Stopping the run up the middle

[Yomar]

can we do it with the D as is? Wilkinson and Dotson is actually worse than Wilkinson and Stubblefield (although much cheaper), Trotter is an agressive MLB who can be fooled by misdirection and find himself out of position, can we play with what essentially would be 8 men in the box, moving Shade up to play the run and leaving either Champ and/or Smoot with no safety net on 1st and 2nd down? If we do that, pressure on the QB is a must and I am sceptical about the D-Line's ability to generate initial penetration, Champ and Smoot are good, damn good, but give the QB too much time and they will be hung out to dry. just some late night fretting and handwringing on my part, but I do think its a legitimate concern, and I'm not really an advocate for signing Adams, but there ain't much else out there...what to do, what to do...

[Burgold]

Why would you think that Stub and Wilk are superior to Wilk and Dot? When Stubblefield and Wilkenson were paired together for the most part they led the league in yardage allowed or were pretty close to the worst. Last year, Lang and Wilkenson did better, so, you can question whether Dotson is an upgrade to Lang, given age, health, etc. As a pure player, I would think Dotson is more proven and superior. I seem to remember the Green Bay teams playing pretty good defense. But Stubblefield, too often thought he was in spain and the sport was bullfighting. he could have been nicknamed the matador. I think the D-Line will be a weakness this year too, but I think our starting four will be okay as long as there is enough of a rotation to keep them fresh. That's what we really lack, the spectacular and depth. My guess is that Wilk, Dotson, and Wynn will be okay, Smith will be subpar and that as a whole they will function slightly below average, which is okay considering the linebackers backing them up and the secondary giving them more comfort.

[2cents]

Does anyone know how old and how big Dave Butz's kid is?? Dave clogged the run better then most anyone I can recall, boy could we use him now. :notworthy

[Chief skin]

Stubby was a DUD, all he did while he was here was STEAL MONEY

[JoeSkins]

Stubblefield was a dud because of his price tag. We didn't get the SACKS that his paycheck demanded. He was clearly our best run-defensive lineman his entire tenure here, and that cannot be argued. Am I glad he's gone, though? Yes.

[Buddha]

We finished last season ranked a mediocre 20th against the run. We've lost Lang and Coleman and replaced them with Dotson and Wynn-- at the very least a wash. We've added Trotter, clearly the best MLB the team has had in years AND who is decent in pass coverage. We've also added Armstead, a great all-around backer that can fill in at all three spots should LaVar or Trotter be sent after the QB. We have D. Green back with a good cover corner in rookie Rashad Bauman to play dime, and we have David Terrell with an extra year of seasoning under his belt. Oh, and we added one of the best defensive minds in Marvin Lewis to attack the ball more than any Skins D since the Petitbon years.

All of this clearly points to improvement not only for our run defense but also the pass D. And it also means we can wait to see if Adams wants to suit up for us for cheap, either at a 1 year minimum or an inexpensive multi-year deal.

[GatorEye]

Who cares about stopping the run? Teams will be so far behind from our incredible offense, they'll be abandoning the run and doing nothing but passing by halftime

I expect you'll see Champ, Smoot, and Green with plenty of ints. Draft the Skins D for your fantasy team!

[luckydevil]

GatorEye man I hope your right.

[HighOnHendrix]

Originally posted by GatorEye

Who cares about stopping the run? Teams will be so far behind from our incredible offense, they'll be abandoning the run and doing nothing but passing by halftime

I expect you'll see Champ, Smoot, and Green with plenty of ints. Draft the Skins D for your fantasy team!

If you're going to count on our offense to win games when the D doesn't show up, you're gonna be crying by the 3rd commercial. If our offense wins games singlehandedly this year, I will be extremely surprised. If we go anywhere this year, it will be by following the blueprint of the Ravens SuperBowl team. I know that may seem kind of boring to some, but that's what it's going to take this year. Next year ol' Stevie can open up the playbook all the way and go full throttle. But this year will be the D keeping things under control and the O just not giving the game away. Of course, I will be very happy if my whole post turns out to be a bunch of crap and our O scores 35-50 points per game! (Especially against Dallass!)

[Larry]

If this team resembels the Gators, then expect:

A lot more points scored on offense.

The defense to spend a lot more time on the field. (Resulting in a few last-minute losses).

(As long as we don't choke at Doak, I mean, Texas Stadium).

[wildbill]

I say to hell with Adams and try to sign Mike Wells.He wieghs over 300 pounds and could platoon nicely with Datson.

[bulldog]

Coleman is 32 and was hurt most of last season. His performance has slid since that career season in 2000. You won't see 12 sacks out of him again. So, all the talk about how much we lost in letting Marco go is to me overblown considering the athlete that was here and ready to play for us in 2002, not 2000.

Wynn, 27, is younger, stronger and bigger and is a better run defender. He is going to give you the 5 or so sacks that a Coleman has averaged over the course of his career. So, I don't see where that trade player for player makes us worse off.

In the middle, Lang was undersized at 277 but he was also inexperienced playing tackle. He had played some passing downs inside in 2000 but 2001 was his first season playing inside full-time and he made a lot of mistakes as expected for a new guy.

Remember it was the Smith and Lang side of the line that got pulverized by the Cowboys last season. Part of that was size and strength but also Lang being caught out of position and taking bad angles as well.

