Is this the most talented yet misused defensive front we've had in years?

[NickyJ]

3 minutes ago, clskinsfan said:

By my calculations the Skins defense will be 3rd against the run and 4th against the pass after this weekends games. This defense is the real deal man.

I've heard people say in the past that picking Payne in the draft was a divisive decision among the staff, and that someone had to make the final decision. I don't know who fell on which side of that decision, but whoever was against it, I have one thing to say to them:

 

IN YO FACE LIKE A CAN OF MACE BABY

[Springfield]

DaRon Payne is the truth

[Burgold]

On 10/17/2018 at 10:27 AM, dyst said:

The interior lineman have been fine. The edge rushers have been very disappointing.Our linebackers are a joke.

Romo mentioned something about this. He said years' past our linebackers would lacked discipline and the Cowboys would gut them on backdoor plays. Now, they're rushing with more discipline. The linebackers are reading much more than attacking.

 

We saw how Dak burned us with his feet when everyone just rushed. I don't totally disagree with you. I'd like to see more aggression and edge pressure, but I think Kerrigan and Smith are getting less sacks by design.

[Anselmheifer]

I am just watching game highlights now on NFL.com because I was with my daughter all day. Someone more tech savvy than I am needs to go in and make a youtube highlight of Ioannidis' pass rush with 3:10 left in the 2nd quarter. Or, everyone needs to go watch it on NFL.com. Swim move past the OT, and then with the OT riding his back, literally throws the RB out of the way. I swear, the RB went 3-4 yard backward, landed on his back and did a somersault. I'm not sure I've seen anything like it, other than that Derwin James highlight. 

 

https://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2018102110/2018/REG7/Cowboys@Redskins?icampaign=scoreStrip-globalNav-2018102110

[clskinsfan]

10 minutes ago, NickyJ said:

I've heard people say in the past that picking Payne in the draft was a divisive decision among the staff, and that someone had to make the final decision. I don't know who fell on which side of that decision, but whoever was against it, I have one thing to say to them:

 

IN YO FACE LIKE A CAN OF MACE BABY

 

 I hated the pick when we made it. I thought he was a bad pass rusher while watching his tape. But man is he a force in the middle. 

[Going Commando]

Payne was an inspired draft pick.  He's a truly special player at the position.  He and Jonathan Allen are the two biggest talents on the team now.

 

Smith and Kerrigan are good players too.  I thought Kerrigan might be starting to age, but not just yet.  Still a good assignment ball player with a nose for the football.

 

This DL is playing really good football right now.  The secondary has been playing well too.

[skinsfan35yrs.]

12 minutes ago, clskinsfan said:

By my calculations the Skins defense will be 3rd against the run and 4th against the pass after this weekends games. This defense is the real deal man.

yeah well this real deal showed again how they cant stop a team late in the 4th. Happy we beat Dallas not happy the d let up and made it closer then it should have been

[NickyJ]

7 minutes ago, Anselmheifer said:

I am just watching game highlights now on NFL.com because I was with my daughter all day. Someone more tech savvy than I am needs to go in and make a youtube highlight of Ioannidis' pass rush with 3:10 left in the 2nd quarter. Or, everyone needs to go watch it on NFL.com. Swim move past the OT, and then with the OT riding his back, literally throws the RB out of the way. I swear, the RB went 3-4 yard backward, landed on his back and did a somersault. I'm not sure I've seen anything like it, other than that Derwin James highlight. 

 

https://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2018102110/2018/REG7/Cowboys@Redskins?icampaign=scoreStrip-globalNav-2018102110

I never saw it during the game, but that was beautiful. It's at 1:20 if anyone here is looking for it.

[Vanguard]

3 minutes ago, NickyJ said:

I never saw it during the game, but that was beautiful. It's at 1:20 if anyone here is looking for it.

 

Oh man.  I just saw it!    The power.....

[Califan007 The Constipated]

4 minutes ago, NickyJ said:

I never saw it during the game, but that was beautiful. It's at 1:20 if anyone here is looking for it.

 

Tossed him like a throw pillow lol...

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

40 minutes ago, NickyJ said:

I've heard people say in the past that picking Payne in the draft was a divisive decision among the staff, and that someone had to make the final decision. I don't know who fell on which side of that decision, but whoever was against it, I have one thing to say to them:

 

IN YO FACE LIKE A CAN OF MACE BABY

Like Payne a lot but the argument there was believed to be about James who has been incredible.  Good argument to have.

