Redskins.com: Thinking it doesn't make it so :).

[Art]

This guy is some kinda good.

http://www.redskins.com/news/newsDetail.jsp?id=3216

Fan View: Thinking It Doesn't Make It So...

By Arthur Mills

ExtremeSkins.com

May 1, 2007

"Jack the Ripper, meet King Hercules

Nobody in the league has safeties like these."

With one pick on the first day of the draft, you find yourself with time to write a few rhymes I guess. You certainly have time to sit back and analyze what was done, what it means and, importantly, what it doesn't mean.

What I've concluded is the pick of LaRon Landry is both Nanny-911 correct and Top Model pretty. And my knuckles are still sore from the ruler smacking against them, as this offseason has been one strict nun disabusing all of us from flights of fancy.

Our flight, of course, was, "Give me a defensive end at all costs."

SMACK.

Okay, sorry. Settle down. I kind of understood the defensive scheme we run places a restrictor plate on defensive ends as the defense is predicated on stopping the run, forcing the pass and getting after the QB from all over the place. I know that. I know two years ago our back seven had 20 sacks and last year they had 6. Something changed. But, seriously, we couldn't stop the run either, so another defensive tackle would...SMACK.

And with the sixth pick, the Washington Redskins select, from Louisiana State University, safety, LaRon Landry.

Okay. What did I miss?

I'm not asking what they--Gregg Williams, Joe Gibbs, Greg Blache and others--are missing, because I watched the games once, with a review in January, making me unique for my repetition. They watched the games dozens of times, seeing each play repeatedly, evaluating it on actual data comparing whether a player did what was called or not while identifying which guys played within the system and which didn't.

I figure while they clearly don't have a clue as to actually evaluating whether a guy can play or not--i.e. see Adam Archuleta--they at least know what worked and didn't work within the plays they are calling and system they are running.

So, what is the common denominator bringing LaRon Landry, Fred Smoot, Omar Stoutmire, David Macklin, London Fletcher, John (I will not call him Dallas) Sartz and H.B. Blades together? What's the common denominator in our reported interest of Dre Bly and Lance Briggs?

Defensive line, while likely still on the checklist for improvement, was awfully damn low on that checklist. What broke the defense last year was due, in part, to defensive line play we would like to have improved. It's just the greater parts were not being able to cover or tackle. Parts we have made rather pointed efforts to improve.

Maybe when we see Tiki Barber staring at himself on the JumboTron to see if anyone's behind him and we wag our fingers at the defensive line, we should have wondered if our fingers could point elsewhere. If Barber was bottled up on a big run by the defensive line--and he was--but no one showed to finish the play, what is to blame?

Now we know. Obviously there's enough blame to stain everyone on that horrible defense. Obviously there were plays the defensive line played horribly and the team got gashed. Obviously there were plays the defensive line couldn't get pressure and the secondary paid the price. I suspect if JUST the right guy comes free before the season, we will add him to the defensive line.

While the limitations up front were, and remain, obvious to us all, what is now obvious if you missed it up to this point is while the defensive line clearly led to poor play by those in the back seven, the converse is not only also true, but, true in greater portions.

So, every time I see someone writing we need a defensive lineman, I nod and say, "Obviously, we needed something else more."

This is a reasonably controversial subject because the media and many fans--too many of us--seem to think the lack of recognition that defensive line was our sole, crushing problem by the people who are in far better position to know the problem, means those people are clueless.

I have now seen actual suggestions that it would be intelligent football management to take a lesser player than a better player when you know which is which and have no obvious method to move out of the pick you're at.

Landry, as all draft picks, is an uncertain pro. If he lives up to his potential and draft grade, he provides the Redskins something better than any other team in the league can boast. Adding Reggie White in his prime to our defensive line would not make it the best line there is.

I should probably disclaim something as well. I began to see the merit and need of Landry at No. 6 a few weeks ago, so, when it happened on Saturday, Tostitos didn't fly out of my mouth during a curse.

Because of this, when Joe Gibbs went about explaining how tighter coverage would potentially allow us to do some different things up front, I didn't have to blog while scratching my head with a glazed, confused look in my eyes, openly revealing my own lack of knowledge when declaring to the world I had and have absolutely no idea that coverage and pressure go hand in hand because I thought only pressure helped coverage and not vice versa.

