Why the 2007 defense will be in the top 10

That's a ridiculous question.

Question, who will be better against the run: Taylor or Landry?

Seriously though, something tells me that Landry is going to be the player we all THOUGHT ST was supposed to be. That's unfortunate, but we COULD do worse than to have an awesome safety and a great one.

NFL Draft News (http://www.nfldraftnews.com/players/details?pyid=11692) - 35k
googled it and came from NFL Draft news, its a pay site though

Prior to the draft I didn't read all that much on Landry, and I guess I sort of assumed he was more like a hard-hitting CB. I thought he'd be great against the deep ball and only so-so against the run.
Now that I've become more versed on him I agree with you that he seems very similar to Taylor.
That article on him in the post had the quote from his HS coach that said something like "if he had to choose between grabbing an INT for a touchdown or putting a guy in the hospital he'd have a hard time making up his mind." That sounds a lot like Taylor's attitude, IMO.
I just hope we don't have another situation where both of them seem more concerned with making the highlight hit than covering the pass.
I don't think that will happen, but there's always a chance.

I think the key for the defense will be establishing an offensive identity and having sustained drives and keeping the D off the field and rested. Last year, that rarely happened. And until we decide whether we're a flashy Al Saunders offense or a smash-mouth Joe Gibbs offense, we will not establish that identity.

I suspect that last year's gravitation toward the Gibbs offense will ultimately be permanent, although there's still the matter of that 700 page playbook that we have all heard WAY too much about and the prospect of Saunders calling plays. Until this is ironed out, I think it will mean too many 3-and-outs and having our D on the field too much.

Having said all that, I do think we've upgraded on D (hell, getting rid of ArchDeluxe was itself an upgrade), although I do think we still need improvement on the D-line. But there's no doubt we should be better. The question is how much, and I think that whether we can hold the ball on offense will be a big factor.

I could see us being #15 in total yds. (usually the category that the d is ranked on). That seems realistic, yet sill optimistic as that's a big jump from 31.
I don't think we're a shut down dominating d at all, we will still give up some big plays. I think the difference will be in playmaking; turnovers! You don't have to be the most dominant d if you can make big plays & I look for more of them to happen. Similar to our 05 d, it wasn't as good as 04 but they made some big plays.

hey, I would be exstatic if he ran that fast. I foung nothing but this link.
NFL Draft - NFL draft preview and analysis from Pro Football Weekly (http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/NFLDraft/Player+Rankings/StrongSafeties.htm)

Umm this is slightly off-topic but I was reading player rankings for TE's and some of them it had side notes for projections to the NFL - H-B (Half Back) and FB (Full Back) What does Ch. stand for? I cant for the life of me think right now....

Does someone care to help me out...?

finally, a positive thread. i also think our defense will be much improved. when healthy, the skins boast a hard hitting, ball hawking, gang tackling bunch. this also might be a tryout for Greg Williams resume, because if the skins defense falters again this year, Dan Snyder might want to rethink our next head coach

Really, we have nowhere to go but up. We were just about the worst defense in the league last year. It shouldn't be too difficult to improve. Just the fact that we're healthy should put us into the top 20. A few more turnovers, and we could be top 15.

Not to burst your bubble, but you're putting a WHOLE lot on the pure measurables of our undrafted picks.

Pierce was undrafted, so was Antonio gates, also Willie Parker

Arron Kampman DE of greenbay 5th round, Mark Anderson DE Chicago 5th round
Kevin Kaesviharn safety of the saints 6 ints most among safeties~undrafted

So Yes I feel i can put alot on measurables because where your drafted doesn't mean anything. Talent is talent. Fight in the Dog!

I've been reading alot of threads on here lately talking about our defense and how bad it was and it's gonna be. I know alot of you have been sipping the bitter "skins suck" cool aid that has been leaked into the Washington Media for the past few years sense Snyder got here... but believe me, it's not true. I see the defense that they have put together this year and you know what, I like it!

This year the skins listened to the advice of the fans that have been screaming the same thing over past ten years, they did not give away draft picks or chase the big name free agents. They used sound scouting and nabbed some gems in the draft, free agent market and undrafted market that WILL help this defense for many years to come.

H.B. Blades will be a star for the skins in 3 years. He will learn the system from fletcher and become a fletcher/ Zach Thomas type player for the skins. Justin Hickman can become the pass rusher that we have been looking for, although undersized at 6'1 254 he has a high motor and had major results in college. Byron Westbrook has the speed 4.35 and aggressiveness to become a good young player for us. Landry combined with Taylor has the potiential to be the best safety tandem in the league.

In the free agent market we picked a solid back ups in Macklin and Stoutmire. A leader and playcaller in Fletcher, and the Swagger/ attitude for our D in "the mouth of the south", Smoot. So What, we don't have the biggest baddest physical specimen on our team, but if the coaches motivate these guys properly we'll be a top defense in 07. Rocky wil be better in 07 and so will Rogers. Hopefully we keep Springs for one more year and he is healthy for the 07.

The Defensive line will be fine because of the better secondary, that can actually COVER, we will be able to send more blitzes from all over. Golston and Montgomery should be expected to do good things now know what to expect and most like have put on some more muscle in the off season.

In Conclusion Remember the saying "its not the size of the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog"? Don't underestimate the heart this Defense in 07 The Skins will be a force to reckon with.

This is a pretty broad statement that really doesnt have much backing. Getting Fletcher was great cause now our linebackers are fine, Smoot and Macklin were good for CB depth, and I think Landry's gonna be great with Taylor but I think our defense is gonna come down to one thing. Since GW is going away from the Cover 2/Tampa 2 this year and looks to be heading more towards the cover 1 our defense is gonna come down to how well our top corner plays. With the Cover 1 Landry will be blitzing helping put pressure on QB's to make mistakes and helping with run support alot leaving Taylor deep to help the CB's. It's almost impossible for a free safety to help cover the whole field (if anyone could do it, it would be Taylor) so he's gonna have to trust one of our CB's to be pretty close to a shut down corner, that way he know's who will need help. I think this is why they were so pressed on getting Dre Bly because of his skills in man-to-man. So unless over the offseason Darrell and Deion have turned Rogers into the beast we thought we drafted its up to Springs. If springs can stay healthy all year i think the d will be back in the top 10 but if not I think were in trouble.