[Suffolk_Skins]

On 6/4/2018 at 10:41 PM, madden lot said:

On paper, yes

 And on Sunday's

[Warhead36]

Payne has been real good, but man a James/Swearinger Safety combo would have been awesome too. But I'll never complain with drafting a DL and I like the idea of building one dominant unit that can carry a team.

1 hour ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

Payne was an inspired draft pick.  He's a truly special player at the position.  He and Jonathan Allen are the two biggest talents on the team now.

 

Smith and Kerrigan are good players too.  I thought Kerrigan might be starting to age, but not just yet.  Still a good assignment ball player with a nose for the football.

 

This DL is playing really good football right now.  The secondary has been playing well too.

The D is close to being dominant. I'd still like one more ILB, Foster is average at best and I like Brown but he's not the best in coverage. We need to see more from Smith too. Kerrigan is aging a bit but came to play today. In the secondary we probably need one more CB unless Dunbar really is the truth(not sold on Norman long term either though he's been better last two games)and Nicholson needs to step up or we need a new FS. I don't always love our coaching either, I hate that we keep blitzing but then call soft zone coverage allowing the QB extra time to make easier throws(you should play press man jam coverage to throw off timing and buy the blitzers that extra second to get to the QB).

 

But its a very good unit right now. We held the Packers to their season low of 17 points(they've scored 20+ every other game including games of 33 and 29). We held the Panthers to 17, their second lowest(16 was their lowest at home vs. the Cowboys Week 1). Colts scoring 21 at the time looked bad but Luck leads the league in TD passes and honestly in today's NFL holding a franchise QB led team to 21 points isn't that bad(especially since the offense was horrendous that game). And we really should have shut out the Cardinals in the opener.

 

The Saints game sucked but honestly I don't think any team in the league would have won that week in that scenario(Brees in the Superdome on MNF setting an all time record? that was a scheduling loss as much as anything else). Take that game out and our D is allowing something like 16 PPG which in today's NFL is pretty insane.

[Playaction2Sanders]

I mean this was why you drafted an Allen, Ioannidis, and Payne, to stop the Elliots and Barkley's of the NFC east. Elliot has had his way vs us since he was drafted. Well we've had enough of that ****... Great job by them today..

 

Watching the highlights on YT, not a single Zeke highlight..

 

 

[mistertim]

2 hours ago, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

Like Payne a lot but the argument there was believed to be about James who has been incredible.  Good argument to have.

 

I was against the pick when it happened but I was wrong. My worry was that Payne had only shown flashes of pass rushing for a short period of time so I thought he was a bad value where we drafted him as we would basically have to hope that he would be the guy he was for the last couple games of his career or we'd just end up spending a high pick on a decent run stuffer. Glad he has proven me wrong so far.

 

That being said, I really wanted Derwin James, and I don't think I was wrong to want him. I've watched him play a bit so far this year and, while he has the occasional rookie mistake, the dude honestly reminds me of Polamalu out there; he's just all over the damn place making plays. He would have been an excellent pick as well.

[Thinking Skins]

2 hours ago, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

Like Payne a lot but the argument there was believed to be about James who has been incredible.  Good argument to have.

 

The problem I had with the James pick and an ILB pick this year or last year is that, its a well known thing that defenses are built from the front to back, so if we have the chance for a game changer on the line vs a game changer somewhere else I'm probably going line, especially if we have nothing on the line and potential at the other positions. 

[Murphs56]

THE ALABAMA WALL!!!!

[Morneblade]

11 minutes ago, Thinking Skins said:

 

The problem I had with the James pick and an ILB pick this year or last year is that, its a well known thing that defenses are built from the front to back, so if we have the chance for a game changer on the line vs a game changer somewhere else I'm probably going line, especially if we have nothing on the line and potential at the other positions. 

 

This. And to add to it, running a 3-4 without a NT is simply asking to fail. It's the single important position on that alignment. And we didn't have one. Drafting a S wouldn't have done much, if anything for the team. Now we have a stud NT, and he makes everything better. Safeties just don't do that.

[Going Commando]

1 minute ago, Thinking Skins said:

 

The problem I had with the James pick and an ILB pick this year or last year is that, its a well known thing that defenses are built from the front to back, so if we have the chance for a game changer on the line vs a game changer somewhere else I'm probably going line, especially if we have nothing on the line and potential at the other positions.  

