It's LaRon Landry!

[GoSkins!]

Originally Posted by 70Chip

Sherriff's piece is great. Top notch stuff. I would make this point about the yards per carry we give up. 3.1 in 2004 is superb. It means that teams simply couldn't run the ball. 4.1 in 2005 is okay. You're not stuffing people but you're not getting bulldozed either. 4.5 in 2006 puts you in dangerous territory. The .4 yards between 4.1 and 4.5 are far more significant than the 1 yard between 3.1 and 4.1. At some point, if the numbers keep going up, you pass a tipping point.

Think of it this way. If you went from throwing 40 TDs to 20 and then 10, the drop from 20 to 10 is much more devestating even though it's a numerically smaller decrease than going from 40 to 20.

I think what's significant is that the Redskins have gotten consistently worse and they should have done something to adress the negative trend after 2005.

You have to consider LB play when looking at the yards per carry. I think that we all saw how much worse it got with Pierce gone and Holdman playing. Arringtons presence on running down late in 2005 solidified the run defense. It is easy for me to believewhat I am being told by the skins talking heads. They think the DL is not to blame for the poor run defense and they acknowldege that the DE position could be improved but not with late round draft picks.

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by GoSkins!

You have to consider LB play when looking at the yards per carry. I think that we all saw how much worse it got with Pierce gone and Holdman playing. Arringtons presence on running down late in 2005 solidified the run defense. It is easy for me to believewhat I am being told by the skins talking heads. They think the DL is not to blame for the poor run defense and they acknowldege that the DE position could be improved but not with late round draft picks.

I went to NFL.com and added up all the tackles by the four starters in 2005 (Daniels, Griffin, Salave'a and Wynn) and they totalled 118. Last year, Daniels, Griff, Salave'a and Carter all got 127. So while the run defense statistically plummeted, the front four actually made more tackles.

I know stats can be deceiving with defensive linemen, but I do think your point about the linebackers slacking last year has some validity.