bubba9497 Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/sports.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-08-10-0171.html click link for full article Redskins: Secondary picked up the pace Redskins fulfilled need for speed to improve foundering defense Friday, Aug 10, 2007 - 12:05 AM By PAUL WOODY TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER ASHBURN -- No defense can stop an offense completely. Passes get caught. Running backs squeeze through holes. The difference between bad teams and good teams and good teams and great teams is how quickly the defenders close on those offensive players. The Washington Redskins had a powerful defense in 2004 and 2005. In 2006, their defense was woeful at creating turnovers, terrible against the run and weak in the tackling department. They fell from the No. 9 ranked team in 2005 to No. 31, out of 32 teams, in 2006. When you sink like a rock, change is going to come. A team's defense either will become stronger up front or increase the speed of the back seven. The Redskins opted for the latter. "Right now, we're better at that," Redskins coach Joe Gibbs said. If they aren't, they've wasted a lot of money. The Redskins signed middle linebacker London Fletcher off the free agent market. Fletcher has been one of the surest tacklers in the NFL in the past 10 years. "London is extremely quick in there," Gibbs said. The Redskins have tweaked their defensive alignments with Fletcher in the middle. Their linemen take slightly wider splits, will try to occupy more blockers and leave space in the middle for Fletcher to move in and finish the play. The Redskins promoted Rocky McIntosh, last year's second-round draft choice, from backup weakside linebacker to starting weakside linebacker. When they drafted McIntosh, the Redskins emphasized his speed and ability to make high-impact tackles. "Rocky is a legitimate 4.5 [in the 40-yard dash]," Gibbs said. That's fast enough to cover most running backs' run patterns out of the backfield in passing situations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madden lot Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 The D will be great this year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herrmag Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 That's fast enough to cover most running backs' run patterns out of the backfield in passing situations. Umm, I know I'm going to be made fun of, but what does this statement mean? Does this mean he's fast enough to pick up the RB in a play-action call? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Touchdown Redskins Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 Umm, I know I'm going to be made fun of, but what does this statement mean? Does this mean he's fast enough to pick up the RB in a play-action call? It just means that Rocky will be able to cover some of the better pass-catching RBs in the league, such as Bryan Westbroke-all-the-time and LaDanian Tomlinson. Also, he could be used to cover some of the faster tight ends in the league such as Vernon Davis. He has a lot of potential, and he showed flashes last year in the couple starts he had. Hopefully he fulfills it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herrmag Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 It just means that Rocky will be able to cover some of the better pass-catching RBs in the league, such as Bryan Westbroke-all-the-time and LaDanian Tomlinson. Also, he could be used to cover some of the faster tight ends in the league such as Vernon Davis. He has a lot of potential, and he showed flashes last year in the couple starts he had. Hopefully he fulfills it. Eh, makes sense. I shouldn't have gone to happy hour tonight. :doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herrmag Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 It just means that Rocky will be able to cover some of the better pass-catching RBs in the league, such as Bryan Westbroke-all-the-time and LaDanian Tomlinson. Also, he could be used to cover some of the faster tight ends in the league such as Vernon Davis. He has a lot of potential, and he showed flashes last year in the couple starts he had. Hopefully he fulfills it. Eh, makes sense. I shouldn't have gone to happy hour tonight. :doh: Edit: Need to pay attention to the apostrophe's location.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elkabong82 Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 Top 10 defense in '07 with my sig is on the line! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief skin Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 I sure hope this strategey of improving the back 7 works I am an old school guy who thinks the Dline should be the strongets element of your defense and am upset/worried/concerned that it was not addressed in the off season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsFTW Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 Well one good thing is that the NFC Easts other teams aren't power running teams anymore and have most of their talent in the passing game. So our DL shouldn't matter as much as in the pass, of course we do need to get a pass rush going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dictator Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 Atleast we couldn't be much worse than last year. There pretty much nowhere to go but up! HORAY! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NVskinsfan Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 I will settle for a top 10 defense this year and have the defense create some turnovers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinInsite Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 Even when the skins defense with in the top 10, they weren't creating much turnovers. Hopefully this year it'll be different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrine Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 So that brings up an interesting question. Will the added speed allow players to get to the play quicker, or will they just get out of position quicker? