***OFFICIAL*** Washington Redskins 2011 Off-Season Thread (5 Viewers)

[fatness]

John Keim's notes from yesterday

1. LT Trent Williams (knee/toe) was limited in practice, but said he was “able to run around a little bit.” He’s not limping as badly as he was Wednesday, but he definitely is still walking with a limp. It sounds as if the pain in the toe is what bothers him; a shot of cortisone could clear that up, if they decide to go that route.

3. Williams is listed as questionable, along with six other players: WR Anthony Armstrong (groin), DL Albert Haynesworth (ankle), S Chris Horton (ankle), S LaRon Landry (wrist) and RB Clinton Portis (wrist). DL Anthony Bryant suffered a concussion Wednesday and won’t play. That has to mean Haynesworth would be active; unless the Redskins want to use only one nose. Can’t imagine that’s the case.

10. Keep this in mind when watching the game: St. Louis likes to pass the ball to its left. That means DeAngelo Hall could be bored and Carlos Rogers could be active. That is, if the Redskins don’t move Hall around and have him cover the top receiver (Mark Clayton)

Torain's ability to play special teams has to help considering Armstrong and Horton both are questionable and haven't done much this week. As a running back, I'm curious to see what Torain can do, but I thought he ran too upright in the preseason and did not have a lot of burst through the hole. I was intrigued by him entering camp and disappointed exiting. Maybe it was just some rust; guess we’ll get a chance to see.

 

[fatness]

Kareem Moore

The current crop of safeties is close-knit, but Landry says he feels especially comfortable with Moore back there with him. Defensive backs had waited so long for Moore to be a regular contributor, which is why it was so frustrating when the knee injury sidelined him for four weeks.

"It was just tough because you knew he was ready. You saw it out there everyday," Landry said. "And with us together, I mean, we definitely had it going to where we just knew."

More Moore

Here’s one reason why the Redskins are happy to have Kareem Moore back at safety. He has a natural rapport with Landry and that makes a difference. Moore is good at anticipating what Landry is going to do and will compensate in coverage, perhaps shading a little more one way to protect Landry – or to help him make plays. “They have a feel for each other and how they’re gonna move,” Redskins safeties coach Steve Jackson said. “Kareem is more instinctual, where some of the other guys are more by the book, and that [instinct] gives one player more leverage to make a play.”

 

[Johnny Ice]

Trent Williams practiced some today and said he's ready to play if Shanahan says it's ok.

I hope he's not rushing back and then does more damage.

 

[Marvelous]

The apparent decline of Chris Horton.

I hope Kareem Moore plays on Sunday.

One thing to note: Horton is really more of a SS than a FS. Like Landry last year, Horton is really out of position at FS.That said, I think his debut and instant impact was kinda of a fluke. He is probably more a marginal starter/backup as a SS.

 

[Marvelous]

Brandon Banks being released to make room for Torain.

I have to agree with this. They kept Banks on the roster and then would not use him.

This is actually a very encouraging sign for Devin Thomas. Maybe he will see some offensive snaps this week.

 

[fatness]

Keys to Victory

3. Contain Steven Jackson » The Rams running back is fantastic and can control the games, keeping St. Louis close. With a rookie quarterback, having a strong run game is imperative – just ask Mark Sanchez last season. Jackson, who has size and speed, has run for 183 yards combined the past two years vs. Washington. The Rams are 1-1 in those games. Nose tackle Maake Kemoeatu and right end Kedric Golston must be more sound vs. the run.

 

[fatness]

11 questions about the Redskins/Rams game

2. Will Trent Williams play? Man, after seeing him limping around Wednesday I’d be stunned if he were able to go. He was looking better Friday, but still had a slight limp. Perhaps he could take a cortisone shot to help the pain in his toe, but with what Washington has upcoming -- Philly, Green Bay and Indy – I’d make sure he’s right. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s 60-40 that he doesn’t play. But that’s really just a guess. I would expect Albert Haynesworth to play.

