Do We Suddenly Have a Dominant Defense?

[Going Commando]

Sunday was an eye-opener.  The defense beat the crap out of one of the best offenses in the league.  Nothing fancy going on, just straight up rush four and drop everyone else into zones.  We crushed them on talent.  It was a similar performance to the one the Broncos had against Dallas, and Denver has a truly dominant defense.

 

Are we in that class?

 

Obviously we have a lot of questions left to answer before we really know:  Can we do this consistently? Can we win with blitzes and man coverage if we need to?  Can we do this on the road?

 

But this is something we need to talk about now.  Either we're going to suck and lose the chance to speculate about how good we can be in the glow of dominant performance, or we're going to be good again and the whole sports world will reach the conclusion before us.

 

I think we do have a dominant defense.  I was optimistic about the defense heading into the season, but I didn't expect to see a performance like last Sunday's.  Yet in hindsight, maybe we should have seen this coming:

 

I think the best way to project what a player/unit/team will do is to define what they can do.

 

In the effort to define what this team can do, it becomes clear that the defense is loaded.

 

1 - We have a stable of excellent edge rushers that's five players deep.  Probably five guys who could get double digit sacks as starters.

2 - We have depth in quality interior defensive linemen.

3 - We have good stack linebackers and solid bench options behind them.

4 - We're stacked at corner

5 - The depth might be shaky, but our starting safeties look solid

6 - We've got a great chemical mix of personalities in the unit, and lots of quality on-field leadership.  A lot of hard nosed competitors.

 

So how the Hell did we become so talent rich on that side of the ball all of a sudden, to the point that pretty much none of us noticed it happening?  The concomitance of the building process is pretty cool.  A whole lot of improbable things panned out in our favor:

 

Preston Smith - First round talent, second round gem.  Flashed immediately in his first season, where he led all rookies in sacks IIRC and showed the potential to be a force against the run.  Took a step back when he became a starter in his second year and the fan base totally wrote him off.  We shouldn't have but we did.  He's a Michael Bennett-esque talent and seeing him put it together this year feels like finding forgotten money in your pockets after taking your pants out of the dryer.

 

Galette -  Dominant edge rusher in his prime who gets cut from his old team because of legal issues.  We scoop him up for cheap.  He's a rah-rah team first guy who buys into the organizational culture immediately.  We're all excited to think we've got Probowler for a song outside the typical free agency period.  Boom, season ending injury and that's that.  He'll be an expensive free agent and why would we want to pay all that money for someone who got hurt?  But no, we extend him for cheap and give it another go.  Boom, another season ending injury before the year begins.  ****, well now it's really over.  He might not even play football again.  But no, we extend him for cheap again and this time he actually stays healthy.  And all of a sudden we have a stable on the edge that's gotten even better this year despite losing a 9 sack rusher to suspension.

 

Foster - outstanding college player who looked like a nice player his first two years in Tampa.  But three coaching staffs in four years and he ends up in Lovie Smith's defense, where he's an awful fit.  He hits the market and we pick him up as an afterthought.  He ends up working his way into the starting line up last season, and he's passable, truth be told.  But we suck as a whole so we're ready to move on from everyone on that side of the ball who struggled.  But suddenly the defense coalesces around him and he's back to playing this role of being the prototype thumping Mike linebacker that he was at UW and he's thriving.

 

Brown - I still don't truly understand how the **** this happened.  He's a blue chip athlete on a UNC defense full of blue chippers and ends up getting picked in the second round by Tennessee.  He's pretty good in three of his first four seasons with the Titans and seems like a potential building block, but you can see he fell out of favor after in his third season after he tore his pectoral and missed the whole year.  They let him walk and he signs for nothing with Buffalo and becomes an All-Pro.  It's a weird situation there, they want to tear everything down and start over and go with Reggie Ragland in the middle.  I can kind of understand that decision.  What I can't understand is how Brown was ignored for so long that we were able to sign him for cheap deep into the free agency period.  Anyway, he hasn't missed a beat from his dominant season last year and he's transformed the middle of our defense.

