Change good for Arrington.

[Art]

Seems that Arrington likes how he appears set to be used by Edwards.

"I finally have a coach who trusts what I can do, trusts my ability," Arrington said, referring to defensive coordinator George Edwards. "It's nice to have a coach who knows what your strengths are and is prepared to utilize them."

This was in the Times notes article. Spoke about how he's going to be used as a linebacker in the nickle rather than an end. Allowed to flow to the ball and blitz and cover and lower the boom. And, he took a very overt shot at Mr. Lewis. All good signs .

[The Wicked Wop]

Great news indeed!!

[NavyDave]

Apparenlty Edwards must have read some of the threads here about how Lavar was being used.

Wo didnt see the frustration of him playing at end where he couldnt effectively and on a consistant basis make a game or momentum shifting play?

[Pete]

It's gonna be great to have him in a seek and destroy mode the way we expected him to be used from the start. If things go well, I can see the oppsition having to game plan with him in mind early on.

This is gonna be fun

[SkinzFan007]

HaHa Arrington is going to destroy somebody this year. I can't wait.

[DougWilliams]

Well, as misued as he might have been, he did get eleven sacks last year.

Hopefully he will have even more big plays this year.

[69 YARDS]

One of my biggest complaints of the Skins the last ten years is that they either haven't had the players to fit their "schemes" or, they lacked the coaching to adapt to what strengths the players have. If this is changing then that's a VERY good sign. Offensively, we've gotten Spurrier his weapons. Defensively, Arrington's comments seem to indicate we're going in the right direction there, too!

[Cskin]

I just never understood the strategy of taking your best defensive player and placing him in the midst of opposing players (OL Blockers) and essentially eliminating half of his impact on plays due to his alignment. Lavar needs to have the ability, and access, to flow to the football and make plays. Placing him at LE effectively "covered" him up with OL and eliminated him from any play that progressed to the right.

Lewis and his bullhead mentality tried to force a round peg into a square hole. Trying to make him into Boulware, who doesn't have near the freakish ability as Lavar.

Good Riddance to Marvin Lewis, and Hello to a stable coaching staff for the next four years.

[GSF]

Originally posted by Cskin

I just never understood the strategy of taking your best defensive player and placing him in the midst of opposing players (OL Blockers) and essentially eliminating half of his impact on plays due to his alignment. Lavar needs to have the ability, and access, to flow to the football and make plays. Placing him at LE effectively "covered" him up with OL and eliminated him from any play that progressed to the right.

Lewis and his bullhead mentality tried to force a round peg into a square hole. Trying to make him into Boulware, who doesn't have near the freakish ability as Lavar.

Good Riddance to Marvin Lewis, and Hello to a stable coaching staff for the next four years.

I totally agree Cskin. Many of us were saying this last year. Lewis was a stubborn jacka$$ last year. We're finally going to see what Lavar can really do this year.

[Symbol]

HaHa Arrington is going to destroy somebody this year. I can't wait.

SkinzFan007, can we say, Michael Vick? :laugh:

[Art]

That's a match made in heaven. Spy Arrington on Vick all game. Just have him run to him and see what happens. At least it should give Vick a pause .

[fansince62]

CSkin.....I couldn't disagree more....this whole mindset - prevalent on the board for over a year - is wrongheaded. the player should adapt to the team concept, not the other way around. moreover, it was no accident Lavar got those sacks...he was lined up next to a DT playing at a pro bowl level. let's all hope lavar doesn't star while the rest of the D sucks eggs.....that's my fear. there's a reason every team in creation has been building their D lines for the last several years. there's a reason Philly makes it their number one priority season after season. we have neglected the D for far too long. I hope our patch work strategy works...........but it sure smells like what we did on offense last season.......

[Sarge]

let's all hope lavar doesn't star while the rest of the D sucks eggs.....that's my fear. there's a reason every team in creation has been building their D lines for the last several years. there's a reason Philly makes it their number one priority season after season. we have neglected the D for far too long. I hope our patch work strategy works...........but it sure smells like what we did on offense last season.......