3. Does it matter who replaces Williams if he doesn’t play? Well, you always want to put the best guy out there. I have two thoughts: one, Chris Long is the Rams best D-end and he plays mostly on the left side. He’s more of a run stopper, so why not leave a stronger player against him. That would be Jammal Brown. However, the Rams love to blitz and that means you need someone more capable of handling that. Brown is better than Stephon Heyer every day of the week in that regard. But no matter where Heyer plays, the Rams will try to exploit him. Heyer has been brutal at left tackle in his career, which is one reason I pause when thinking, “Disrupt the line as little as possible and leave Brown at RT.” If you do that, you should also do a sign of the cross.

4. What is a sign of trouble for Washington? If they’re not able to contain Steven Jackson. The Redskins couldn’t really do so the past two years in Washington and, guess what, two close games followed.

Also, Maake Kemoeatu and Kedric Golston need to do a better job vs. the run. Both might be better suited as backups.

 

[fatness]

LaRon Landry moves around a ton and often has the ability to blitz on his own – if he sees certain things, for example. Also, having Kareem Moore back will enable them to disguise more defensively; he’s just faster than Reed Doughty so they can wait a little longer to reveal their coverage. He also does a good job playing off of Landry; he’s not afraid to veer off a little from what the coaches want. Doughty played it by the book.

 

[fatness]

Just read this from Rich Tandler. This is a big, big problem if it continues.

In terms of plays, the Redskins offense has run 114 (only four NFL teams have run fewer) while the defense has been on the field for 152 (second-most in the league).

Examples

Against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1, there were some overt indications that the Redskins were fatigued during the second half. Several players were down on the field at various times with cramps. The Redskins had to survive a late Dallas drive to get out of FedExField with a victory.While there weren’t any cramping issues against the Texans, there are signs that the Redskins ran out of gas. Up until the last minute of the third quarter, Matt Schaub was on pace for a pretty good day, but not a near-historic performance. Before tossing a 50-yard screen pass to Arian Foster, and then throwing a six-yard touchdown pass on the next play, the last of the third quarter, Schaub had 239 yards passing. From the Foster screen to the end of the game, Schaub passed for 258 yards to finish three yards shy of the 500-yard mark.

 

[Sebowski]

Big Al speaks

Haynesworth says there are "zero distractions"

(By Jonathan Newton - TWP)

Far as I can remember, the last time Albert Haynesworth made a lengthy radio appearance was in March, when he went on SIRIUS NFL Radio and said, among other things, "I don't think I'm built to be a nose tackle, to be honest." As brief as Haynesworth's locker room sessions with the media often are, he's usually eminently quotable when left to talk, but it just hasn't happened much.

Well, that changed on Saturday afternoon, when 106.7 The Fan's Kevin & Rock scored a 15-minute interview with Haynesworth not long after the Redskins' team plane landed in St. Louis. Rick Maese will have a news story on this, but among the highlights were the inevitable question about whether he's been a distraction in this locker room.

(And much credit to Kevin Shafer and Rocky Parrish and their producer, Harrison Weinhold, for landing the second-biggest get in D.C. sports. First is Gilbert Arenas, obviously.)

Anyhow, about that locker room....

"There is zero, zero distractions or animosity or anything in the locker room," Haynesworth said. "I mean, we're a team, we're family, we're brothers. We're always joking, always acting crazy and all that stuff. I mean, there's nothing from the locker room. Everything is outside. I can say that and put my hand on the Bible and everything. I promise you. There is nothing like that happening in the locker room. I mean, it's a perfect locker room. I mean, right up to the packages and stuff."

(That last line was a joke about Clinton Portis. And not a bad one, either.)

Haynesworth was also asked -- for the first time, I believe -- about the much-discussed shot from the Cowboys game of him by himself, looking unhappy, while many defensive teammates met behind him on the bench.

"Well, they don't have a camera on me all the time, but my face is always like that during the game," he said. "You can go back to when I was back in Tennessee with the Titans, I never sat down, never went to the [in-game] meetings, it was always my coach came up to find me, because I'm at a point in the game, I'm so focused I don't want to be 'coached' right there. Tell me if we've got a change [in strategy], or tell me if I bust something, but don't 'coach' me. You've got all week to coach me, don't wait for Sunday to start coaching me, so I've never sat down and been in meetings or been on that little sideline bench thing or whatever. That's just who I am and things I've done since I can remember."

He said mostly the right things about Mike Shanahan, saying that things have been better between the two of them recently, but he also didn't back down when asked about the perception of him being unwilling to switch positions.

