Redskins-Cards Defensive Review: Fred Smoot Benched?

[GTripp0012]

There was a lot of things wrong with the defensive effort. The Redskins were powerless to stop the run all day long. The Cardinals aren’t even a good running team. The Redskins gave up a 62 yard TD pass, the longest play against them this season. We will examine what went wrong with that play. However, as un-Redskin-like as that effort was, the defense STILL only gave up 17 points.

Greg Blache

This was by far the game in which Greg Blache had the biggest effect in. Consider the following:

• Fred Smoot was essentially demoted to begin the week. He was a starter in the first two games, this week Smoot was so far in Blache’s doghouse that he wasn’t even in the nickel formation to begin the game.
• The first six nickel packages called in that game featured Rogers-Springs-Landry-Horton-Doughty in the secondary. Yep, three safeties.
• Because of his distrust in Smoot, Blache started the game trying to defend the Cards 3 WR sets with his base defense. A few times he tried to defend the 4 WR sets with his 4-3.
• The Cardinals adjusted to this by running almost the entire first half out of 3+ WR sets, and later ran most plays out of the gun.
• This is all incredibly bizarre because the Redskins 4-3 was struggling against the run, not the pass. The Cards then got away from the run before the Redskins showed they could stop it.
• Blache adjusted to all this by throwing in some dime coverages, getting Smoot into the game along with Horton and Doughty. This is significant because Blache has been very adverse to using that many defensive backs for one reason or another.
• After the end of the first half, the Redskins benched Smoot again, instead replacing him with Leigh Torrence in the nickel packages.
• The Redskins pulled London Fletcher out of the game on a 1st and 20, replacing him with Rocky McIntosh in the dime. Larry Fitzgerald ran an in route which Warner through just inside the fingertips of a diving McIntosh, and Fletch would not sit again.
• Andre Carter missed a few series in the second half, but would return.

Right. So Blache was mixing and matching his personnel all day, clearly not confident with his own gameplan, but also, not really doing anything to solve the real issue: run defense.

Package Breakdown:

59 Defensive Plays
Base 4-3: 23 (39%)
Nickel : 9 (15%)
Nickel (3 safeties): 9 (15%)
Dime: 17 (29%)
Dime 3-2: 1 (2%)

Lots of defensive players played a serious role in this game.

Blitzes: 7

36 Total Passes
5+ rush: 7 (18%)
6+ rush: 0
Safety fires: 1

There you have it. Blache is a big fan of the safety blitz, but given the Cards WRs, they opted against dialing up much. I had one blitz from Doughty. They sent Smoot on a corner blitz, only to watch him rough the passer.

Pass Rush

The Redskins pressured, hit, battered, and yes, sacked Kurt Warner throughout the game. They rushed 4 guys more than 80% of the time. Here’s who to credit for a job well done:

Sacks:
Kedric Golston 1
Andre Carter 0.5
Rocky McIntosh 0.5

Pressures:
Andre Carter 2
Corneilius Griffin 2
Jason Taylor 2
Rocky McIntosh 1
Demetric Evans 1
Fred Smoot 1

QB Hits:
Fred Smoot 1
Kedric Golston 1

Passes Deflected:
Jason Taylor 3 (!) (3!)
Lorenzo Alexander 1

Warner looked rather rattled in the fourth quarter. That didn’t take away from how Kurt carved up the Redskins most of the day, but it probably prevented the Cardinals from winning the game.

I don’t think anything is ‘wrong’ with Anthony Montgomery, he’s just getting his playing time cut because Golston is playing very well right now. Lorenzo Alexander is also pushing for playing time, and there’s only two downs to go around, so it’s tough to get Monty on the field right now. I expect to see him more down the stretch in run stopping situations.

Pass Coverage

This is the bread and butter of the Redskins defense, and no player in the Redskins secondary really played their best game as a Redskin. Yes, the Cards WRs are good. And the Redskins secondary made a bunch of great individual plays at times.

