Our Blitz problems

[shakinaiken]

All season people have been complaining about our lack of pressure on the opposing quarterback... and for good reason. We're near the bottom of the league in the sack category, and seem to give the opposing quarterback an ample amount of time in the pocket to read the defense and throw the ball. Of course in an effort to generate pressure that the front four aren't producing, we blitz... with little success. Throughout the entire season, i have seen us blitz one, two linebackers, and sometimes a safety to no avail. They just dont seem to get there. Last night against the steelers we blitzed a ton, something like 70 percent on third downs. And while we did get some sacks, we didn't seem to quite get to the quarterback in time. while trying to figure out why, i noticed how effective the steelers are at blitzing... yes i know they run a 3-4 scheme, which seems to favor blitzing, but we handled dallas and cleveland's 3-4 defense, so why we couldn't we handle Pittsburg? i believe the answer is team speed. Their linebackers are extremely quick and fast and can attack. Same with philly, they're an effective blitzing team becasue they're linebackers can all run. to be honest, i dont think the redskins have enough team speed on defense, especially the lineackers. Fletcher is quick, no doubt, but he relies more on instinct and the knowledge of the game. As much as i love rocky, he may have lost a step after his injury.. not quite as agile as i've seen him in the past. And i think its obvious marcus washington has lost a step... so anyway, i think our blitzing problems come down to not enough speed on defense