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinnick Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 So that brings up an interesting question. Will the added speed allow players to get to the play quicker, or will they just get out of position quicker? Depends. will they stop playing 10 yards off the WR before the snap on a 3rd and 3? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loxley Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 So that brings up an interesting question. Will the added speed allow players to get to the play quicker, or will they just get out of position quicker? That depends on if your glass is half full or half empty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnhay Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 I'm extremely happy we got London Fletcher in the offseason. I think he will prove to be our best offseason pickup not only because he's a great player, but because he is a great leader. I think the defense lacked leadership and intensity after the Lavar downward spiral. Say what you will about him, but I think the defense played harder after seeing Lavar make those big run downs and tackles. There were players who tried to step up last year and become leaders, but the intensity level wasn't there. London Fletcher will be able to keep the team intensity high like the seasons before last. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedlightG20 Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 agreed with jnhay. even Washington didn't express his usual intensity through most of the season. and its nothing new to realize that it rubs off on the other players. I'm not expecting us to go from a 31 rank D to a top 10 D, although it would be awesome and possible. I'm just still a bit skeptical on whether GW's coaching style is going to wear on the players like it did last year. What we do need this season is simply turnovers and to not get beaten by the long runs. How many times last year did the opposing running back make something out of nothing by taking a busted gut play and kicking it outside, catching our LB's out of position, eventually going 25 yards before they got touched. Those plays absolutely killed us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deejaydana Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 I sure hope this strategey of improving the back 7 works I am an old school guy who thinks the Dline should be the strongets element of your defense and am upset/worried/concerned that it was not addressed in the off season I am with you on this. The game is won/lost in the trenches and we did nothing to address this glaring weakness. I'm not going to get excited on a big hit by Taylor or Landry if it's after another 25 yard gain. Ah well, it's the beginning of the year and we've got a perfect record! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herrmag Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 I'm not expecting us to go from a 31 rank D to a top 10 D, although it would be awesome and possible. I'm just still a bit skeptical on whether GW's coaching style is going to wear on the players like it did last year. Normally, I'd agree with you. However, we dropped from a top-tier D to one of the worst in the league in a single offseason. As long as our secondary stays healthy (and, let's be honest, we actually have some depth for once), I think we will in fact be a top ten defense. I genuinely believe last year was an anomaly, and am drinking GW's kool-aid as we speak. The addition of Fletcher, as stated a couple of posts up, will prove to be our best offseason acquisition. It will be our defense winning us games, ala the '05 season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wbar3383 Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 I am with you on this. The game is won/lost in the trenches and we did nothing to address this glaring weakness. I'm not going to get excited on a big hit by Taylor or Landry if it's after another 25 yard gain. Ah well, it's the beginning of the year and we've got a perfect record! Such notions can and often will be antiquated. Not to say a good DL is obsolete. Not by any stretch. The DL is an integral part of everything. But defensive schemes must change with the times. Yesteryears defensive schemes no longer work in todays NFL. It is that exact reason why read and react defenses have waned and/or become extinct. We have a defensive coach who is on the cutting edge. That does not mean he is infallible, but I trust him to run the defense. Most older fans are stuck in the glory years (no offense), and they cannot seem to lose the notions that they grew up with. Williams has had the defense in the top 10 of the NFL in 75% of the years that he has been here. I would venture to say that is pretty good. How many teams out there would kill for a defense that is top 10; 2 out of every 3 years ? Answer: a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Touchdown Redskins Posted August 10, 2007 Share Posted August 10, 2007 I think that the phrase "the game is won and lost in the trenches" is not only cliche, but can be an oversimplification of football. There is a trickle-down effect, at least when concerning pass plays, from the secondary to the D-line and vice versa. Clubs like Carolina, who have an amazing front four, make their secondaries look good, while clubs like Buffalo of two or three years ago with amazing secondaries (with Nate Clements and Antoine Winfield) made their D-line look good. Now, obviously the trickle-down effect doesn't occur on run plays, so hopefully the D-line can hold its own there, but if our secondary performs well on pass plays, we just might be seeing a top 10 defense again this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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