"I guess in this world we don't have a lot of people with backbones," he said. "Just because somebody pay you money don't mean they'll make you do whatever they want. I mean, that means everything is for sale. I mean, I'm not for sale. Yeah, I signed the contract and got paid a lot of money, but just because, that don't mean I'm for sale or a slave or whatever. We agreed upon coming to that [contract] that I'd play defensive tackle and not nose guard and all that other stuff. I was signing with a 4-3 team. It was a lot of promises and stuff like that, but now, it's been better, dealing with Haslett, and we run a lot of 4-3 stuff and you'll see that tomorrow."

Also:

Haynesworth on the fame: "I'm just normal. I don't really like the spotlight, to be honest. I like just to play football and be normal, be a guy that can go to Walmart and just hang out or just be a normal guy. That's what I like. I don't like the fame or whatever notoriety that comes with this job, but I do love the game, love to play it."

Haynesworth on buying flatscreens for Redskins employees last year: "The ladies that work for us and stuff, they do a lot for us, I got them TVs....The equipment room guys and the training room guys, guys that definitely help us out. Every year, every team I've been on, they always got money from guys, or a few hundred dollars, and everybody put that in a pot and they would split it and divide it and give it to them. Well, instead of just giving that,I decided just to go and do TVs or something like that, and this year too I'll do something else, something else cool that I'll give em."

Haynesworth on the future: " I mean, I'm just here. I can't predict what can happen in the future, but right now, I'm just trying to get better and help this team win and definitely give my best and get back up to being the most dominant defensive tackle in the game."

I don't think Shanny is very happy about Al saying we'll be doing some 4-3 tomorrow. Other than that it all sounds pretty good. Maybe this is still salvageable.ETA: Ried added this quote from the same interview.

"I really get to get after the quarterback more than I did last year. Last year it wasn't a focus on sacks and stuff like that. A lot of people say well how could you say that, we had 40 sacks. I mean, a lot of that just happened just because it just happened. Like [brian Orakpo] getting 11 sacks. I mean, the way we focus on pass rushing now is a heck of a lot better than what we did last year, and you should see more sacks from that, hopefully, especially if we're up."

 

[KnowledgeReignsSupreme]

Taking STL +4 today.

 

[ChrisCooleyFan]

Taking STL +4 today.

Sorry to hear about your losses

 

[Don Quixote]

I was reading that Gano might need to punt today. That will be interesting.

 

[KnowledgeReignsSupreme]

Taking STL +4 today.

Sorry to hear about your losses

Hi.

 

[ChrisCooleyFan]

Taking STL +4 today.

Sorry to hear about your losses

Hi.

I suck, but our Skins suck worse

 

[ChrisCooleyFan]

Shut the EFFFFFF UP HALL!!!!!! How many times did you get beat???????

 

[Eastwood]

boy, not much to say after this turd performance. The D is just horrible.

 

[KnowledgeReignsSupreme]

Taking STL +4 today.

Sorry to hear about your losses

Liking this call.

 

[ChrisCooleyFan]

Taking STL +4 today.

Sorry to hear about your losses

Liking this call.

they have loss 13 of there last 14 road games

 

[ChrisCooleyFan]

And the McNabb less Eagles are in 1st place in the division

 

[MikeApf]

Next 3 = Philly, Green Bay, Indy...we are looking at 1-5 to start off the season.

St. Louis just dropped 30 on us. Wow.

 

[fatness]

I'll admit it: I've got the creeps about playing the Rams.

And with good reason. The recent past has shown that the Skins have always played down to their competition. They are clearly superior talent wise to St. Louis. It will be a telling game. Last week showed more of the same (finding a way to lose). If they go out and dominate this team and win by 2-3 TDs as they should, it could be a sign that things are truly different.

While I don't agree that they are 2 or 3 TD's superior to the Rams, I do think the Skins are a bit better team. But we fans always tend to overestimate how good the Skins are in the early part of each season. And then they lose to bad teams, and our assessment of them moves from "good" to "good but loses to inferior opponents" to "maybe not so good after all" to "thud". So I don't know how much better they truly are. To me, they should win this game by 7 or more, but if they don't, or if they lose, then we've fooled ourselves again. They were 4-12 last year, and almost lost to the Rams without Bradford. I can't forget that.