After reading Jason La Canfora's Washington Post blog, then showering, it occurred to me to write this column.

A few weeks ago a fan at Extremeskins got into contact with Phillip Daniels via a mail link provided at an NFL Players web site. Daniels, or someone purporting to be Daniels, replied to this fan about the defensive line and last season. In it, he told the fan the defense really tried to cover up some coverage problems a year ago, going to a higher percentage of three-man rushes than in the past, to maximize secondary coverage. Even that didn't work that well he said.

Renaldo Wynn told The Washington Post's Howard Bryant after the Landry pick, he didn't disagree with it, because he felt the line was limited last year by some coverage problems and how the addition of players this offseason kind of turns the defensive line loose a bit, leaving no excuses. He's right on both counts.

Perhaps one lesson in all this is if Jason could actually find anyone at Redskins Park to talk to him on the record (remember, Jason, it is acceptable, and even required at some newspapers, to use the quotation feature in reporting), he might have a better feel for football so he doesn't have to express confusion when he's told, apparently for the first time, that coverage and pressure work in conjunction.

The other important lesson is no one at Redskins Park will actually take my trade ideas up the food chain. But, I'm not going to stop trying.

[mikeyf316]

Not bad. Good texture and consistency. Nice color. Good flavor and aroma. No bitter aftertaste.

8.5 out of 10.

[jimster]

whoever wrote that is a genius

[number twenty-eight]

Hehe, John Sartz.

[terpfan]

I'll be honest Art, I dont always agree with you. In fact, I often dont. But that was a good article. I think I came to that same realization at a similar time. Well done.

[Boozie3000]

Hell yes, Great minds think alike

[Oldskool]

So obviously we (the fans who saw the horrific D-line play last year and wanted to draft D-line), are absolute morons.

I'd personally like to hear Williams' take on why the D-line didn't get addressed in either FA or in the draft, because up to the very end, all the pundits and a great majority of fans were expecting a DT or a DE to be drafted for the defense that ranked 31st and which included the 27th ranked rush defense and last in overall turnovers.

It's now obvious that Landry was going to be their pick if Johnson didn't somehow land in our laps.

[number twenty-eight]

I'm looking at it as the bitter pill offseason paying for past sins. I think I'm starting to admire our persistence in going on with bad defensive line play. Because it is inarguably bad.

We are blazing new trails on this deal.

Edit: I forgot to mention that this was another good article Art. Interesting reading.

[Art]

So obviously we (the fans who saw the horrific D-line play last year and wanted to draft D-line), are absolute morons.

I'd personally like to hear Williams' take on why the D-line didn't get addressed in either FA or in the draft, because up to the very end, all the pundits and a great majority of fans were expecting that the 31st ranked defense which included the 27th ranked rush defense and last in overall turnovers.

It's now obvious that Landry was going to be their pick if Johnson didn't somehow land in our laps.

Obviously, yes, you are a moron if you can't quite figure it out by now. As bad as you thought the defensive line was, something else was worse. You've heard Williams' take on the defensive line's performance. I'll sum it up for you.

Smoot, Stoutmire, Landry, Fletcher, John S., Blades, Macklin, Bly, Briggs. Actions tend to speak more prominently than words from time to time.

And, OS, I don't think you're a moron. I think you have just gone stubborn in not allowing our problems were very severe last year, leading to our terrible play. I think you're as mad about that as I am. I just think you've not allowed yourself to be open to the possibility there were problems beyond the one you identified, and, more, problems more severe than those.

[HighPlainsDrifter]

Well done.

Heres to Big Hits and Green Grass this season!

[Oldskool]

Smoot, Stoutmire, Landry, Fletcher, John S., Blades, Macklin, Bly, Briggs. Actions tend to speak more prominently than words from time to time.

What it says is that they have a plan and stuck to it. I applaud them for that, and the fact that they stuck to the gameplan no matter what anyone said.

That being said, I hope that Daniels, Griffin and Salave'a stay healthy and productive.

[eeyeats]

Great job Art, I really enjoyed it. :applause:

I went through a similar progression myself. I was just stuck on getting a D-line guy in the draft, but eventually, I came to realize that Landry was the best choice. I admit that I was disappointed on draft day we couldn't find a suitable trade-down partner, but Landry makes sense.

