I admit, I was wrong about Joe Barry

[NoCalMike]

I think Duke Ichy-a-however you spell it coming back is a bigger impact.   The secondary was straight up deleted out there.  At least half those guys will be much better to the team when they are being rotated into the game for specific situations instead of needing to be every down players.

[ExoDus84]

Our front 7 should have been our strength. We couldn't stop the run the entire year. That sounds like coaching to me.

That being said, we were seriously depleted on defense most of the year. It's not surprising they weren't good, but I still have serious doubts about Berry. He certainly didn't overachieve. What really pissed me off is how conservative we were with the rush. Packers have a crap line and you send 4 all day, and let Rodgers pick you apart?

I trust Scott will build us a much better unit, but I dont have a ton of confidence in Berry.

[wit33]

Personnel, Personnel and Personnel.... 

 

Joe Barry cannot possibly be fairly judged by this season. My personal opinion leads me to feeling positive about the job he did this season considering the overall lack of talent on that side of the ball. You can only out scheme so much in this league and in most cases adjustments will be made by good teams and talent must take over. 

 

Defense, Defense and more defense will be the focus this offseason. 

[beachboy757]

I'm cool with JB's scheme, but for it to work for us we have to find better tacklers and not over pursuit on running plays. Since we drop so many defenders in coverage we are gonna have to get use to seeing Rb's getting 4 or 5 yards per carry. It's better than seeing average or bad  Qbs throw for over 300+ and multiple td's.

[PeterMP]

I don't know if the problem is Barry, but we got a lot invested in our front 7 for it to play so poorly.  

 

If we got beat because guys were running through the secondary open or had bad PI plays (i.e. not turning their head back to the play the ball and just running into the WR), I would understand.

 

But that isn't the case.  And it wasn't just this last game.

[NoVaSkins21]

I think we may need to go back to the 4-3, because our defense has been giving up a lot of yard over the few years. 

 

 

Here's hoping but I doubt it since they've been it for so long.  

[fearlessNelms]

Our coaches have done a good job this year, but yesterday they were outcoached across the board. Green Bays DC, Dom Capers, is really good and had both Gruden and Callahans heads spinning with a relentless pass rush that they never adjusted to. As for Berry, Green Bay isn't anymore talented than we are on D and Capers got them to play like a top 5 defense when it mattered most. This was obviously a good season and our coaches all deserve to stay, but anyone who thinks that because we went 9-7 this year and won the division, that next year guarantees us a 12-4 record or 11-5 is sadly mistaken. 

 

The expectations will now be high next year and we'd better improve big time. I know it was only our first playoff game for this staff, but if yesterday and this year was any indication of how they'll perform against top tier competition, we'll go nowhere. We got thumped by the better teams this year and that will obviously have to change with a first place schedule next year. The honeymoon is over and next season will go a long way in saying the future of our current coaching staff.  

[SkinsGuy]

Our front 7 should have been our strength. We couldn't stop the run the entire year. That sounds like coaching to me.

That being said, we were seriously depleted on defense most of the year. It's not surprising they weren't good, but I still have serious doubts about Berry. He certainly didn't overachieve. What really pissed me off is how conservative we were with the rush. Packers have a crap line and you send 4 all day, and let Rodgers pick you apart?

I trust Scott will build us a much better unit, but I dont have a ton of confidence in Berry.

 

I believe the Redskins were conservative with the rush because of how banged up and depleted the secondary was. They were keeping players in the field instead of doing a lot of blitzes to help cover the shortage.

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

While I agree its tough to judge JB due to personnel, it sure makes us sound a lot like Chris Russell talking about Haslett.

 

I agree with the poster that indicated it appeared our only defensive gameplan was to react to what they are doing.  I said it all week leading up to this game, that I would much prefer to be aggressive and lose to the big play rather than get shredded for small chunks at a time.  I felt like the only way we could win was by playing press man, sending the blitz and hoping to get home.  It burns my soul to watch us line up 7 yards off the LOS on 3rd and 3 only for Jones to run to the sticks, get the first and a new set of downs.

 

I really don't know what to make of him and while I've previously given him credit for not being a total embarrassment given the guys he has to work with, I can also see the argument that the turnovers we've generated have made his scheme look better than what it really is.

 

One thing I do know, no way on earth he's getting fired so you better get used to seeing his face.

[goskins10]

The good news is that Joe Berry improved statistically from his last campaign with the Detroit Lions.

The bad news is that Joe Berry was statistically worse for the Redskins than the guy bum he replaced.