Once again, we fans overestimated. This is not a good team.How about that 3-4 defense!!!

 

[Sebowski]

I always thought switching to a 3-4 was a mistake. It will take a lot of time (years) to get that down right with the proper personnel. But it's done. Fine. Nothing I we can do about it.

What really pissed me off today is abandoning the run for no reason at all. The line was doing a great job run blocking. And what's up with leaving Portis out for so long? He was killing it.

 

[buster c]

Classic Snyder-era Redskin performance. This franchise became cursed the moment the petulant little rich boy took over.

the last 6 rookie QB's to face the Skins are 6-0

 

[towney]

I always thought switching to a 3-4 was a mistake. It will take a lot of time (years) to get that down right with the proper personnel. But it's done. Fine. Nothing I we can do about it. What really pissed me off today is abandoning the run for no reason at all. The line was doing a great job run blocking. And what's up with leaving Portis out for so long? He was killing it.

Agree, but this could be the direct result of Shanny. Don't get the love for Torain over Portis.

 

[Warrior]

I always thought switching to a 3-4 was a mistake. It will take a lot of time (years) to get that down right with the proper personnel. But it's done. Fine. Nothing I we can do about it. What really pissed me off today is abandoning the run for no reason at all. The line was doing a great job run blocking. And what's up with leaving Portis out for so long? He was killing it.

Agree, but this could be the direct result of Shanny. Don't get the love for Torain over Portis.

When Portis was drained, they put in Torain, it's as simple as that. I love Portis, but he gets gassed quicker than any other starting RB in the NFL. One 8 yard run and he's off to the sidelines.

 

[Marvelous]

My assessment of the St. Louis game:

1. The Redskins were clearly not ready to play at the begining of the game. It really has the looks of a team that overlooked their opponent.

2. The defense really does stink. Despite all the exotic blitzes and odd formations, there was little pressure on Bradford. The run defense was poor when Jackson was in. It was poor when Darby was in. If the defense needs a stop, they are unlikely to get it.

3. Portis sat out extremely large portions of the game. Keiland Williams got some carries. The Ryan Torrain got a lot of carries. Then they were behind and a pass only team. There did not appear to be any pattern (running plays vs. passing downs), so it does not appear Shanahan is saving Portis for any particular role.

4. Devin Thomas did not see the field on offense. If he could not this week, he probably never will. They had one 4 wr formation where Keiland Willaims was lined up outside as a wr.

5. Outside of Moss, the wrs really are that bad. I think Galloway had 0 catches. Roydell 1. not good at all. And Thomas cannot get any playing time with this group of receivers.

 

[delusional]

McNabb must feel at home...bad wrs cept 1...little to no running game ( not used in philly )...cept the defense is just REALLY bad.

 

[Nightly Mistake]

McNabb must feel at home...bad wrs cept 1...little to no running game ( not used in philly )...cept the defense is just REALLY bad.

Let's not do this.

 

[fatness]

I always thought switching to a 3-4 was a mistake. It will take a lot of time (years) to get that down right with the proper personnel. But it's done. Fine. Nothing I we can do about it. What really pissed me off today is abandoning the run for no reason at all. The line was doing a great job run blocking. And what's up with leaving Portis out for so long? He was killing it.

Shanahan has a history of bad defenses and firing defensive coordinators, doesn't he? If it's not obvious to the head coach by now that the defense is failing then he's not so bright. Taking an OK defense, putting the players in an entirely new scheme to which many of them are not suited, and watching them fail this badly isn't coaching. It may be "being in charge", but it isn't coaching. It's Zornish.Leaving Portis out for so long looks very much to me like a team without a clue what to do. "Let's try this!" isn't a strategy. Portis did better than either other RB and they sat him. The people leading the team are beginning to look a bit clueless.

 

[VaTerp]

I always thought switching to a 3-4 was a mistake. It will take a lot of time (years) to get that down right with the proper personnel. But it's done. Fine. Nothing I we can do about it. What really pissed me off today is abandoning the run for no reason at all. The line was doing a great job run blocking. And what's up with leaving Portis out for so long? He was killing it.