The D kinda worries me too, especially the ends. But I think if you have an above board player like Arrington that can cause fear on the other team when he is loose, you gotta use him that way.

[phishhead]

We were too conservative last year on D. Thats the bottom line.

Thats Marvin's system. It works. But, with the players we have, Arrington, Trotter, Bailey, etc. They're better suited for an aggressive scheme.

The DL of this year, isn't quite patchwork. Sorry to remind you, but last year was truly patchwork. This year, while we didn't get that playmaker we need, we got a bunch of solid players.

I was highly negative about our DL not too long ago, but if you think about it, we are in better shape than we were last year. In that aspect, and in all aspects, for that matter.

Of course, don't expect any of our DTs to have the season Gardener had last season. But we didn't expect that out of him last year either.

[Hauss]

Finally, Arrington can play to his strengths--the Coach is suppose to put him in a situation where he can successful. I would like for the opposition to have to account for him on every play.

[spanishomelette]

Originally posted by fansince62

CSkin.....I couldn't disagree more....this whole mindset - prevalent on the board for over a year - is wrongheaded. the player should adapt to the team concept, not the other way around. moreover, it was no accident Lavar got those sacks...he was lined up next to a DT playing at a pro bowl level. let's all hope lavar doesn't star while the rest of the D sucks eggs.....that's my fear. there's a reason every team in creation has been building their D lines for the last several years. there's a reason Philly makes it their number one priority season after season. we have neglected the D for far too long. I hope our patch work strategy works...........but it sure smells like what we did on offense last season.......

I tend to agree with this. There was a system that was held to pretty rigidly in order to get the players disciplined. As the season went on and players understood their roles better, flexibility and changes with the defense became more evident. There were some pretty big plays by the defense in second half of the season. And Edward's is keeping the same system that Lewis implemented for the most part as I understand it.

I think overall Lavar's experience should have helped him understand what the big picture is on Defense. He should make an even greater impact now than ever. He should have better judgement of when to break his assignments and attack the ball. That's what I will be expecting.

[poidog22]

Originally posted by SkinzFan007

HaHa Arrington is going to destroy somebody this year. I can't wait.

Hopefully more than one, I'm really excited to see how things go.

[Art]

Joe Gibbs adjusted his concepts around the talent. He put players with specific skills into roles within his concept that would allow them to be successful. Some coaches don't do that. Lewis is one who is dedicated to the system. It doesn't matter if you have horrible zone defenders. We're playing 60 percent zone because that's what he liked to do. Both methods work, but Gibbs' method is more certain to work sooner. Lewis' method would have required him to be more like Gibbs, or get different players.

Spurrier is also like Lewis in this regard. His system is key. He didn't really adapt his system for his players last year. He did adjust how he'd call plays and the design was such that the big receivers ran routes ideal for them, but, on the whole, Spurrier was Spurrier without Spurrier type players. So, instead of acting like Gibbs and adapting, new players were brought in to facilitate what he wants to do.

In the case of the offense that meant replacing the likes of Loverne, Brown and Thompson with Fiore, Thomas and Coles and generally improving the talent. On defense it would have meant losing the likes of Arrington and Champ and decreasing the talent but increasing the performance within the scheme.

I think when you have players as talented as Arrington and Bailey you adjust your system to fit those unique talents. I think it was a tremendous mistake to try to use our defense the way it was a year ago. Really, only the Dallas game to close the year was the defense used in a way that it was ideally fit for talent wise. Watch that game and you'll see us splitting the gap. No read and react. Single gap, explosive, moving forward, aggressive, sell out to stop something defense. THAT's the type of personnel we have. That's not what we would do.

I'm glad Arrington is expressing happiness at his projected role this year and he's not being asked to do the things he can't do which takes him away from the things he can do.

[codeorama]

I think having a big name coach like Lewis coming in and laying down the law might have messed with the ego's of a few players like LaVar. I will always side with the coach in those matters because ego should take a backseat to team, but I'm glad that some middle ground may have been met with the new DC.

[Ignatius J.]

