Re: Redskins' Secondary Woes
 

The thing that bothers me is this calf injury of Rogers. Rogers barely put any time in during camp and has yet to play in the preseason. Yet he is penciled in opposite of Hall. I would think after those two your go to guys are Smoot and Barnes.

Re: Redskins' Secondary Woes
 

[quote=ChickenMonkey;580600]The secondary is actually going to be a problem, at the nickle spot. Everone underestimated Shawn Springs value to this team, having him here allowed Rogers to play the nickle...Smoot playing the nickle is a liability, it will show up several times this yr and it needs to be addressed.
The Patriots game should give us a good idea of how bad its going to be![/quote]

I agree that Smoot has problems playing the nickel corner. But he's not a terrible nickel back, either. There are much worse problems that a secondary can have than a middle-of-the-road nickel back. Many teams would kill to have their biggest secondary problem be at nickel corner.

Re: Redskins' Secondary Woes
 

[quote=GridIron26;580616]Good read! Although I'm not sure if it's all about secondary though.. Every team's secondary have let big plays to happen once in a while.. I guess I would have to pick Hall as an weakness, he is good but he also gambles.. Hall did let some big plays to happen but he got lucky (Eagles game comes to the mind, DeSean dropped the ball two times.) Rogers doesn't do that often, at all? I think the nickel back is our main problem, Smoot lost more than a step as he always give this a huge lofty space between him and WR.. I'm hoping Barnes or maybe Tryon will manage to crack as nickel starter later in the season.. I'm pretty sure Horton will improve with his coverage areas, since he seems to be still a leveled head.. As for Landry, I truly hope he will break out this season or otherwise I would be very disappointed..

Sean Taylor, nobody could commanded the field the way he did.. My heart stops when his name is brought up.. It is one of very disappointing tragic events, he could have been the best one we ever watched in our life time (and he still is to this day).. There will not be someone who we could find to replicate like him.. If he is still here with us, then we would be basically guaranteed to be #1 defense, along with Orakpo and Haynesworth.. Taylor and Landry would have freedom to roam all over the field, which will put fear into every opponents..[/quote]

I sometimes think how freakin silly this defense would be w/ #21 too. But I think it's time for Landry to step up and take control and I think he will this year.

Re: Redskins' Secondary Woes
 

[quote=PennSkinsFan;580618]The thing that bothers me is this calf injury of Rogers. Rogers barely put any time in during camp and has yet to play in the preseason. Yet he is penciled in opposite of Hall. I would think after those two your go to guys are Smoot and Barnes.[/quote]

The Rogers' injury bothers me too, I'm sure it does to many fans.. However I think Redskins are being smart and let Rogers to rest as much as he could, so that way the injury would have small chance to linger throughout the season, just like with Springs..

Re: Redskins' Secondary Woes
 

Good article, I see how secondary can be an issue but still think the d line will really help. Injuries are the biggest fear at this point. I still worry bout the health of the oline more and the overall offensive to me is still the point of most concern with this team.

Re: Redskins' Secondary Woes
 

The pass rush last year was pitiful. If we see a dramatic improvement in that category everything changes. Blache must adjust his secondary philosophy to match.

Re: Redskins' Secondary Woes
 

Well I think a big issue here is our scheme. It does seem there's always a gap somewhere between the backers and secondary for offensive targets to sneak in and get open for a completion. Translation: teams move the chains on us in chunks here and there, which leaves the d on the field too long and sets up FG opportunities etc, etc. I think Blache/Gray/Landry must find a way to break up those attempts. Maybe Laron plays a bit closer. Maybe Horton roams somewhere in that gap. What I doubt though is our improved pass rush fixes this completely. We need our DB duo to get more INTs and Laron to put fear in the heart of WRs, but we also need to see some kind of adjustment.

Re: Redskins' Secondary Woes
 

First, I appreciate your analysis. I actually feel better that the big plays we gave up were spread around rather than concentrated in one area. For some reason, I had the impression that our LB's were getting beaten a lot in coverage.

Nevertheless, I'm one of those who feels that we should have a more effective pass rush this season that should mitigate any problems we may have in the secondary. So, I'm not very worried about it.

Also, we didn't score many points last season so I think that every 20-yard pass play by the opposition may have been magnified more than it would have been if we had had a more potent offense. If the offense can score more this season, then most defensive lapses pobably won't seem quite as significant.

Re: Redskins' Secondary Woes
 

Yeah there was a marked improvement from the Ravens to the Steeler game. My god, the yardage we gave up in game #1 had me almost morphing into chicken little. Shit we made both Flacco and Smith look like Pro Bowlers.

Re: Redskins' Secondary Woes
 

[quote=PennSkinsFan;580618]The thing that bothers me is this calf injury of Rogers. Rogers barely put any time in during camp and has yet to play in the preseason. Yet he is penciled in opposite of Hall. I would think after those two your go to guys are Smoot and Barnes.[/quote]

Could have sworn he was out there last week. Didn't he make the tackle on that ball that Holmes caught off the bounce that got reversed?

Re: Redskins' Secondary Woes
 

[quote=Mattyk72;580672]Could have sworn he was out there last week. [B]Didn't he make the tackle on that ball that Holmes caught off the bounce that got reversed?[/B][/quote]

Yes.

Re: Redskins' Secondary Woes
 

[quote=The Goat;580658]Well I think a big issue here is our scheme. It does seem there's always a gap somewhere between the backers and secondary for offensive targets to sneak in and get open for a completion. Translation: teams move the chains on us in chunks here and there, which leaves the d on the field too long and sets up FG opportunities etc, etc. I think Blache/Gray/Landry must find a way to break up those attempts. Maybe Laron plays a bit closer. Maybe Horton roams somewhere in that gap. What I doubt though is our improved pass rush fixes this completely. We need our DB duo to get more INTs and Laron to put fear in the heart of WRs, but we also need to see some kind of adjustment.[/quote]
I agree with Goat here . Very good points . I think our problems are bigger at LB than with our DB's , as I doubt Orakpo or Fletcher could cover me one on one . I would rather see O-Sak-Po at end , and hope we do not ask Fletch to cover guys like Westbrook , and we should be ok .

Re: Redskins' Secondary Woes
 

Great study. I believe the only way for guys to get better is to get in the game. Rodgers sitting tomorrow will surely give way for the younger guys to step in and likely step up.

Re: Redskins' Secondary Woes
 

[quote=FRPLG;580601]Landry is good. What Sean did was special. It's not like there are any other safeties in the league who commanded that much of the field. Landry won't ever be able to do that.
[B]
I think we're slowly forgetting that ST was on the easy way to being the best or quite nearly the best safety in league history. He was probably going to do things for an extended period of time that were simply extraordinary.[/B][/quote]

I totally agree. I'm certainly not forgetting. Not a day goes by where I don't think about Sean. He was going to revolutionize the safety position. I think he had about 10 pro-bowls and a few defensive player of the year awards in front of him. Just imagine this defense if he was still around. Downright scary.

Re: Redskins' Secondary Woes
 

Not only does pass rush aid the secondary, but a stout defensive line against the run leads to longer subsequent passing downs.

The return of Phillip Daniels will go largely unnoticed because of Haynesworth, but he's one of the best run stuffing ends in the league. The two of them will make a huge impact against the run. We'll see longer passing downs, the pass rush will make an impact, and the corners will hold up better.

We'll miss Springs, he was still our best CB last year IMO. But it all starts with the run defense, and we'll be fierce in that department.