Shanahan has a history of bad defenses and firing defensive coordinators, doesn't he? If it's not obvious to the head coach by now that the defense is failing then he's not so bright. Taking an OK defense, putting the players in an entirely new scheme to which many of them are not suited, and watching them fail this badly isn't coaching. It may be "being in charge", but it isn't coaching. It's Zornish.Leaving Portis out for so long looks very much to me like a team without a clue what to do. "Let's try this!" isn't a strategy. Portis did better than either other RB and they sat him. The people leading the team are beginning to look a bit clueless.

The 3-4 defense is an absolute failure thus far. Weren't we told that they would be mixing up the fronts and it would not be a traditional 3-4. Well I see a lot more 1 and 2 man fronts than any 4 man. Even in short yardage situations we are going with 3 down linemen when it's clear that we get ZERO push up front. The inability to adjust scheme to the personnel and what works is awful coaching.As for the running game, I have no problem with leaving Portis out. Torrain was just as effective. And even though Portis was having by far his best day of the year he still runs like he's too concerned with protecting himself. He fell down without being touched another 2-3 times and the QB slide he did in the open field was AWFUL. The real problem was why they chose to abandon the running game in the 2nd half when it was still a tight ball game. And Kyle Shanahan has a problem calling plays in the red zone. It happened in Houston last year and its happening here this year. To think, last Sunday with the Skins sitting on a 17 pt lead and looking to be 2-0 I had such hope for the "new" directioni of this franchise. Now it looks like more of the same. Short term planning, ego getting in the way of making decisions, and a team that is once again a joke.

 

[omally]

When Portis was drained, they put in Torain, it's as simple as that. I love Portis, but he gets gassed quicker than any other starting RB in the NFL. One 8 yard run and he's off to the sidelines.

I don't think it is as simple as that. I don't think Portis was drained when they put Torain in.

 

[ROBOPUNTER]

McNabb must feel at home...bad wrs cept 1...little to no running game ( not used in philly )...cept the defense is just REALLY bad.

Let's not do this.

I agree. He should of said except.

 

[fatness]

Clinton Portis had his strongest first-half performance of the season, with six carries for 45 yards, including a long run in the first quarter of 27 yards (which inexplicably ended when he fell down untouched. In the second half, he got one carry for minus-1 yard. (The team had 115 rushing yards in the first half and one in the second half.)

I'm guessing a lot of people are very surprised at Sunday's performance by the Redskins, especially in two areas: red zone production, or lack thereof, and the defense's inability to get a stop on third down.

The Rams, who are clearly a better team than they were a year ago, converted seven of 16 third downs behind a rookie quarterback and without their starting running back for much of the game. (Heck, they were 2 for 2 on fourth down.) The Redskins converted just once on third down, and were 0 for 3 in the red zone.

In the past few seasons, the Rams have become a bellwether for the local outfit. In 2008, the Rams stunned the Redskins, 19-17, at FedEx Field. St. Louis won just one other game that season. The Redskins, who had won on the road the previous two weeks against Dallas and Philadelphia, spent the second half of that season folding like a rickety card table.

Last year, the Redskins eked out a 9-7 victory over the Rams in Week 2, and while it was a victory, it felt more like a defeat. By the end of that game, fans at FedEx Field were booing their team's first win of the season, and so began the first faint drumbeats calling for then-Coach Jim Zorn's head, or failing that, his job.

And now comes this setback.

Tracee Hamilton

 

[fatness]

The 3-4 defense is an absolute failure thus far. Weren't we told that they would be mixing up the fronts and it would not be a traditional 3-4. Well I see a lot more 1 and 2 man fronts than any 4 man. Even in short yardage situations we are going with 3 down linemen when it's clear that we get ZERO push up front. The inability to adjust scheme to the personnel and what works is awful coaching.

I couldn't agree more. It's like they're playing without a defensive line at all, with middle LB's who are not big enough to take on the offensive linemen they're now required to take on, and with an outside LB who overreacts to everything and is just lost in space (Carter). The defense is going to get the snot beat out of them if something isn't changed.

 

[KnowledgeReignsSupreme]

The change in tone from last week to this week in the posts here is astounding.

 

[Nightly Mistake]

When Portis was drained, they put in Torain, it's as simple as that. I love Portis, but he gets gassed quicker than any other starting RB in the NFL. One 8 yard run and he's off to the sidelines.

