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Some Love For Haslett


garyclarkforhall

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I'll say this, I'm not a huge Haslett fan - but what surprises me (disappointing me) most about this team is its terrible tackling.  That, which probably goes hand in hand with bad run defense.  I mean we all knew coming into this season about the back 4 problems, but to watch the d struggle with opponents on the ground is a symptom of a poor tackling defense.

 

The question then becomes who's more to blame for this - can the coaches really correct this problem or is it, a personnel problem?  I tend to think it's more on the players and that is very hard to swallow.

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Last year, the Baltimore Ravens saw that their Offensive coordinator was costing them games... What did they do? Fire the dude (late in the season) and the rest is history.

Hasslett has had mediocre defenses... And it is not just the DBs. It is the scheme as well... We still can't defend the bunch/stack formation. You still see blown assignments because folks don't know where to line up.

Again, it's nice they made a goal line stand. But are we giving a guy credit for dousing the fire he lit? He sets fire to the kitchen and we say, "good job Jim, at least you did not burn down the whole house"!

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I have been mostly pleased with Haslet over the last 15 games. including our playoff game, his defense kept us in it.

 

Before that i was livid with his passive vanilla approach. Corners never in press, no one blitzing upside ILBs inside etc. The one game that pissed me off was opening this year against philly; why not get after the noob coach vs playing afraid.

 

Overall though, he has shown improvement starting 2 byes ago. I have never seen so much press man. I am pleased to no end. See how many TDs we have?

 

Tackling, I am not sure how he can correct that but FWIW it has gotten better.

 

Fine you want him gone, the problem I see is that Mike will hire his replacement.  Coming off hiring a guy that didn't want to run a 3-4, I don't want to speculate how Mike would top that one. Lil Kyle Jr?  I actually have less faith in Mike getting the right guy in here, than I do in Haslet. It always seemed Mike's defenses were lame over the years. Promoting Slowik, does anyone really expect improvement?

 

Bigger than Haslet, may be London, who is like an on field coach himself.

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I have trouble judging Haslett. There's the cap penalty, switching scheme's, offensive problems (turnovers and lack of consistency - particularly the slow starts this year), ST problems, personnel issues (injuries/suspensions/starting rooks), not being able to pick his staff... blah, blah, blah.

I can look at his past and current defensive ranking, but I have trouble really trusting them.

The Denver game is a good example. Gave up 38 pts (minus Cousins' pick 6). Who would have guessed our offense would give Denver the ball at our 25 yd line (twice!) and our 35 and yet hold Manning under 40? Who would have thought the D would force 4 turnovers (one at Denver's 29 yd line), taking one back for a score, plus force 3 punts (that's 7 drives stopped) and yet the Redskins offense would only score 14? Who'd have guessed Manning would be held to 38 with 7 Redskins punts and 3 Redskins turnovers (I'm not counting the pick 6 and Cousins' 2nd INT - Manning took a knee to end the game)?

Even a couple of decent drives by the 'Skins and Manning likely scores at least 1 less TD.

Given who the 'Skins have played and how inept the offense and ST have been (for the most part), the D deserves a much higher ranking then they're at. This is a decent defense and Haslett has made some pretty good adjustments to the scheme to help them out. Am I enamored with Haz? No, not at all. Should he be retained? I don't know. Is he (and our D) as bad as many seem to think? I think you know my answer. ;)

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Granted our D has been playing better over past few games, but I still think Haz should be shown the door at the end of the season, and we should go in a different direction...IF the correct D Coords are available.  I have kind of changed a little there to not just wanting Haz replaced regardless.....but only if certain coordinators are available   i.e. high profile 3-4 guys like a Wade Phillips or Rex Ryan. 

 

On our D, our Dline has really been a let down over the past couple of games.  They seem to struggle to get consistent pressure.  In a 3-4, our LB's have to get pressure on the QB, and neither Rak nor Kerrigan (who seems to have disappeared over the past couple of games) is really coming through.  Yesterday, too many times when it seemed that we had Rivers dead to rights, he escapes and hits a receiver for a big gain.   To me, our front 7 are now more of an issue than the secondary.   And, Fletcher not only has issues in coverage, but also is now missing quite a few tackles that he normally makes in years past.   We definitely need to invest some cap space on our D in the offseason.

 

I wouldn't necessarily say they have been a let down. Manning and Rivers have been amongst the toughest QBs to sack this year, with a sack%+ (per pro-football-reference.com) of 125 and 119 respectively. 100 is the league average sack%+, so they are considerably better than the league average at avoiding sacks. They get rid of the ball quickly. Don't forget Kerrigan had the strip-sack of Manning (on which Orakpo recovered the fumble.) The next QB we face, Ponder has a sack%+ of 83 (considerably worse than the league average), and with Loadholt probably out with a concussion I'm cautiously optimistic that we will see their numbers pick up. Hoping for a multi-sack game from one or even both of them.

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I'm kind of surprised at the number of posts that say how "talented" our defense is.  Who in particular?

 

- Cofield is good, Jenkins and Bowen serviceable

- Love Kerrigan (think he may be struggling with that knee injury from earlier), Orakpo is a one trick pony and that trick is often limited, as much as we love Fletcher he has definitely lost a step or two, and Riley is a solid ILB.

- D Hall is having a great season, Wilson is functional, Amerson learning, Merriweather a retread, other safeties either not ready or not good enough.

 

Only D Hall looks like a guy with a chance to be a Pro Bowler... so we certainly aren't talent-full.

 

Analysts looking at the Full 22 film say the schemes are good and innovative, but it's execution that often let them down.