Dotson is a veteran with SB experience. that should not be underestimated. I don't think he is going to be able to start every down for 16 games at DT at 32, but he can be effective for us if used in the right way.

So, to me there is no dropoff from 2001. In fact with a chance to get Arrington and Armstead involved in pressuring the quarterback and having Trotter inside to help stuff the run, I think the front seven is probably going to be much better than it was last season overall.

If the team is able to find a younger player or two in camp like Leverette or Beck that has enough skill and size to help out on run downs and short yardage, the Skins defense may actually be quite a bit better this time around.

[joe]

Getting the best run defenders on the field for first and second down could mean going to a 3-4 at the start of each game. You play Wynn, Wilkenson and Dodson up front and add Mitchell as a second ILB. Then, after you have stuffed the run with this, you move Arrington to Left DE and put Smith in on the right side. Wilkenson and either Dodson or Wynn remain in the middle, depending on who gives you the better pass rush.

[bulldog]

I still want to see what Beck at 329 and some of the other youngsters have to offer inside as run stoppers. the odds are at some point a guy is going to walk into camp that can hold his own inside, with or without the ability to get upfield on the rush.

I agree that Dotson could see some time at end this season, he mentioned as much when he was signed.

[redman]

Originally posted by bulldog

the odds are at some point a guy is going to walk into camp that can hold his own inside, . . .

You'd think so, but we've been stunningly inept at getting any kind of D-line talent. Other than Rich Owens, who's left our team and gone on to any kind of success with someone else? I simply can't think of another team that's been as poor as we are at developing d-line talent, other than the Cardinals.

We haven't really discussed it, but do you think this is due in part to poor coaching of our young players here? Schotty's not a favorite here, but you'll note that his staff got more out of less last year, including most notably Lang, than anyone since Petitbone. But they also emphasized good line play more than anyone since Petitbone.

[bulldog]

what the Redskins have failed to do is target bigger, stronger players in the draft to play on the DL.

we haven't made the investment and thus haven't reaped the reward.

since taking Lang in 1997, when have we gone out in rounds 1-3 and tried to land players that could be future anchors for us?

We haven't.

We have depended on free agents like Stubby and Wilkinson. And then when Stubby failed to work out we were left trying to fit Lang, a natural end, or undertalented players like Doug Brown or Del Cowsette in at tackle on a spot basis.

The results have not been pretty.

[redman]

I agree with you bulldog. In fact, some months ago I was the one who listed, year by year, our D-line draft picks (or lack thereof) for the last decade or so, and it wasn't pretty! :puke:

But whereas other teams seem to find gems in the lower rounds and even contributors among their UDFA's, our's are all camp fodder, or special teams players at best. I just can't believe that a team that has been so successful finding talent everywhere else on the field, has always failed in the last decade to find anyone of value in the draft for the d-line.

So what do you think of our coaching there?

[bulldog]

I think that the staff last year did about as good a job on defense as they could given the cap constraints and the need to jettison Stubby to stave off a 2002 crisis on the financial side.

the pickup of Michael Bankston was uninspired and we let Jim Flanigan and a couple of other decent 'fillers' go to other teams.

but I think if he had been in charge for the 2002 draft that Marty would have addressed the defensive line.

in that way you can see a difference in emphasis of the two styles with Marty and Spurrier.

And to credit Marty, I think the DL he would have chosen at #1 or #2 probably would have turned out to be a contributor.

This staff and front office?

I think Marvin is capable and the acquisition of Wynn and Dotson provides flexibility as both players can play multiple positions on the line.

At the same time, before camp, I don't see any younger players we have that have been identified by the staff or the writers from minicamps as guys to watch.

Hopefully, that will change in August.

with the cap numbers for our linebackers and corners we need to find some cheap, good talent for the DL for the future and the only way to do that is in the draft.

that #2 pick we spent on Ladell Betts in a down year for running backs still sticks in my mind as a lost opportunity.

[Yomar]

Originally posted by bulldog

but I think if he had been in charge for the 2002 draft that Marty would have addressed the defensive line.

in that way you can see a difference in emphasis of the two styles with Marty and Spurrier.

make that Marty and Snyder, I can't prove it but judging on Spurrier's interview right after the pick, I'm pretty sure he wasn't the one who wanted to spend the 1st on a QB. Based on how he has acted so far, I think Spurrier believes QB is the easiest position on the field to fill, which is going to be really interesting to see how it plays out, I hope he is right.

As for Dotson, I would consider him a downgrade from Lang, and a sizable one. Despite Lang's size and the home game against the Cowboys, Lang was more than adequate last year, he was inspired, Dotson has chronic back problems, and last I checked Dotson weighs in the 280 range, he might be huge when you surround him with a bunch of little kids, but he really isn't big enough to get by with less than maximum effort and I wonder how long his back will allow him to do that. I don't mean to pick on the guy, he was a great sign at a minimum contract and would make an ideal backup, but if he is the main guy, I think the Skins may be in trouble with a right side of Dotson and Narcissus Smith.

As for Wynn, I am not familiar enough with him because I didn't catch a lot of Jaguars games, but I think he will have to be willing to lay it all out on the line like Coleman was is he is going to adequately replace Marco. At this point with no help on the horizon from FA, the key will be the young guys in camp, ad hopefully one or two will make himself a viable option, but as it stands now, I think the D-Line is in precarious condition. Frankly, it may seem minor but I would feel a lot better about things if Marco was at RDE instead of "That Other Guy"