 

Allen - We all know about him, but it bears acknowledgement that we got a consensus top prospect at 17.  That is exactly the kind of good fortune you need to build a dominant defense.  We're also fortunate that Allen is precocious and coming into his rookie season fully grown and possessing his man strength.  He's contributing immediately when most interior DLs can't.

 

Ioannidis - He was a big part of an excellent Temple defense, but I think most of us wrote him off after he got cut his rookie year and ended up on the PS following the final cutdowns.  That's usually not a good sign for a mid round draft pick.  Well, he grew a lot as a pass rusher this spring and summer and now he's looking like the Greek God of Interior Pressure.  This kid is a good rotation player.

 

Norman - Another stroke of absurd luck.  The Panthers so utterly ****ed this up.  There is no getting around it.  Cutting your best player in the middle of the summer just to avoid giving him a fair deal is the kind of absolutely idiotic and indefensible move that wrecks a championship caliber unit.  And it did.  And their loss was our massive gain.  Most teams are just not that stupid, we were lucky to get him and he immediately became our best player and has been the key to the defensive transformation.  His personality and competitiveness are a culture changer.

 

Swearinger - He was such a nice player for Arizona last season.  I don't get why they didn't keep him.  He is exactly the box duty safety we needed to go from soft to tough.  Why are all of these teams letting their good players go?  As fans of a team that hasn't had a bunch of players who are actually good enough to walk and start for other teams, it's unfathomable.

 

Breeland - OK I still don't totally trust him.  But he looks like the lightbulb has turned on for the most part.  And he's at that age and stage in his career when this happens.  He showed us so much as a rookie, last year was a major disappointment.  If he keeps this up, then he's a quality outside corner who gives us one of the most physical players at the position in the league.

 

Fuller/Nicholson/Moreau - All of them look like gems found in the middle rounds.  McCloughan can scout some DBs, we're loaded in young secondary talent.

 

Conclusion: we have a stacked defense and it was assembled with a lot of good scouting and better luck via having a lot of mid round draft picks pan out and a lot of high quality free agents become unexpectedly available and sign here for bargains.  With some good luck with injuries, the defense can be dominant this year.

[Darrell Green Fan]

There was a part of the game where we smothered Carr a few times, then the Swearinger hit on Beast Mode, and I thought "I'll be damned, we have a bad ass defense".

[skins4eva]

It's a fair question to ask. Holding an offense of that caliber to essentially 100 yards is not a fluke. The question to me is whether we are that good or whether the Raiders were simply that off their game. The answer is probably somewhere in the middle. That's part of the reason I'm excited for this KC game. KC is clearly and by all accounts one of the top 3 teams in the league. I want to see how our defense responds to the success they had last week. Do they come out hungrier and more aggressive than ever or do they get overconfident?  Regardless, I think it's fair to say that both from a personnel and a coaching perspective, this is a massively better D than we had a year ago. Watching on Sunday night, I was reminded how much fun it is to see a dominant defense just break the will of the other team. It's been a long, long time since we've seen that from a defense in DC. You have to go back to Gregg Williams's first year and then the early 90s.  

[Renegade7]

Really depends on how we play in the cheifs game.  I definitely believe the defense is better, consistent is a different question.

[DC9]

Dominant is strong.

 

Average to above average is a MASSIVE upgrade.  We're so used to **** that we don't know the difference between competent and dominant, but that's understandable.

 

We're an average, to above average, professional football defense at the moment.  And I couldn't be more happy about that.

[Darrell Green Fan]

Dear Mr. Cravens:

 

I think we are good at the safety position. Enjoy your retirement.

 

Sincerely,

The Redskins

[SkinsGuy]

We can't call this defense dominant yet. They need to play a few more games that good to be considered dominant.

