Secondary a Primary Concern

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by Ruhskins

I hear Morris is very good at couching a team, just look at this masterpiece:

LOL! That is my dyslexia I usually catch myself.

[skinsguy]

Not sure if I can answer this until I've seen them play in a few regular season games. I DO think we're going to need to address the secondary pretty soon though, because if we're winning games, then we're probably going to have to score a lot of points!

[mlmpetert]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Instead they chose Cedric Griffin, with the expectation that he'll primarily line up opposite Josh Wilson with DeAngelo Hall in the nickel replacing Kevin Barnes.

On average, starting corners I believe get about 20-25% more snaps than the nickel. To be clear though, I suspect that Hall will largely be the starter but when a nickel situation is called for, Cedric won't come in to play nickel he'll come in to replace Hall and Hall slides to cover the slot receiver. We'll know for sure soon enough.

First ill state that its always been hard for me to decipher exactly what we are doing defensively. It became a lot harder since we switched to the 3-4 with Hasslett using seemingly much more complicated packages and having people all over the place disguising coverage. And of course TV cameras dont do a great job of showing coverage on the live play. Maybe the NFL showing all 22 angels will help me in time.

With that said I always thought what you stated would would be the best way to use Hall. The way he plays and his size / abilities seem best suited as a nickelback to me, yet considering our short comings at corner you want him on the field as much as possible (well, sometimes....) .

So is that the prevailing thought, that Hall is best suited as a nickel? Does anyone know about how often we shifted Hall into the nickel last year and how well it seemed to work? Any other teams that do this (the "number 1" corner shifts to nickel) as regular thing?

[skinsfan69]

Unless the pass rush can bail them out, it's going to be a real long year in the secondary.

[CrazyCanuck]

RG3 will make the secondary better. :thumb:

[Lotus]

Before we all get too doom and gloom here, perhaps we should remember that the Pats and Giants both suffered from some poor secondary play last year yet they played in the big dance. I know that this is not simple are there are many factors in play regarding this. But the point remains that a problematic secondary can be overcome.

[The Goat]

Originally Posted by Lotus

Before we all get too doom and gloom here, perhaps we should remember that the Pats and Giants both suffered from some poor secondary play last year yet they played in the big dance. I know that this is not simple are there are many factors in play regarding this. But the point remains that a problematic secondary can be overcome.

Here, here let the wisdom of the Lotus be heard. Just as some of us have said RGIII and the WRs can compensate for struggles across the oline, a defensive front seven can compensate for a struggling secondary. I thought of the Giants but the Pats are a good example as well.

And Morris' coaching is a major positive for the secondary. He will find ways to cover up his group's weakness, the question is to what extent...

[44Deezel]

Originally Posted by The Goat

Here, here let the wisdom of the Lotus be heard. Just as some of us have said RGIII and the WRs can compensate for struggles across the oline, a defensive front seven can compensate for a struggling secondary. I thought of the Giants but the Pats are a good example as well.

And Morris' coaching is a major positive for the secondary. He will find ways to cover up his group's weakness, the question is to what extent...

And the Giants were dead last in Rushing. Saints D had issues, so did the Packers. The Niners and Ravens were probably the most complete teams, but every team has holes. The panic over the O line and secondary seems a little over the top. Skins won 5 games with a QB who turned the ball over 26 times and lost his starting job to a guy fighting for his life to be the third string QB in Houston this year.

All that matters this year is whether or not we found our franchise QB. The O line is plenty good. It may not be the best in the league, but Beck and Rex were hardly running for their lives last year and we ran the ball well, especially late in the season when our backups were playing. RG3 will have every opportunity to succeed.

[Mechanix544]

Originally Posted by CrazyCanuck

RG3 will make the secondary better. :thumb:

best quote of the year. I dunno, he likes the long ass bombs. Gotta get him to sustain some drives to keep our gaping wound from becoming an INFECTED gaping wound. The way I see it, the less the secondary is on the field, the better our prospects of winning games. There is no question that the secondary concerns me alot more than the OLine with a ridiculously mobile, young quarterback, as well as some decent rushers. Without a top notch safety and no additions of real "starting" value made this offseason, Josh Wilson is now our premier player in the secondary.

That is not a particularly endearing thought.

[redskins5044]

The secondary has been a weakness of this team for a while. Last year we improved to 13th overall defense, with pretty the same guys, only added verteran FA's that no one else wanted. If our pass rush can improve with Kerrigan having another year under his belt and having Jenkins playing this year. IMO Orakpo needs to have a big year this year, he needs to get to the QB, he has not been able to get to QB consistently. I think if we can be more active up front then it can hide some of the weaknesses in the secondary to an extent. Thats what the coaching staff is hoping for i think.

[punch it in]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

Unless the pass rush can bail them out, it's going to be a real long year in the secondary.

Exactly - see the Giants

[SmootSmack]

Primarily S from what I'd heard

[Chico23231]

Shanny talking about Barnes off the Kiem's report:

9. By the way, Barnes also broke up a pass along the sidelines intended for Anthony Armstrong (the play in which Armstrong hurt his shoulder). Coach Mike Shanahan likes Barnes playing outside (he struggled mightily in the slot last year).

“Kevin has got great speed. He’s got length and I really felt like his best position is being the outside where he can concentrate on just jamming people,” Shanahan said. “We had him inside last year playing the nickel position. It didn’t work out as well as I would have liked. I thought if he concentrated just on the outside receivers, his jams, and his off-coverage that he would improve. I like what I’ve seen so far.”

Looks Shanny likes Barnes playing the outside, i would agree

[firstdown]

This article pretty much talks about moving D Hall to the slot as SS was talking about. It also has a few quotes from DH about improving this year after last year.

After down year, Hall vows a return | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com

[mooby]

I think our secondary play will depend on the pass rush. If our pass rush can dominate it will cover up our secondary's deficiences, because opposing qb's won't have time to throw. If opponents' o-lines can shut down our pass rush, we could see our secondary getting torched out there. A good pass rush can help hide a weak secondary. And our secondary definitely qualifies as weak.