 

After the Mara screw job is done, I fully expect at least one stud safety, another corner, and probably an inside linebacker at minimum added through early draft and free agency.  If at that point the defense isn't more like a Seattle defense, then I'd be willing to crush Haslett and the coaching staff too.

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After the Mara screw job is done, I fully expect at least one stud safety, another corner, and probably an inside linebacker at minimum added through early draft and free agency.  If at that point the defense isn't more like a Seattle defense, then I'd be willing to crush Haslett and the coaching staff too.

 

so you are saying that you think Haslett deserves one more year free of the cap penalty?

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The Eagles scored 4 touchdowns. 1 drive was 25 yards.  1 drive was 44 yards.  1 drive was 30 yards.  The Eagles offensive dominance was largely a reflection of the Redskins offensive ineptitude.  They got the ball on 2 of those 3 drives in scoring position.  And on the third they were about 1 first down away from being in scoring position.  I mean in the first half when the Skins were "clueless" the Eagles had one touchdown drive over 50 yards. 

 

 Yes, the same defense that watched the Eagles take the opening kick-off and walk all over the defense, marching, no, running down the field in , what, 5 plays ?

 That is lack of preparation, scared, not knowing what to expect. Thats not an excuse, that was embarrassment, and the Eagles accomplished

 exactly what they wanted to; they got Haslett flustered and calling plays scared. Thats why they were able to move the ball at will.

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 I started a thread awhile back titles 'Haslett, time for him to show something'.

 

 The excuses were over, the defense came together last year, for whatever reason, then this year they come out looking absolutely lost.

 The excuses of salary cap being the problem are failed attempts to give Haslett some slack; sorry but that doesn't cut it; any decent DC would adjust [ key word in Haslett's past ] and design plays to either cover or dictate against an offense.

 How many times have we sat on the sofa or in the stands, watching the corners playing 8 yds off the LOS on a 3rd & 4?  Quick slant, first down, nothing the defense can do at all. Haslett FINALLY decided to play more press coverage, after everyone was screaming for it for weeks.

 

 He just doesn't get it.

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 Yes, the same defense that watched the Eagles take the opening kick-off and walk all over the defense, marching, no, running down the field in , what, 5 plays ?

 That is lack of preparation, scared, not knowing what to expect. Thats not an excuse, that was embarrassment, and the Eagles accomplished

 exactly what they wanted to; they got Haslett flustered and calling plays scared. Thats why they were able to move the ball at will.

 

How'd that opening drive end?

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The Eagles moved the ball at will on us because the Defense played something absurd like 14 of the first 15 minutes of the game.

The Eagles turned it over for a touchdown, putting them right back out there. Then the offense proceeded to turn it over like 3 times in 5 plays. 

 

I really, really believe that the defense has ONLY had a bad game against Rodgers and the Packers. I had a big thread about it after the Oakland game breaking down time of possession and first half ineptitude. I still think that most of the team's struggles (and successes) have been from the offense sputtering or finally getting going. This defense is aggressive and gets turn overs. If people are interested, I can bump that thread and update the content.

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How'd that opening drive end?

 

You're missing the point. Besides, it was a great play made on an errant low-thrown pass.

 

 The same inability in preparation to stop any of the teams who racked up yardage/points in the 1st half. GB, Eagles, Denver, Detroit.

 One could point to personnel, but the same personnel [ possible upgrades in positions ] this year with worse results.

 That falls on coaching, or lack of...

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Well, maybe Haslett with another year of acquring some good personnel isn't so bad after all.  I know this is a complete 180 from where I was at this time last year, or even earlier this season.

Every year he gets new personnel and it ends up the same result, very bad. This season we had players returning from IR while keeping the same defense from last season, by all means this defense should have been better. We added secondary help from draft picks and the defense became not just worse, but historically bad. Historically bad means they can't get any worse, only better. Sorry but I can't give him props for that.  

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My biggest problem with Haslett is that he seems to always want to go for the kill shot with his endless blitzes rather than just rushing 4 and playing solid pass coverage, especially on 3rd and long and 4th down situations.

 

I mean hell we have given up 7 out of 8 4th down attempts this year and I'm guessing we probably blitzed the house on every one of them.

 

It would be one thing if the blitzes were racking up sacks but they aren't.


And please plug the damned hole across the middle.

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insanity.

The defense have San Diego the game Sunday and thankfully, their playcaller didn't want it

The defense gave up 17 points and scored 7 of their own... against a good offense. Not sure why people wanna lynch them for SD finally getting a couple drives going near the end. 'Skins O only scored 21 while giving SD a TD of their own. The O also couldn't sustain a drive at the end to run more time off. This offense should be carrying the D and that has not happened this year. In fact, I'm not sure the D has been the biggest problem in any of our games this year. They could be much better, but the O and ST have fairly routinely let them down.

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Yes, exactly...

 

Cool...welcome aboard.  :)

 

barring of course a complete and total meltdown for the next 8 games.  I think they are just going to continue to get better though.   

The only way you replace Haslett before next season for me is if you get a guy who is clearly leaps and bounds better.  Like I said earlier, I don't want to trade a low ranked defense for another low ranked defense.  I want a guy who will make this defense Top 15 or better in 2015.  

 

If you can't get a guy like that...than I don't see the point.   

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How'd that opening drive end?

exactly. it ended with a touchdown...our own touchdown. at the end of the eagles second possession it was redskins defense 7, philly offense 3. then they get the ball on our 25. then the defense forced a punt. then we gave up the safety. the woefully unprepared defense scored a touchdown. gave up a field goal and a 25 yard touchdown drive.

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