 

Hmm, really? Yea, the total yds/gm were a little worse - 357 for Has to 380.4 for Barry. However, in pts/gm, which unless they changed the rules is how you win or lose, Barry was 17th at 23.7 vs. Has at 29th with 27.4!!   That's 12 spots higher.

 

I just love the talk about the good ole days of the 4-3 and how we should go back to that. The last year we had the 4-3, we were 18th in pts allowed, 1 place worse than this year, and that was without the stupid amount of injuries. We were playing a got in the slot today that was signed literally last Tuesday! Are you kidding me?

 

I realized many people have the patience of a 3 y/o. But seriously, give this staff a chance. They actually did a pretty damn good job with what they had to work with. 4 of our Starters on D were not even on the team to start the season and everyone wants to trash the whole thing and start over?? really?

 

We were playing with house money. The team outplayed expectations during the season especially during a nice stretch at the end of the season. The fact is we are still very much in rebuilding mode. The FO needs at least 2 more years.

[wysknz1]

In the end though, I think it's just a matter of the better team winning. Not Barry's fault or Cousins or Gruden's. We're just not there yet.

I hope the coaches, GM and owner watch a replay of this game when going over the free agent/draft list.

[NoCalMike]

It's really unfortunate that so many injuries piled up so soon that we never really got a good look at what the defense would be like with all the players who were intending to be the starters.

 

It'd be different if say we at least got a good look for the month of September and could get an accurate picture of what the defense was *supposed* to be, but instead we will be left wondering what could have been and what might end up being.

[theTruthTeller]

As much as I want to believe that Junior Gallette coming back is going to really make a big difference in our pass rush, I don't see it. IIRC, he hasn't played a single down with us, preseason or regular season. Maybe he really is as good as people made him out to be, but after hearing that about so many players, I'm not holding my breath.

I can't find anything that confirms Gallette is coming back.  Is this a rumor or based on something he actually said?

[Wildbunny]

You can only blitz heavy when you've got competent secondary that can keep wrs in check. We played what we could play. Most of our secondary plays IR right now.

At least we were in the game for 3Q. Otherwise it would have been over way sooner.

And GB didn't adjusted anything. Rodgers stopped throwing incomplete at the beginning of the 2nd Q. Word is that it was windy.

[Warhead36]

What GB did was go up tempo and throw a lot of short stuff. That neutralized our pass rush which has always relied on the 4 man rush and just having depth on the DL to beat teams.

 

I'd have liked to blitz more, that was my only issue with Barry, but if we blitz more then we are even more likely to give up huge chunks. Also Rodgers historically has absolutely owned the blitz.

 

Once they went tempo, our pass rush went away, and we had no answers. Not much more Barry could do. It was a personnel issue.

 

People overexagerate adjustments. You can't adjust when you have nothing to adjust to or to adjust with.

[CBass1724]

I am so sick and tired of our DB's playing 10 yards off the receiver when it's 3rd and 5 or less.

 

SO SICK AND TIRED!!

[DC9]

What GB did was go up tempo and throw a lot of short stuff. That neutralized our pass rush which has always relied on the 4 man rush and just having depth on the DL to beat teams.

 

I'd have liked to blitz more, that was my only issue with Barry, but if we blitz more then we are even more likely to give up huge chunks. Also Rodgers historically has absolutely owned the blitz.

 

Once they went tempo, our pass rush went away, and we had no answers. Not much more Barry could do. It was a personnel issue.

 

People overexagerate adjustments. You can't adjust when you have nothing to adjust to or to adjust with.

 

Yep, and it also took Knighton and Baker out of the game.  If we put them in, Green Bay went hurry up.  Especially if they had a big play on 1st down.  That's why winning first down was so big yesterday.  We won them early in the game, but not later.

 

Getting those big boys trapped out there is tough.  It's not easy for them to play that hard so quickly.

 

Definitely a good wrinkle from the Packers. 

[HogNose]

Barry had to work with a defense that had so many injuries. He did a fine job.....he better be back next year. 

[Peregrine]

Im still on the fence on Barry.  He started out really well, but in the end the defense finished pretty low on the totem pole of everything but turnovers, which granted are important.  I think he really needs to show improvement next year.  If he gets a couple more pieces onf defense, say a starter in the draft, and one in FA, the defense has to at least get to mediocre status.  If it doesnt, I would say the experiment needs to end.  The only 2 players on defense who had an above expected season were probably Baker and Smith.  The aggressive defense he promised didnt really materialize.