I don't think it is as simple as that. I don't think Portis was drained when they put Torain in.

Putting Torain in was fine if you're trying not to give Portis 100% of the carries, which is prudent. Fine so far. Torain looked more explosive on his first couple of carries than Portis has all year, so they stuck with him some more. Fine again. Torain came back to earth though, but they never really went back to Portis after that, and that's where I take issue.

 

[scoobygang]

The change in tone from last week to this week in the posts here is astounding.

Hey, I was mocking DeAngelo Hall last week, when mocking DeAngelo Hall wasn't cool.I'm perveresely enjoying just how historically bad this defense is. The only thing that would have increased the unintentional comedy would be if LaRon Landry had done a little more posing yesterday.

 

[Nightly Mistake]

The 3-4 defense is an absolute failure thus far. Weren't we told that they would be mixing up the fronts and it would not be a traditional 3-4. Well I see a lot more 1 and 2 man fronts than any 4 man. Even in short yardage situations we are going with 3 down linemen when it's clear that we get ZERO push up front. The inability to adjust scheme to the personnel and what works is awful coaching.

I couldn't agree more. It's like they're playing without a defensive line at all, with middle LB's who are not big enough to take on the offensive linemen they're now required to take on, and with an outside LB who overreacts to everything and is just lost in space (Carter). The defense is going to get the snot beat out of them if something isn't changed.

I got news for you - Orakpo pretty much sucks in space too, but at least he can successfully rush the passer and make standard plays you'd expect of a DE - Carter can't even get off of blocks. I still can't believe that they thought this group of front 7 players could make a good 3-4 defense. EVERY player of note in the front seven is a 4-3 player: Fletcher, Haynesworth, Orakpo, Carter. McIntosh, who has adapted relatively well to the ILB role is still best used as a 4-3 WLB. But this team is so poor at the LB position (they'd be LB-poor even if they started only 3 of them) that they're using Lorenzo Alexander as another LB! Think about that - a former OG turned DT/DE is now a LB! And he actually looks pretty good relative to the other square pegs they've got playing out there! I've tried to be patient with this even as I expressed concern in the preseason, but this is precisely the clusterfubar that I feared it would be.

 

[Fat Nick]

The 3-4 defense is an absolute failure thus far. Weren't we told that they would be mixing up the fronts and it would not be a traditional 3-4. Well I see a lot more 1 and 2 man fronts than any 4 man. Even in short yardage situations we are going with 3 down linemen when it's clear that we get ZERO push up front. The inability to adjust scheme to the personnel and what works is awful coaching.

I couldn't agree more. It's like they're playing without a defensive line at all, with middle LB's who are not big enough to take on the offensive linemen they're now required to take on, and with an outside LB who overreacts to everything and is just lost in space (Carter). The defense is going to get the snot beat out of them if something isn't changed.

Agreed. Basically, the way I see it, our 3-4 works sufficiently when you have a lead or are facing a passing team. Basically, against the pass, it is sufficient. Against the run, the lack of size at LB and on the line kills us. Basically, the other team's OL gets to the 2nd level and destroys our LB's. So when you get down early, like yesterday, bad things happen. I really expect to see teams go run-heavy against us until we can prove we can stop the run...which I'm not sure we can. A case of life Emulating Madden Football...when I play Madden against a team playing the 3-4, I run up the middle A LOT...I think the Skins will see teams doing this until they can stop it.

 

[southeastjerome]

The 3-4 defense is an absolute failure thus far. Weren't we told that they would be mixing up the fronts and it would not be a traditional 3-4. Well I see a lot more 1 and 2 man fronts than any 4 man. Even in short yardage situations we are going with 3 down linemen when it's clear that we get ZERO push up front. The inability to adjust scheme to the personnel and what works is awful coaching.

I couldn't agree more. It's like they're playing without a defensive line at all, with middle LB's who are not big enough to take on the offensive linemen they're now required to take on, and with an outside LB who overreacts to everything and is just lost in space (Carter). The defense is going to get the snot beat out of them if something isn't changed.

Agreed.

 

[DCThunder]

Anybody know how the snaps broke down between Dockery and Lichtenschtienervich (or what over his name is) at LG? And do we have another center on this team besides Rabach? Any significant fush up the middle is devestating to this team and has been for two or more years....

