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All things defense


ThomasRoane

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14 minutes ago, D’Pablo said:

Would this team still benefit from having an elite corner or has St. Juste developed enough that we're okay? What upgrades are needed? MLB?

 

I'd say St. Juste is fine and will get better, my question to piggyback on that is if Fuller has woken up.

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55 minutes ago, Voice_of_Reason said:

I will say, I don't think the two are related.  I think you can upgrade the OL AND keep whoever you want to.  

 

Honestly, the OL shouldn't be that hard to fix.  Though, it would drive some of the draftnicks crazy, but if you spent a mid to late first round pick on an interior OL, and signed a starting guard and Center, you'd be fine, assuming the interior OL isn't a bust.  The draftnicks will try to preach positional value, which I hear to a point: I wouldn't take a punter in the first round.  But interior OL is going to turn into a premier position with the emergence of more interior pass rushers.  

 

The tackle positions are fine for now.  Leno/Lucas/Cosmi are more than passable at Tackle.  It's the interior which is a mess.  And a competent FO should be able to fix that in one off-season without spending too much cap room on it.  

 

I think most draftnicks are okay with interior O-lineman in the first round--just mid to late first round (like picks 17-32).  That said even the draftnicks will make an exception if you get a once every five years type prospect like Quinton Nelson coming out of college, but even then not top 5 (for what its worth Nelson went #6).  

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1 hour ago, Renegade7 said:

@wit33

 

I feel where you coming from, long-term I get @Skinsinparadise that we could survive this with huge leaps in the cap coming.

 

Having said that, if we serious about keeping the dline together, have to one accept we can't afford comparable talented players on the oline and rotating out oline starters with rookie contracts instead extending any of them or filling with comparable veterans when neccesary makes me nervous.

 

The reason why I bring this up is folks like Davis, Curl, Forrest, and St.Juste are gonna wanna get paid, too, and we're discussing a huge amount of resources being tied to the dline with a coaching staff that seems deathly allergic to have a rookie QB contract on the roster.

 

Like...exactly what I was afraid of trying to go on a diet on the oline to address the sudden change in our cap situation actually happened.  So they haven't earned benefit of the doubt from me on how to navigate this reality yet, first test already epic fail.


Keeping all 4 is a stretch…. I realize, but from my view something I’d entertain and even approach them as a group to discuss. Create money making off the field for them. Maybe they care about legacy and remaining together.  
 

Keeping 3 of 4 is absolutely mandatory. 

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Darrick Forrest was a nonfactor for the Washington Commanders during his rookie season. That is not a knock against him; he was on Injured Reserve for half the season, and he was mostly a special teams player after he was activated while he learned the nuances of the defensive scheme.

One year later, Forrest has become an integral piece of the Commanders' secondary, and it is a testament to how hard he works off the field to make sure he is ready for game days.

"You've seen him take that step forward on the mental aspect of the game," said coach Ron Rivera. "He's a very bright young man. He's very eager, he practices the right way. He wants to see it and walk through it. If he's wrong, he wants to see it again."

Forrest has been rewarded for his jump in knowledge since his rookie season ended. It first showed up during OTAs and minicamp, and that led to him appearing in at least 44% of the defensive snaps through 10 games. Pro Football Focus has tracked his progress as well; he has the third-highest overall grade (81.7) and the best cover grade (84.8) among all safeties by the analytics website.

Most players experience a jump in their second season, but the reason why Forrest has taken such a drastic step forward is because Rivera said he is "very conscientious" about understanding how to play techniques in coverage.

"They're not necessarily overly advanced and complicated, but yet they still require you to think on the run," Rivera said. "And he's been able to handle that pretty good."

The extra attention to detail is what helped him secure his two turnovers against the Philadelphia Eagles. Based on the routes Philadelphia was running before Quez Watkins' fumble -- two drags routes underneath -- that told him that he needed to get vertical. He barely missed making the play on the ball, but because of his effort and hustle, he was there to recover the ball.

"That was an example that he's got to do something on the fly," Rivera said. "He sees it happen and 'bam', his instincts take over and he makes the break that he's supposed to."

Forrest has played a critical role in the defense's turnaround over the past few weeks. The Commanders had one of the worst units against the pass in 2021, and now they are in the top half of the league. Forrest cannot be credited with all of that, but it is clear that the trio of him, Kam Curl and Bobby McCain are all playing at a high level.

If Washington wants to keep its playoff hopes alive, it will need Forrest to continue that upward trend.

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32 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

Impressive considering we faced two real good offenses the last two weeks and essentially held them to 14 and 13(both Eagles and Vikings got TDs off super short fields via turnovers).

 

Just heard an interesting stat on The Junkies, this is the #2 rush defense that has faced the #4 rushing teams.  Definitely has turned out to be a playoff D.

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44 minutes ago, HigSkin said:

 

Just heard an interesting stat on The Junkies, this is the #2 rush defense that has faced the #4 rushing teams.  Definitely has turned out to be a playoff D.


Obliterating the oppositions run game is the key to having a defense lead the way in todays NFL. The defense can’t just be good, they must create negative plays and create doubt in opponents mind to run the ball. 
 