 

Agreed.  And Payne is every bit as special as Derwin James and and pretty much any other defensive player in that draft class not named Roquan Smith.  Or Denzel Ward apparently.  He's a game changer.  But he plays a position and performs a role that will never get him as much glory as defensive backs or linebackers.  90% of his contributions do not get noticed.  But he's how you control the line of scrimmage.  And winning that battle is the most important factor in playing good defense.  It's not a coincidence that his defenses are always dominant.

 

There is no stat for being able to play force every inside rush against a dominant rushing offense and stone the A-Gap at the LoS because your 1 tech is so good.  For being able to disrupt mesh points because the interior pressure is so intense.  For being able to generate consistent inside pressure on passing downs that forces pocket movement in order to restore passing lanes.  For forcing an offensive line to change the blocking schemes in their play designs in order to account for your one technique.  For forcing playcallers to throw out parts of their playbook because they don't think they can get them blocked against this match up.

 

Hell Payne might have made the play of the game on the final FG attempt by firing off the line of scrimmage after the center moved the ball and forcing the refs to throw the flag.  He gets no official credit for that but those five yards were his doing and they were probably the reason we won the game in regulation.  He dominates games.

[Mr. Sinister]

5 hours ago, Warhead36 said:

Payne has been real good, but man a James/Swearinger Safety combo would have been awesome too. But I'll never complain with drafting a DL and I like the idea of building one dominant unit that can carry a team.

The D is close to being dominant. I'd still like one more ILB, Foster is average at best and I like Brown but he's not the best in coverage. We need to see more from Smith too. Kerrigan is aging a bit but came to play today. In the secondary we probably need one more CB unless Dunbar really is the truth(not sold on Norman long term either though he's been better last two games)and Nicholson needs to step up or we need a new FS. I don't always love our coaching either, I hate that we keep blitzing but then call soft zone coverage allowing the QB extra time to make easier throws(you should play press man jam coverage to throw off timing and buy the blitzers that extra second to get to the QB).

 

But its a very good unit right now. We held the Packers to their season low of 17 points(they've scored 20+ every other game including games of 33 and 29). We held the Panthers to 17, their second lowest(16 was their lowest at home vs. the Cowboys Week 1). Colts scoring 21 at the time looked bad but Luck leads the league in TD passes and honestly in today's NFL holding a franchise QB led team to 21 points isn't that bad(especially since the offense was horrendous that game). And we really should have shut out the Cardinals in the opener.

 

The Saints game sucked but honestly I don't think any team in the league would have won that week in that scenario(Brees in the Superdome on MNF setting an all time record? that was a scheduling loss as much as anything else). Take that game out and our D is allowing something like 16 PPG which in today's NFL is pretty insane.

 

There has been enough out on the Saints over the years to show who they are, who they are the years where they decide to play defense, who they're on the road, who they are vs the NFC South, who they are vs Tampa specifically, and who they are in the Superdome on Monday Nights, which is nearly unbeatable tornado of razorblades at times. I'm almost willing to give at least the Defense a straight mulligan on that one.

[RandyHolt]

BAM!  Payne was a beast on that final drive... and probably all game.  The Kerrigan sack fumble, it appeared that he had pass coverage duty first, or had to slow the TE. The fumble there is huge, for its a 5 point swing vs if he just takes the sack like a man.  Shades of Emmitt trying to fumble forward out of the endzone....

 

It's glorious to see Dallas lose, but even more glorious to see Zboy launched/shutdown en route to victory.

 

 

 

 

[Going Commando]

What was the field side corner doing on that play?  Cover 3?  The secondary got schooled on that one.

[Anselmheifer]

Thanks for posting that clip! I know it shouldn’t,  but it makes me happy thinking of Elliott watching that play with his teammates in film review this week. 

 

Also, Kerrigan was very good yesterday. Imagine what we would look like with an impact player on the other side. I’d love to see us invest more on the front 7, but don’t see it happening given how bad the offense looks. 

[veteranskinsfan]

Last night Comcast said London Fletcher address the team on Saturday night.  I am sure he fired up our defensive players.

[RandyHolt]

I loved that it was Payne that forced the issue on the #SnapInfraction

 

On that same drive, he got pressure, and had a batted ball. The man's a menace!