[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by The Goat

I'll start up front w/ the line and work backwards. The comments about Daniels looking slow don't surprise one bit cuz I thought the same thing. How worrisome is this? He's 36 and it's his first game in almost two years so can we reasonably hope he gets a bit more agile over the next few games OR is it time to make him a reserve and test the other guys?

IMO more situational rotation at LDE would be a good thing.

Per the LB corp I see Rocky around the ball way more than I remember last year. I picked up on one of his misses on Bradshaw...three is a pattern so that's worrisome. Anyway the question is if we do go more w/ Cobra packages as suggested it means London and Rocky are the main "tacklers" on the field: working as a twosome are they up to that challenge?

Because Horton and Doughty are generally pretty good tacklers I think they're fine.

It sounds like on the one hand Blache expects single coverage of these guys much of the time but simultaneously asks them to play well off the LOS i.e. soft coverage. The two things seem utterly contradictory but that's what I take from it...am I missing something?

Blache runs a lot of man. In his Cover 1 the DBs normally have a closer cushion. What we saw on Sunday from the 2nd qtr on was a Cover 3 base look with the DBs at a 7-10 yd cushion. I think what Blache was trying to do is give the same look yet run different coverages from it. But to your point, if you're asking the DBs to sit back at 7-10 yds and then at the snap fly up into man, you wind up with DBs getting beat on double moves (Rogers on the Sluggo) and short to med routes being pretty open if the DB sits back and reads the QB too long.

IMO Blache has to put more effort into making things more difficult to get a pre-read on. From the Cover 3 base I saw either a Cover 3 Zone with Fletch, Rocky, Doughty underneath in Zones, or the same underneath guys in man on the TEs, RBs in a 2WR set, or Man coverage across the board. 3 Choices that can be identified by certain offensive sets pretty easily, 3WR Split set saw man coverage, the Bunch sets saw Man normally. If I'm picking this stuff up looking at a DVR replay for an hour or two, what are pros looking at a full field view for multiple hours per day seeing. In the NFL today the defenses that are successful in making turnovers and getting off the field on 3rd down create indecision on the OL and most importantly with the QB by their scheme and defensive looks. IMO Blache currently isn't doing a very good job of that.

To dig a little deeper it also sounds like the fact our CBs have differing talents they don't necessarily compliment one another. Namely, Los is a damn good cover corner...just strait up man coverage and that WR is taken out of the play. Meanwhile Hall is better suited in a zone scheme. How can Blache scheme to both their strengths? Or...is it plausible that if Hall stops playing like a pussy he'll actually fair pretty well in man-coverage (hopefully he can learn to jam a WR in the next 4 days LOL)?

Here is a pretty good article from the Examiner. Hall is a pretty decent coverage corner, not a press guy, but a good run-chase-close guy because of his speed/quickness. Smoot is a liability in man coverage, pretty easy to scheme around that....put him on the bench and put Tryon or Barnes in LOL. Seriously though, Smoot just needs to be protected and be matched up on a possesion receiver, not a speed guy. If the opponent is finding a formation to create a mismatch with him he's got to come out or go Zone coverage.

The man coverage with a 7yd cushion is OK if there's some heat up front, I don't like it with a 4 man rush.

Chalk talk: Why the Redskins play off-man coverage | Washington Examiner

My last question is sort of general... what more is there to know about the Cobra package? I ask because we've got some really nice talent among the safeties but it doesn't come wrapped in a bow (tied around one or two guys head). Horton strikes me as the best tackler among the group...and damn he looks stout for a safety. He looks like the WLB in the Tampa 2 defense. I want him on the field. Doughty is the smartest from what I see and therefor the best at reading the offense/play. Landry...Landry has all the GD talent in the friggin world but it doesn't translate into what I would call elite FS work on the field.

I like the Cobra package, I would like to see Landry a bit more involved than just playing center field all the time or coming on a predictable blitz. Run some Cover 0 and put him on a WR. Rotate him into underneath coverage sometimes for a different look.

I believe we have very good personnel on D, outside of depth at LB, I believe our scheme needs to be more aggressive and much more creative. Not simply rely on our talent outclassing the opponents offense. The Giants WR/TEs are not better than our secondary in a match-up talent wise. But Blache was out-coached by Gilbride on Sunday.