Art,

I can't shake the sneaking suspicion that you are going to be horribly dissapointed with our defensive coordinator this season. Some of the things that edwards have said have excited you. Putting bailey exclusively on the #1, Putting LaVAr back as a nickel linebacker, but then you assumed that edwards has said some things that he hasn't.

First, I'd like you to realize that edwards is not just going to be using the same language as MArvin, but is really going to be running the same schemes. That means 2 Gap. That specifically means read and react. I don't think it's fair to say that ML's schemes were not "aggressive" though. They were. We blitzed both nickel linebackers more than a few times last year.

I'm not sure what the man/zone mix will be, but I'd bet that you'll be less than happy with the results. We'll see though. As a linebackers coach, I'd bet that he's not going to feel too comfortable messing with ML's schemes for the DB's, no matter how much we hope he will.

-DB

[SkinzFan007]

Arrington is by far the best linbacker in the nfl. I think that it is about time that the redskins tried to put his skills to good use. He had a good year last year but if he's played right he can do so much more. Ray Lewis was asked who the best linebacker in the NFL was and he said besides himself, Arrington, hands down.

In addition, I'd love to see Arrington lay a good hit on Vick as well as any Cowboy.

[SkinzFan007]

By the way how do I add pictures under my posts?

[Art]

DB,

I'm not sure if you're actually addressing me, or if you're addressing a fictional cut out because little of what you stated as attributable to me has actually been expressed by me. I've never heard Edwards say he was going to put Bailey exclusively on the No. 1 receiver. Personally, I don't like that idea. I don't like having to flop corners. Marty did that after five games and three quarters, but, in general, I prefer to leave a corner on a side of the field and call it a day. That, of course, leads to matchups, but, if you play it that way, it also leads to your ability to roll coverages to protect a weaker area if necessary.

Edwards has said he intended to use Lavar more as a stand up linebacker than a down lineman, and Arrington echoed some of those thoughts in the snip here in the Times. I recognize we're going to very likely run a two-gap system that means read and react. We don't know what we'll run, but, that would go to figure if Edwards intends to remain true to Lewis basic scheme. I can hope for something different, but, I fully expect Edwards will run a defense I like less than another. Rhodes did that. Marty started by doing that before scrapping it. Lewis did that.

I don't expect Edwards to be as aggressive as I like. Lovie Smith runs the same basic scheme as Tony Dungy but he does it more aggressively. I'd prefer to see Edwards employ a more dictating stance defensively than Lewis did, but, other than hoping for it, I don't know that I expect it.

I think you're not correct about the language of the systems. I believe Edwards will use the same language and the building blocks of the same scheme. How he functions calling plays within that scheme will determine how pleased or displeased I am with him. I'm of the mind that I will not be as happy with Edwards as I'd like. I keep thinking about the Cowboys soft umbrella defense when Edwards was there and pray we don't use something like that. Unless Edwards is highly aggressive within the scheme we're running I agree I'll likely be disappointed with the direction we'll be taking.

If we still run as much zone defense as we did a year ago, I'll be upset. If we still blitz as little or as smartly as we did a year ago, I'll be upset. I've hated our defense since Gibbs left and Norv castrated Lynn turning him into Mike Nolan. I hate passive, reactive defenses. I like to design game plans that take something away. Period.

Petitbone used to do that. I still remember the Lions championship game and they were killing us in the first half with slant patterns. I told my father at the half that they would not complete another one of those, and they didn't. Petitbone took it away and said beat me another way, and they couldn't. Read and react defenses work great if you are together long enough to learn the fundamental keys to take and if you have talent that's comfortable playing with men in front of them and who can fight the natural instinct to follow the ball.

We just should have drafted players more suited for that style if that was what we were determined to be. But, other than hoping I'm not, I expect to be disappointed by Edwards. When Lewis was signed I knew I was going to be disappointed by him and I was right .

[Om]

SkinsFan007, all you have to do is put a close slash in the end bracket ... [/img]. That should do it.

[SkinzFan007]

Thanks. What do you think?