Defense: Age, Lack of Depth Costing Redskins Games

[bulldog]

these games are increasingly easy to handicap. all you have to do is look at the injury list.

last week the Redskins best two-way DE, Phillip Daniels, played the majority of the snaps and Shawn Springs matched up one on one to limit Steve Smith. Daniels had a sack, the front got pressure and the Redskins limited Carolina to 13 points.

today, Daniels reinjured his ankle and was in and out of the lineup after the first quarter. the Redskins rush after that initial period was minimal.

and this was what the third or fourth injury for Daniels this year? There's been the ankle, followed by a sprained wrist, and the recurrence of the ankle.

meanwhile, in the backfield without Springs, the Redskins have little chance of playing a clean game on defense.

you can guarantee that Kenny Wright or Mike Rumph is going to give up at least one or two big plays a game if they are on the field for extended duty, if not more than that.

today, the Redskins without Springs again gave up plays over 20 yards, including a backbreaking touchdown to Michael Jenkins where Kenny Wright was trailing the receiver by at least 3-4 yards.

the Redskins depth in the secondary is perhaps the worst it has been in 20 plus years. the #3-#5 corners on this team are not of NFL quality. this has been shown time and time again. Wright and Rumph are not long for the NFL, while Jimoh is a fine special teams player but clearly not someone you want to count on in the backfield in the fourth quarter of a close game.

let's face it, this defense has aged at spots quickly. yes, there are players in the NFL that continue to play well into their mid to late 30's on defense and show themselves to be durable.

for the Redskins, though, the veteran defenders this team counts on to win football games have aged as a group and seem to be breaking down one by one in 2006.

in addition to Daniels and Springs, Joe Salavea once again was injured this afternoon despite playing limited reps due to the emergence of Kedric Golston.

and for the second straight game, 35 year old Troy Vincent, again was missing due to a continuing hamstring injury. seemingly this injury has limited him since July when he came to camp with Buffalo.

Jason Campbell is learning week by week and he certainly made some mistakes in this game which cost the Redskins, esp. in the second half. One, where he was in the grasp of the defender (and the play resulted in a pseudo interception for the Atlanta DL), was a clear example of where a quarterback should just have eaten the ball and take the sack.

But the inability of the defense to stop what has been to this point of the season a very average offense in Atlanta is what cost the team the game.

How can anyone allow Alge Crumpler to make plays in one on one coverage when the statistics show that inside the 20, Vick goes to him more than 50% of the time :doh:

The next four games have become about 2007. And we can see that Campbell, Moss, Betts and Cooley are going to play big roles in the process of trying to craft an offensive rhythm we can carry forward into the offseason to build on.

But at least on that side of the ball the raw talent to be successful, with the return of Portis, is there.

On defense there is a LOT of work that will need to be done.

Aging players Daniels (33), Wynn (32), Springs (32), Vincent (35), Salavea (32), need to re-evaluated and perhaps replaced if they can't be counted on any longer to play regularly near full speed.

Younger players Taylor (24), Rogers (25), McIntosh (23), Golston (23), Montgomery (23) need to work to improve in the offseason. McIntosh needs to get on the field starting in training camp in July.

Other current players like Wright and Rumph simply need to be moved out. These players together with the miscast Adam Archuleta are not part of the solution here.

[skinfan2k]

love the post.. i think bulldog is one of the best thread creaters here.

[DieselPwr44]

Good post as usual bulldog. Hopefully now that any flicker of playoff hope has been extinguished, we'll see McIntosh get time with the first unit(even though this should've happened weeks ago).

I wonder if we make a move for a younger, starting quality corner in FA and move Springs to safety? I hope that we do so we can do the right thing and spend our first round pick on a DE who can rush the passer and be solid in run defense.

DE is a position that this team has neglected for way too long in the first two rounds of the draft. The fact that Kenard Lang was the last DE we've taken is a crime in and of itself by the Front Office.

Will it change?

[Warhead36]

Thats what happens when you spend all your resources on one or two players and don't properly use the draft to stockpile on "cheap labor" type players.

[Taylor21_INT_4_TD]

sean taylor is 23