[zoony]

Green Bay spread us out into the nickel and ran it down our throats. Surprised nobody else tried that during the last 4 weeks. Guess nobody else had the threat of Aaron Rodgers

[Burgold]

Green Bay spread us out into the nickel and ran it down our throats. Surprised nobody else tried that during the last 4 weeks. Guess nobody else had the threat of Aaron Rodgers

It was the combo of spread and hurry up. Absolutely killed us. We didn't seem to have enough counters to their hurry up play calling. First time in a while I think we were unprepared in a big way. Got caught twice with 12 men on the field. After that, we kept the unit in, but just seemed to go vanilla... though it's hard to tell from the TV sometimes.

 

You ain't gonna beat Aaron Rogers with Vanila unless your D line is overwhelming and great at pass rushing.

[CTskin]

No Kyshon, Culliver, Duke and a banged up Goldson and Dunbar. Our secondary was not in top shape. But, we lost this game in the trenches. Our D line was completely healthy, but got outplayed for the last three quarters of the game. Getting run over and giving Aaron Rodgers the kind of time he had against a depleted secondary is a recipe for disaster. 

 

It was obvious what was happening, yet Barry was stubborn and refused to blitz. Playing a vanilla 3-4 defeats the purpose of using that scheme. I agree with everyone that his job isn't in danger, but the truth is that he's been outcoached more times than not this year.

 

EDIT:

Galette isn't signed for next year... not sure why everyone assumes he will be back. The Saints had to pay him this year, but they are off the hook next year, so he won't be settling for a vet minimum contract like he did this year.

[WilberMarshall]

I think we are who we are.  Barry's defense improved from 32nd to 28th. 

We can blame personnel but I don't think our coaching staff adjusted to what the weather and the GB Offense called for. 

The book on Aaron Rodgers this season was to make him get happy feet... 

We made a patched up O-Line look like the Hogs. 

How hard was it to figure out when going against the wind to blitz the crap out of him? 

GB did the same to Kirk...

They knew if they gave Kirk more time he will eat them up. 

They too had a depleted secondary. 

They come on the road with no excuses.

[grego]

I am so sick and tired of our DB's playing 10 yards off the receiver when it's 3rd and 5 or less.

 

SO SICK AND TIRED!!

 

saw this at one point yesterday- cant remember when exactly, just that GB was going left to right. they had, i believe, 3rd and three (maybe two), rodgers sets up behind center and a WR (jones?) was to the left and we had one DB on him. 

 

and he was playing about 6-7 yards off of him. 

 

i screamed at the TV as rodgers promptly snapped the ball and threw it right to him for first down. our guy didnt get a hand on him until he was past the 1st down marker. 

 

seriously, on what ****ing planet is that sound defensive strategy?

 

totally inexcusable.. 

[goskins10]

I think we are who we are.  Barry's defense improved from 32nd to 28th. 

We can blame personnel but I don't think our coaching staff adjusted to what the weather and the GB Offense called for. 

 

Edit

 

 

That's just not true. While did get a little worse in yds per game, we went from 29th in pts allowed last year to 17th this year. that's 12 spots and getting to at least average. I of course want us to be in the top 5 for both but it takes time and less injuries.

 

It's easy to sit behind a computer and say "next man up" "need to coach these guys up" "We need more blitzes" etc etc. However, when you have at least 3, may be 4 of your Def starters were not even on the team to start the season including your slot corner being signed just last Tuesday you can't just dial up a lot of blitz all the time.

 

We won 5 more games than last year, won our Div and hosted a PO game! To read many of these comments you would think we were in last place again!! 

saw this at one point yesterday- cant remember when exactly, just that GB was going left to right. they had, i believe, 3rd and three (maybe two), rodgers sets up behind center and a WR (jones?) was to the left and we had one DB on him. 

 

and he was playing about 6-7 yards off of him. 

 

i screamed at the TV as rodgers promptly snapped the ball and threw it right to him for first down. our guy didnt get a hand on him until he was past the 1st down marker. 

 

seriously, on what ****ing planet is that sound defensive strategy?

 

totally inexcusable.. 

 

As soon as you press too much a guy gets behind you and they get a big play. The guys playing have not played together very much at all. You try to keep from getting beat by the big play and make them work for it and hope they make a mistake. Hopefully next yr we will not have to many injuries and they will all have another year in the D so everything becomes automatic. It makes a huge difference, or at least it should.