 

I don't mean they have to hold every team to 100 yards offense every week. But they do need to be strong and suffocating every week for a while.

[Dark Acre]

C'mon guys.  It was game #3, the Raiders flew x-country for a night game, and even great men have to pee.  (One of Hollywood's greatest lines.)  If we don't shut the Chiefs down, in Arrowhead, on MNF, we don't have a dominant D.  We might have a good D, even a very good D, but dominant Ds do it game after game with the odd, matchup exception.

[NeverSurrender]

Seeing Manusky stand on the sidlines with that evil look, jacked shoulder and tight shirt.   While the defense dominates...... Yeah ill have some more..... 

[TheGreek1973]

Chiefs game will tell us a lot.  What I don't get is we got consistent pressure on Carr against what is arguably the best OL in the league with only a 4 man rush.  I am hoping a light bulb went off in the heads of our DL and coaches and figured out how to rush with 4 and put on that kind of pressure against such a quality OL.

 

Now I know the Chiefs don't have this type of OL, theirs is good but not this good.  So the question is did the Raiders OL just have an totally off night?  Or are we this good?  

 

One thing that killed this D against the Eagles was Wetz escaping the pocket and rush for huge plays (the first TD was totally this type of play).  It is imperative we don't let Smith hurt us like that because he is a mobile QB.

[RVAskins]

Let's not get carried away after one great game. I do like the direction they are headed but it's a long season.

[LetThePointsSoar]

As others have stated, it's far too early to tell. 

 

But....football, more than any other sport, is about X's and O's.  I was not in love with the Manusky promotion, but 3 games in, I think I was WAY wrong. Loving that guy and he has his guys believing they can stop ANYONE.  Keep it up, Manusky. 

 

HAIL. 

[sportjunkie07]

It is a much improved defense. I was saying all summer that this defense had new starters at nearly half of the positions and a new coach. There were major changes and we should expect a different defense... I just didn't think they'd gel this quickly. 

 

As for defensive dominance, yeah, I think we're very close. Weve got some starpower, some quality depth, and young players with potential playing at a high level. We have the pieces and the defense looked very cohesive vs the raiders. 

 

We'll get a good test vs the Chiefs, if our d plays well then we are serious contenders for the superbowl. 

[757SeanTaylor21]

I think the potential is definitely there. The true barometer will be against KC. True dominance is the display of consistecy, a la the Seahawks, the broncos. This will be a consecutive game wherr we face a top offense  and they have Kareem hunt who is torching defenses left and right. Very different runner than a slower marshawn. I also think Andy Reid is 10x the offensive coach than that over in Oakland. Im excited and believe we can reach there. When is the last time we even had a too 15 defense, let alone a top 10? 

[Warhead36]

I don't know about dominant. I think we have some real good players. Norman and Brown are Pro Bowlers. Allen appears to be the real deal. And our young players are all stepping up(Breeland, P. Smith, Fuller, Ionidis etc.). If we keep this up for a few more games then yes, I'd say dominant, but for now I'd put us in the above average tier.

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

I'm very interested to see how the defense handles the speed of guys like Hunt and Hill.  Add to that mix an elite tight end like Kelce.  If our defense can bottle these guys up and at least prevent the big plays, make room for me on the Dominant Defense bandwagon.

[Cooleyfan1993]

Part of me thinks the reason we’re good right now is cause offenses don’t have much film on our defense right now, since this is now manuskys defense. If we’re still having great games from our defense by weeks 9, 10, and later, I might start to believe.

[skinzplay]

I'll say that I have a lot more confidence in Manusky than I did in either Barry (whose hire never made any sense, and never will) or in Haslett. To be honest, I wanted Wade, but I like what I've seen from Manusky thus far --- what players he's putting on the field, how he's using those players and catering to their strengths, etc. Hopefully our D can keep this up. If so, I'll be one happy camper, and the Fall forecast will call for extensive hail!

