DMN: Coach strikes gold by digging deeper

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Coach strikes gold by digging deeper

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/columnists/rgosselin/stories/091605dnspogoose.1c5f4219.html

Redskins' Williams uncovers another gem in linebacker Marshall

08:15 PM CDT on Thursday, September 15, 2005

Conjure up the image of Dick Butkus – 6-3, 245 pounds of rage. That's why he's in the Hall of Fame.

The NFL has been searching for Butkus clones since his retirement in 1973. He is what teams want in a middle linebacker. The bigger, the meaner, the better.

Jeremiah Trotter has Butkus' size (6-1, 262), Ray Lewis has his ferocity and Zach Thomas his passion. Lemar Marshall hardly intimidates offenses like that trio.

At 6-2, 229, Marshall is a bit light for middle linebacker. But this is his first season at the position. It's also only his fourth season as a linebacker, having washed out in two NFL tryouts as a safety.

But on Monday night at Texas Stadium, Marshall will be standing in the middle of one of the league's top defenses. He's the gatekeeper of the Washington Red- skins' run defense, the player who will be responsible for keeping the Cowboys' Julius Jones in check.

Undrafted and undersized, Marshall has plenty working against him as a middle linebacker. But he has one key asset working in his favor: Redskins defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.

"I've had a lot of late-round draft choices, undrafted free agents play very well for me everywhere I've been," Williams said. "I'm never going to discount that being smart and tough is more important than where you were drafted and how much you make."

Williams likes the smartness and toughness of Marshall, who he says has the head and the heart to make plays. Williams does the rest with his defensive scheme.

"We protect him," Williams said. "We cover him up and let him run. We ask him to make plays."

There is a forest around Marshall. He has two 300-pound tackles in front of him (Cornelius Griffin, Joe Salave'a), a 243-pound strongside linebacker (Marcus Washington) on his left and a 255-pound weakside linebacker (LaVar Arrington) on his right. They take on the blocks. They take the beating.

"You have to run and hit," said Joe Bowden, a coaching intern with the Redskins last summer. "You don't have to take on a lot of blocks. If you can read your keys, you'll make a lot of plays."

Bowden could. A late training-camp switch by Williams moved him from outside linebacker to the middle for the Tennessee Titans for the 1998 opener. Despite his lack of size (5-11, 227) and experience (three days of practice), Bowden made 20 tackles that Sunday.

"I think middle linebacker is the most natural-instinct position to play besides running back," Bowden said. "You read your keys and you go to the ball – and there's only one ball."

The Titans ranked in the top 10 in run defense all four of Williams' seasons as coordinator (1997-2000) despite a variety of shapes and sizes at middle linebacker. In addition to Bowden, Barron Wortham played in the middle for two seasons at 5-11, 244, and Randall Godfrey one at 6-2, 245. There wasn't a Butkus in the bunch, but few teams ran on the Titans.

Williams moved to the Buffalo Bills as coach in 2001 and inside of three seasons built the NFL's second-ranked defense with 5-10, 245-pound London Fletcher in the middle. (The offense didn't fare as well, and his contract was not renewed after the Bills missed the playoffs for the third time in his three seasons as coach.)

When Williams took over the Redskins' defense in 2004, he plugged Antonio Pierce (6-1, 240) into the middle. He also lacked ideal size and experience. But it was his first chance in four seasons to be a starter, and Pierce responded with 160 tackles, spearheading the league's second-ranked run defense. Pierce signed a $25.7 million contract with the New York Giants in free agency last off-season. Now, it's Marshall's turn.

Bowden entered the NFL as a fifth-round draft pick, and Wortham was a sixth-rounder. In addition to Marshall, Fletcher and Pierce were undrafted out of college. Clearly, Williams doesn't concern himself with where a player is from or how he arrived – only what he does on the field.

Said Bowden: "If you trust your keys and believe what you see, it's tackling practice in this defense."

Marshall led the Redskins with eight tackles in his debut at middle linebacker Sunday. Chicago managed only 41 rushing yards and 166 total yards in Washington's 9-7 win. Marshall also intercepted one pass and broke up another.

He may not be very big, but he won't be hard to find Monday night. Just look for the football.

That's what he'll be doing.

E-mail rgosselin@dallasnews.com

THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE

Washington Redskins assistant Gregg Williams has made a name for himself as a coach who gets results on defense. A history of the middle linebacker position in Williams' defenses, with the NFL ranks of his defenses against the run and overall:

Season Team Middle linebacker Ht. Wt. Tackles Run rank Overall rank

1997 Tennessee Barron Wortham 5-11 244 97 4 22

1998 Tennessee Joe Bowden 5-11 227 145 9 16

1999 Tennessee Barron Wortham 5-11 244 81 10 17

2000 Tennessee Randall Godfrey 6-2 245 169 3 1

2001 Buffalo Brandon Spoon 6-2 242 72 26 21

2002 Buffalo London Fletcher 5-10 245 209 29 15

2003 Buffalo London Fletcher 5-10 245 158 8 2

2004 Washington Antonio Pierce 6-1 240 160 2 3

2005* Washington Lemar Marshall 6-2 229 8 4 2

*Through Week 1

Redskins (1-0) at Cowboys (1-0), 8 p.m. Monday, Texas Stadium, Irving (Ch. 8)