field. Dont they watch any gamefilm and keep track of Norv and what he does. Go back to his days in Dallas, Miami, and now the Raiders, the back always catches balls out of the back field. He obviously watched our tapes and knew when we were blitzing and knew he had that play in his pocket and used it at just the right time. Good call on his part. and bad call on our D again this week. And the punter isn't getting off easy either, he sucks donkey dicks. This guy could n't punt the ball 40 yards with wind at his back. All day long he is punting the ball 30 yards. At the end of the game, when we needed a deep punt to pin them inside their 30, he hits a long ball of 31 yards and they start at midfield. Last year, Tupa kept the field position in our favor. This is two weeks in a row, late in the game our punter has given our D a very short field to work with.

[funandgunner]

I think the problem is that the redskins don't play with intensity and at 100% the whole game. The offense gets complacent when they are up and only tries to turn it up when they are behind. The defense is the same way - they usually wait until the other team is in the redzone and then they start to get fired up. That's why the score is always close - except for the San Fran game.

BTW, I don't believe in ever giving 110% - there is no such thing as giving MORE than your all. Hey redskins, where's your heart ? The redskins fans have more passion and heart than the players right now.

[SUNRA]

Originally Posted by djnemo65

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.

[djnemo65]

Originally Posted by SUNRA

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.

[Longtimefan]

Originally Posted by SUNRA

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.

[itvnetop]

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.

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

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.