[httrcirca87]

I'm cautiously optimistic about the defense. As others have stated, I want to see consistency. IF we can be this good defensively, the sky is the limit.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I'll start by saying I'm 98.5% sure we don't have a dominant defense, but one that will end up somewhere in the 12-18 range (middle of the pack). That alone should help take enough pressure off the offense (passing game specifically). 

 

However, if we do turn out to have one based on the players laid out so well in the OP, it would remind me of how a baseball team's bullpen can vault from nothing to dominant in one season. If you add proven veterans (Swearinger, Gallette, and Brown) to a solid core (Kerrigan, Norman, and Foster) and get giant steps forward from young players (Breeland, Smith, Ioannidis, and Fuller) it's a great recipe. It's reminding me of what can happen in a bullpen when you get career years from a few players. 

[RabidFan]

Great, you jinxed it.  Ha

 

Nah, we are much improved but I attribute that to not only scouting and drafting, but to coaching as well.  Joe B just sucked.  Manusky has the pedigree of insane animalistic attacker as a player and is aggressive as a coach.  Players relate to that passion.  Torian Gray is getting the most out of the secondary.  Nice pull there.  and Tomsula is just a beast.  We have probably the two best line coaches since Gibbs 1.0 and the proof is in the pudding.   When you have coaches catering schemes to their talent, you don't need 22 all pros.

Well done Skins....though i'll give Scot and Jay more credit than Bruce all day and thrice on Sundays.

[Going Commando]

47 minutes ago, LetThePointsSoar said:

As others have stated, it's far too early to tell. 

 

I recognize that this is the reasonable conclusion right now.  But my question is, should it be?  Are we not going to be looking back at the end of the season and saying it should have been obvious early on that the unit was dominant?

 

And the reason I think that is because the talent level of the unit is so high.  It's full of stars and high quality role players who other teams inexplicably gave up on, mid round gems, first round studs, and studs who should have been first rounders.  And the chemical make up of the group is awesome.  There is so much competitiveness and leadership on that side of the ball.

 

I think we may be seeing the beginning stage of a Seattle-like defense forming.

[redskinss]

I know this is slightly off topic and most people are gonna say,  deangelo who? 

 

But after seeing what this secondary is capable of and seeing them really start to jel,  what do we do when deangelo hall is healthy and ready to come back? 

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

2 minutes ago, redskinss said:

I know this is slightly off topic and most people are gonna say,  deangelo who? 

 

But after seeing what this secondary is capable of and seeing them really start to jel,  what do we do when deangelo hall is healthy and ready to come back? 

Ask him to retire with dignity so we don't have to release him.

[Going Commando]

24 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

I don't know about dominant. I think we have some real good players. Norman and Brown are Pro Bowlers. Allen appears to be the real deal. And our young players are all stepping up(Breeland, P. Smith, Fuller, Ionidis etc.). If we keep this up for a few more games then yes, I'd say dominant, but for now I'd put us in the above average tier.

 

I don't think above average totally clowns a top five offense like we did with Oakland.  That would be such an aberration that Occam's razor says it's more likely the unit is great than above average.

 

Norman and Brown are better than Probowlers, they're All Pros.  Kerrigan's on the fringe of that.  And I think Preston Smith is going to join them at the Probowl this year.  That's quite a bit of top end talent.  But when you go position by position, it looks like there aren't any real weaknesses.  Maybe Nicholson and Breeland, but they're playing well right now.  And the bench is reliable at every position group except for safety, which can become so with the return of Deangelo Hall.

 

I agree with everyone that says KC is a better test of the unit's strength.  They're a dynamic offense and they're almost impossible to beat in Arrowhead.  Kelce, Hill, and Hunt are amazing.  But that OL doesn't necessarily scare me, and neither does Alex Smith.  I think the D is going to handle them, and I think the game will come down to whether our own offense can hang points on a KC defense that is as stacked as ours.