 

[buster c]

The change in tone from last week to this week in the posts here is astounding.

Hey, I was mocking DeAngelo Hall last week, when mocking DeAngelo Hall wasn't cool.I'm perveresely enjoying just how historically bad this defense is. The only thing that would have increased the unintentional comedy would be if LaRon Landry had done a little more posing yesterday.

sometimes you gotta to keep from

 

[scoobygang]

Agreed. Basically, the way I see it, our 3-4 works sufficiently when you have a lead or are facing a passing team. Basically, against the pass, it is sufficient.

I don't know how anybody could conclude this after the Texans game. They got up 17, forced the Texans to become one-dimensional, and gave up almost 600 yards.I don't see anything this defense does well. They got five sacks agains the Texans, but had to blitz 75% of the time to do it. They're not a good blitzing team, but they're far, far worse dropping seven into coverage.

 

[Sylira21]

The 3-4 defense is an absolute failure thus far. Weren't we told that they would be mixing up the fronts and it would not be a traditional 3-4. Well I see a lot more 1 and 2 man fronts than any 4 man. Even in short yardage situations we are going with 3 down linemen when it's clear that we get ZERO push up front. The inability to adjust scheme to the personnel and what works is awful coaching.

I couldn't agree more. It's like they're playing without a defensive line at all, with middle LB's who are not big enough to take on the offensive linemen they're now required to take on, and with an outside LB who overreacts to everything and is just lost in space (Carter). The defense is going to get the snot beat out of them if something isn't changed.

Agreed. Basically, the way I see it, our 3-4 works sufficiently when you have a lead or are facing a passing team. Basically, against the pass, it is sufficient.

I'm not sure I see that. Currently we're giving up 325 yards per game passing, with a 67% completion rate. The Skins also have seen more pass attempts against them than any team in the league (although that's gotta be partially due to our complete absence of a running game). Conversely, the running defense has looked somewhat all right, 11th in the league with 98 ypg allowed. Might be partially due to the types of games we've played.Three games is a small sample. And it is early times, maybe they will start getting the hang of the schemes more. But it is depressing that in the last two games we've been absolutely thumped in the fourth quarter. Our guys too old? Not in good enough shape? Wearing out?

 

[Sidewinder16]

The change in tone from last week to this week in the posts here is astounding.

Oh how quickly we forget to "stay medium". I allowed myself to get a little optimistic after the first 2 weeks, too, but even back at the start of TC most of us knew there would be significant growing pains for this season. I'd love for the team to have grown in leaps and bounds, but this is going to take time, and anyone not thinking that at the moment just needs to remember that not much has really changed in last month or so.

 

[Sidewinder16]

Weren't we told that they would be mixing up the fronts and it would not be a traditional 3-4. Well I see a lot more 1 and 2 man fronts than any 4 man.

Running 1, 2, 3 and 4 man fronts at any given time looks to me like a non-traditional 3-4 that mixes up the fronts. I'm not seeing where they aren't doing what they said they would do.

 

[buster c]

on a positive note, nice to see that the old "home" uniforms will still be used. With the new "old" home uni's and the old "new" road uni's we've got the best of both eras. Be nice to see them supplement the home look with a game or two of the mid-60's arrow helmet uni.

 

[VaTerp]

Weren't we told that they would be mixing up the fronts and it would not be a traditional 3-4. Well I see a lot more 1 and 2 man fronts than any 4 man.

Running 1, 2, 3 and 4 man fronts at any given time looks to me like a non-traditional 3-4 that mixes up the fronts. I'm not seeing where they aren't doing what they said they would do.

My point is that I'm not seeing nearly enough 4 man fronts. For example, in short yardage situations where I think it would better suit our personnel to load up with big bodies, we simply stay in the base 3-4 where our line gets zero push.The 1 and 2 man fronts are fine every now and then and seem to work a few times in disguiding the blitz but as teams have been able to protect against it and pick the secondary apart it comes off much more as gimmicky than effective. And the results speak for themselves.

 

[Nightly Mistake]

on a positive note, nice to see that the old "home" uniforms will still be used. With the new "old" home uni's and the old "new" road uni's we've got the best of both eras. Be nice to see them supplement the home look with a game or two of the mid-60's arrow helmet uni.

I would suggest a different variant on that.