Hey, if Bob Sanders can make the Colts D stop Larry Johnson, maybe Landry will help more in run support than we think.

Lastly, if he makes the team, he will forever be known as "John" Sartz. Lock it up. Championship!

[Art]

What it says is that they have a plan and stuck to it. I applaud them for that, and the fact that they stuck to the gameplan no matter what anyone said.

That being said, I hope that Daniels, Griffin and Salave'a stay healthy and productive.

You're right, and almost there. They had a plan. They stuck to it. And, the plan was based on the identification of our biggest problems. I hope our line stays healthy as well.

[Fergasun]

Eh. Some fans won't be convinced until they eat the pudding and see it is good.

Oldschool,

I think the sense is that the Redskins needed help on defense, period! Landry is a more controversial pick to be sure (than Okoye or Andersen), but wait until you eat the pudding. No one is being called a moron here.

[Drkstar]

sticking to game plans no matter how stupid and/or wrong they look.

Alot of that goes on in DC these daze.

Misson Accomplished.

[Art]

I originally had more rap at the beginning, but, I decided I didn't want anybody bitin' my style .

All we ask is that neither smokes trees. And heaven forbid you take the keys from Landry’s ATVs.

I could go much longer, flow much harder, write much deeper about our new reaper, but, I won’t just now, maybe later. Come on Chris Paul, sing it greater.

[Fergasun]

... and maybe, just maybe the talant evaluators think, "It's easier to cover up line depth than secondary depth".

Our secondary and d-line depth were equally atrocious last season.

[Art]

sticking to game plans no matter how stupid and/or wrong they look.

Alot of that goes on in DC these daze.

Misson Accomplished.

No question. Either they, or you, look stupid. Wait. That sucks for you dude .

[Drkstar]

No question. Either they, or you, look stupid. Wait. That sucks for you dude .

We both do Art. We all do.

[Sinclair]

I'm not asking what they--Gregg Williams, Joe Gibbs, Greg Blache and others--are missing, because I watched the games once, with a review in January, making me unique for my repetition. They watched the games dozens of times, seeing each play repeatedly, evaluating it on actual data comparing whether a player did what was called or not while identifying which guys played within the system and which didn't.

Good article, i quoted this because I think everyone should read it. Thanks for the good read.

[Art]

... and maybe, just maybe the talant evaluators think, "It's easier to cover up line depth than secondary depth".

Our secondary and d-line depth were equally atrocious last season.

Something to this, no doubt. They can obviously scale back what they want the front to do, narrowing the requests. Williams has always believed he could scheme around some weakness. He had so much last year, that could not occur. If given the choice between a free-wheeling defensive line which he could not have achieved in one offseason, or a diverse, deep, versatile back seven, which he could, I think the decision was easy enough.

[Bossman_SKins]

with all the criticism that we're getting. it'll just make it that much sweeter when we prove them all wrong next year

[bubba9497]

Philly had multiple injuries in 05 went 6-10, got healthy in 06 10-6

injury helped contribute to our poor DL performance

[Siven]

Perhaps one lesson in all this is if Jason could actually find anyone at Redskins Park to talk to him on the record (remember, Jason, it is acceptable, and even required at some newspapers, to use the quotation feature in reporting), he might have a better feel for football so he doesn't have to express confusion when he's told, apparently for the first time, that coverage and pressure work in conjunction.

ZING :applause:

[DCsportsfan53]

After reading Jason La Canfora's Washington Post blog, then showering, it occurred to me to write this column.

:rotflmao:

Good stuff. I came to the conclusion that Landry was probably the way to go about the sme time you did and the more I reflected on last year and the more I researched the stats last year compared to 04 and 05, the more I realized this pick would improve our defense more than any other possibility. How can you blame a pass rush when dropping eight into coverage still results in high percentage, quick passes beating you consistently? I think it was clear to us all that GW was not confident calling the defense he preferred last year and that was due to coverage. I'm really looking forward to seeing this defense turned loose this year. I believe GW actually now has more talent and more felxibility at his disposal than at any point so far in his tenure here. It's going to be a good defense this year, I really believe that.