Where has the Redskins' Pass Rush Gone?

GTripp, wouldn't you say our pass rush has been very effective against poor and injured OLs? I would say it hasn't really "gone" anywhere; it was never really there.Last year it was a legit pass rushing line, top quartile in the NFL, and more or less with the same personnel.

You can tell where the sack production is lacking vs. last year: Andre Carter. But Carter's thing is not the level of his performance, but that he's not an every down player in this defense. Between him and Carriker and Alexander and whoever else plays that position in the defense, we're getting but a fraction of what Carter provided all by himself last season.

Last year it was a legit pass rushing line, top quartile in the NFL, and more or less with the same personnel.

You can tell where the sack production is lacking vs. last year: Andre Carter. But Carter's thing is not the level of his performance, but that he's not an every down player in this defense. Between him and Carriker and Alexander and whoever else plays that position in the defense, we're getting but a fraction of what Carter provided all by himself last season.The problem is that the the pieces were put together by the previous FO to be a top 4-3 D-line. In that formation, Haynesworth's presence was huge, as was Orakpo's emergence as a pass rushing SAM, all but guaranteeing that Carter faced a single blocker on passing downs. Everyone knew that Carter would be a weak link as a 3-4 OLB, and I credit Haslett for adjusting after Carter's rough start, and converting him to a pass russ specialist the last few games.

It left with the 4-3 defense.

The problem is that the the pieces were put together by the previous FO to be a top 4-3 D-line. In that formation, Haynesworth's presence was huge, as was Orakpo's emergence as a pass rushing SAM, all but guaranteeing that Carter faced a single blocker on passing downs. Everyone knew that Carter would be a weak link as a 3-4 OLB, and I credit Haslett for adjusting after Carter's rough start, and converting him to a pass russ specialist the last few games.Well, the most common four man line this year is Haynesworth, Holliday/Golston, Orakpo, and Carter. That's last year's most common line except with Griffin instead of Holliday. So the nickel personnel isn't really different at all.

The standard downs personnel is a lot different, namely, that Carter isn't on the field and hasn't been since week three, really. You have Kemo in the middle, Carriker and Golston at the "ends" with Orakpo coming off the very edge. It's that group that needs to get to the QB more often. Perhaps with that group, we need to bring more guys? Kemo can eat a block or two, but if Carriker and Golston can't beat one on ones, it's just Orakpo with no help in the standard downs pressure unit.

We do a lot more 3 man rushes than we did last year, which is another reason for the decreased sack rate = more guys in coverage. But that's not the whole difference. We just don't rush anyone consistently besides Orakpo.

Alexander's a good pass rusher, but we seem to prefer to drop him into coverage in most downs, so that's one reason our pass rush is down: coverage-first mentality.

Still, any team rushing four should get there more than the Redskins are.

The best hypothesis is that Carter's performance from 2009 was just irreplaceable, no matter what you think of the 4-3/3-4 situation. We just weren't going to be able to replace that performance with a replacement or an older version of Carter. We were going to have to find that sack production elsewhere, and we just havent yet.

Golston was a mediocre DT with little pass rushing skills to begin with.

Carriker is a big space eater. Rushing the passer is not his priority.

Kemo is just supposed to plug the middle for the LBs. He's only recently been warming up. I only see him as something to just push the center, not get sacks.

We simply don't have any pass rushers outside of Orakpo and AH. I think we need one more guy in there that can be disruptive. I thougth Wilson would be that guy but so far he hasn't even had enough playing time. AC is what he is...kind of an average pass rusher. Bottom line is it's going to take time for Haslett to get the type of personel he needs for this defense.

Honestly, have we ever had a great consistent pass rush? Rak is the only and closest thing to a dominate pass rusher which we have.

AC is due

Landry is an excellent pass rusher. If he played a 3-4 OLB, he'd be an absolute terror to block. But if Landry plays in the box, not just up on the line but actually in a gap, then you need to play both Doughty and Moore. And that's just not the best use of this team's personnel.

We need a real free safety, badly. It's our biggest defensive need.