A second speculative position I have is the need to contain todays NFL QB in the pocket. Operating from the pocket and getting through reads in the pocket is becoming a lost art;  contain the new age QB in the pocket and prevent backyard football they will revert more to the mean. This also is what I’m seeing Washington do at a high level. 
 

It’s becoming less about the sack and more about containment. 

Edited by wit33
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46 minutes ago, CommanderInTheRye said:

Our Cowpoke castoff Ridgeway, the self proclaimed "Vanilla Gorilla", was wrecking things  like Godzilla last week.

 

He also low key caused the fumble that helped nail down the win on the Jamin Davis tackle/facemask play.

 

(#91 in video)

 

 



Ridgeway has been a very good pickup especially after Mathis got hurt. Guy is a space eater and that play is against Kelce arguably the best center in foot.
 

He should remain in at least a 3 man rotation at tackle next year especially if we don’t resign Payne although it would be better to have him in a 4 man rotation with Payne back. We will see how it plays out. 
 

 

Edited by skinsfan93
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7 minutes ago, skinsfan93 said:



Ridgeway has been a very good pickup especially after Mathis got hurt. Guy is a space eater and that play is against Kelce arguably the best center in foot.
 

He should remain in at least a 3 man rotation at tackle next year especially if we don’t resign Payne. 

Ridgeway has been a very good pickup especially after 

You ok?

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17 minutes ago, skinsfan93 said:



Ridgeway has been a very good pickup especially after Mathis got hurt. Guy is a space eater and that play is against Kelce arguably the best center in foot.
 

He should remain in at least a 3 man rotation at tackle next year especially if we don’t resign Payne although it would be better to have him in a 4 man rotation with Payne back. We will see how it plays out. 
 

 

He only played 8 out of the 50 snaps on Monday.  Mostly because of the TOP domination.  Good get by the FO.  But I still would want to keep Payne.

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1 hour ago, wit33 said:


Obliterating the oppositions run game is the key to having a defense lead the way in todays NFL. The defense can’t just be good, they must create negative plays and create doubt in opponents mind to run the ball. 
 

A second speculative position I have is the need to contain todays NFL QB in the pocket. Operating from the pocket and getting through reads in the pocket is becoming a lost art;  contain the new age QB in the pocket and prevent backyard football they will revert more to the mean. This also is what I’m seeing Washington do at a high level. 
 

It’s becoming less about the sack and more about containment. 

Agreed. If you face statue QBs you need to destroy them, but against the mobile athletic types just keep them in the pocket and make them dink and dunk their way down the field. 

 

I think we're gonna rack up the sacks this week.

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I think the local media and national media are making too much out of the return of Chase Young.  The current line is doing just fine without him.

If they want him to rush the passer on third down and maybe play 10 plays or so then that is ok .  Let him get the taste of playing but do not

start him and risk re-injury.  Let him have all winter and next pre-season to get back to full speed.  He needs to gain more muscle mass too.

He looks very thin right now.  Next year we can find out if he is a bust or is a keeper.  Right now I would say picking Justin Herbert would have

been the better way to go for this team.  Hindsight is always easy to fall back on.

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1 minute ago, veteranskinsfan said:

I think the local media and national media are making too much out of the return of Chase Young.  The current line is doing just fine without him.

If they want him to rush the passer on third down and maybe play 10 plays or so then that is ok .  Let him get the taste of playing but do not

start him and risk re-injury.  Let him have all winter and next pre-season to get back to full speed.  He needs to gain more muscle mass too.

He looks very thin right now.  Next year we can find out if he is a bust or is a keeper.  Right now I would say picking Justin Herbert would have

been the better way to go for this team.  Hindsight is always easy to fall back on.


I disagree a bit. I agree Dline has performed well without him. 
 

He seems well liked around the locker room and is a unique source of energy to draw on in games. He’s also a monster in the run game, I imagine he will provide that right away. Not sure about pass rush and pop, but his strength at the point of attack should be present right away. Thoughts? 

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21 minutes ago, Warhead36 said:

The DL has been good without him for sure but Young is the one guy who can be a game changer. Our version of a Myles Garrett or Micah Parsons. As good as our DL is, we don't have anyone with that kind of potential. Young has that. If he's healthy, you gotta play him.

Young had it.. it's frustrating as a fan that the coaches are keeping it medium ala jim zorn with chase young. At this point, it may be better to shut him down for the year. When you have your D coord saying things like He's doing okay, and that's it, doesn't bode well.

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1 hour ago, Ball Security said:

He only played 8 out of the 50 snaps on Monday.  Mostly because of the TOP domination.  Good get by the FO.  But I still would want to keep Payne.

 

Yeah, this is important

 

He is averaging about 17 D snaps a game, which is obviously not a ton. He is coming in to give guys blow and doing a good job in limited action while fresh, but we gotta pump the brakes on using him to fill in for plus players in an expanded role unless mandatory.

 

I do like that he plays S-Teams tho, that has a lot of value.

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The physicality in the secondary with current line up looks tough. Continue to crush the opponents run game and compete in the pass game. 
 

Forrest

Curl

St, Juste

Fuller

Mccain

 

Love the current ROI of this line up. This is the type of secondary you build around 4 high paid Dlinemen. 

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