I’d like to discuss the long TD pass for a minute. Gregg Williams decided after the 2006 debacle that the M.O. he would choose for the Redskins defense is that they would not give up ANY plays down the field. Last year, that plan worked perfectly while Sean Taylor was roaming the FS position, and then also worked well for 4 games when LaRon Landry moved to FS. This is the first time since 2006 the Redskins gave up a long TD with Landry or Taylor back there. On the play, both teams were in their base defenses. The Cardinals went with max protect, and the Redskins did not blitz Warner, who had all day to throw. The Redskins were in zone, and Rogers turned Fitzgerald loose when he went vertical. Doughty picked up the assignment, but Reed Doughty is obviously no match at all for Larry Fitzgerald, but LaRon Landry had the deep zone, and by all means the play should have been defended. When Fitzgerald broke to the inside, Landry must have seen a key on the route, because he had Doughty over the top, and figured he could jump the route and pick off Warner. Except for one little thing. He jumped a dig route and Fitzgerald took it to the post. Oops. Warner put the ball well out of Doughty’s reach. It was a great throw. Would Sean Taylor have defended the pass if he were back there instead of Doughty? Probably. But if Landry is going to gamble, he can’t be quite as wrong as he was on that play. The Skins don’t play Cover-2 all that often, and thats why.

The Redskins matched up in a lot of man coverage situations against the Cards receivers, and generally, they allowed Rogers to take Fitzgerald, and Springs to matchup on Boldin. Keep that in mind as we review the following:

The coverage numbers for the Redskins against the Cardinals

*Carlos Rogers - 5/6 44 yards, 7.3 yards/attempt, 67% SR against
Rocky McIntosh - 3/3 27 yards, 9.0 yards/attempt, 33% SR against
London Fletcher - 3/4 35 yards, 8.75 yards/attempt, 75% SR against
Shawn Springs - 1/2 7 yards, 3.5 yards/attempt, 50% SR against
Leigh Torrence - 0/2 0 yards, 0 yards/attempt, 0% SR against
Fred Smoot - 2/2 10 yards, 5 yards/attempt, 100% SR against
Reed Doughty - 1/3 62 yards, 20.7 yards/attempt, 33% SR against
LaRon Landry - 1/2 9 yards, 4.5 yards/attempt, 50% SR against
Marcus Washington - 1/1 10 yards, 10 yards/attempt, 100% SR against
*I’m counting the ticky-tack pass interference on Rogers as a completed pass.

15/36. (42%)

That was the success rate of the Cards’ passing offense. Looking at the numbers just above, you may be wondering why and how they failed. Pressure. Pressure, pressure pressure. Warner was unable to consistently get the ball to his receivers. In this aspect, the Redskins will really miss Jason Taylor, but in another aspect, the Redskins might have a better chance to beat Dallas without him.

Run Defense

Cards Rushing game SR: 12/23 (52%)

When the Redskins did things right against the run, all 11 of those times, it’s because they were making great individual plays. Andre Carter made a full extension tackle. Rocky McIntosh blew up a few plays from his LB position. Griffin got some nice penetration and Fletch did his thing.

Let’s take a look at the individual figures.

London Fletcher: 5 tackles, 5.8 yards per
Rocky McIntosh: 7 tackles, 2.4 yards per
Marcus Washington: 2 tackles, 5.0 yards per
Andre Carter: 2 tackles, 3.5 yards per
LaRon Landry: 2 tackles, 10.5 yards per
Chris Horton: 1 tackle, 3 yards
Reed Doughty: 2 tackles, 2 yards per
Demetric Evans: 1 tackle, 5 yards
Anthony Montgomery: 1 tackle, 12 yards
Corneilius Griffin: 1 tackle, 3 yards
Kedric Golston: 1 tackle, -3 yards

Rocky really looks like a breakout candidate this year, and Fletcher is the mark of consistency. Golston and Griffin did not have a huge impact on this game, which is not good because when they were pushed around, Edgerrin James and Tim Hightower really gashed us. Fletcher was chasing people all day, and even Landry was forced to run down runners in the secondary. The front seven is usually much stronger than this against the run.

Overall defense

Vital Statistics:
Total Yards: 319
Ave yards per play: 5.41
Cards Success Rate: 27/59 (46%)

Overall the defense got the job done, but it wasn’t without worry. The yards/play is skewed by the long TD pass to Fitzgerald. Success Rate obviously paints a much better picture, one that was in line with the amount of points they gave up.

If the Redskins can get this sort of pressure on Tony Romo, they may overcome the Cowboys and win the game. The coverage unit has to play better, as well as the run defense. This outcome could have been far, far worse. But right now, the Redskins are 2-1, and sitting pretty only a game out of first place going into Big D this Sunday.