It’s now safe to say about the Redskins defense what die-hard fans have been saying all offseason. The pass defense in 2006 was a total aberration. So based on the overwhelming evidence that 2006 can not be counted against the Redskins defensive progression, I figured it would be a good time to look back at what this team accomplished in 2005 and see how this unit stacks up. After all, it’s easy to see that the Redskins are getting better production than last year at all 11 defensive positions. Before we completely abandon 2006, I want to put out one interesting positive stat from a sea of crappy ones. In 2006, the Redskins forced a punt on 45% of opponent’s drives, which ranked 12th in the league. Considering how easy it was to score on that offense and considering how far the other team had to go with the way the ball control offense chewed up yards (but wouldn’t score points), there has to be a reason as to why the Redskins were so much more successful on the first series of the opponents drive, only to be the worst from there on out. This trend actually rolled over from 2005 when the Redskins forced punts on 46% of opponent drives (7th). This year, the Redskins have forced punts on 47% of drives, which in a very offense dominant year ranks 2nd among defenses behind only Pittsburgh. Irregardless, the Redskins rank better in every defensive category now than they did a year ago. But now four games in, how much can where the 2005 defense finished tell us about where this unit is headed? The statistical comparison between the 2005 Redskins and this 2007 team on defense can be summed up as: strikingly similar. After a record low year for turnovers forced, the defense is back to par in forcing turnovers. Gregg Williams’ defenses have never been particularly adept at forcing turnovers, but it helps that the offense is creating big plays at a 2005 level, which helps to offset the value of turnovers. Efficency is the key here, also known as the frustration that opposing offenses feel when they play the Redskins. Despite a big disadvantage in opponents’ starting field position (29.5 yd line in 05 and 06, 31.5 yard line this year), the Redskins are giving up no more points, yards, or touchdowns than they were in 2005. The results are similar, but there’s nothing really conclusive here outside of the fact that its been so far so good with this group. Thusly, we have to go beyond the numbers to try to project this unit beyond this 4 game start. In 2005, the Redskins had a defensive line of Renaldo Wynn, Cornelius Griffin, Joe Saleve’a, and Phillip Daniels, with Lavar Arrington and Lemar Marshall next to Marcus Washington at the linebacker level and a secondary of Shawn Springs, Walt Harris, Sean Taylor and Ryan Clark. Today, the Redskins start Andre Carter, Griffin, Anthony Montgomery, along with Phillip Daniels who switched over to the left side to make room for Carter. This year, Washington returns for what has been an injury riddled season thus far, playing next to London Fletcher and Rocky McIntosh. The secondary still includes Springs and Taylor, but Carlos Rogers and rookie Laron Landry have moved into the starting lineup. Here’s the point: The Redskins’ defensive personnel looks far closer to the 2006 version of the team than 2005 version. But the statistics show that the Redskins are pretty much the same defensive unit, if not better than, they were in 2005. So what gives? Which positions are the Redskins better at in 2007 than they were in 2005? Where are they worse? The improvement: Laron Landry is very much more talented than the journeyman Ryan Clark ever could have been. While Redskins fans have completely overblown how much Adam Archuleta’s signing hurt the defense, Archuleta in no way improved the safety position over Ryan Clark. Landry has come in and earned the respect of opposing QBs. London Fletcher has been a rock in the middle of the Redskins D with incredible range. With a great season in 2004 at WLB, Gregg Williams figured he could let Antonio Pierce walk and replace him with Lemar Marshall. While Marshall didn’t exactly look lost out there, he wasn’t very good in the middle. Pierce went on to become one of the best LBs in the league on the nations biggest stage. Fletcher has brought back some consistency to the MLB position, even if it appears he’s lost a step in coverage. Anthony Mongomery. Not to take anything away from Joe Saleve’a, but the Redskins have not had a defensive tackle this promising in quite some time. Saleve’a idea of pressure was attack the guy in front of him, hand up, slap the ball back in the QB’s face. Mongomery’s idea: attack both guys in front of him and slap them into the QB’s face. Andre Carter is not a guy I’m completely sold on, but he’s making his tackles in the run game and he’s pressuring Quarterbacks in a way Phillip Daniels never could. The Regression: Shawn Springs isn’t the player he was in 2005. In 2005, the Redskins could ignore one side of the field, blitz the house and the opponent had no chance to complete the pass. This year, the Redskins are a team who will hurt itself if they blitz. Springs can no longer handle the games’ elite one on one. Rocky McIntosh is having a great year. But I can’t really do Lavar’s 2005 justice in this here space. The guy was an absolute force. It’s not like we should have kept him around though. Lavar has accomplished nothing since 2005 and is now out of the league. McIntosh will be just fine back there, but going from Arrington to Holdman at the most important linebacker spot is probably a bigger reason for last year’s regression than Archuleta was. I guess all this goes to show how impressive Rocky has been in this role. Phillip Daniels is not the complete player Renaldo Wynn was two years ago. Gregg Williams has Phillip Daniels attacking right tackles more this year than last year, but he can’t do it like Wynn could. Wynn got cut and Demetric Evans has seen playing time in his place. Evans can’t even pretend to be the rushing end that Wynn was a few years ago. Sizable regression here at left end. And the irrelivant: Sean Taylor was a young 23 year old who lit up everyone who crossed his path, took questionable angles to the ball, and was facing up to 46 years in prison. Today, he’s coming off a bad year, still takes questionable angles to the ball, and is still good for killing receivers who dare head across the middle. Good to see him back…and not in jail. Carlos Rogers is much more talented than Walt Harris, but who even know what he can be or will become. He’s still the ‘X’ factor, now has a TD on his resume, and is still a huge unknown. Corneilus Griffin has been a consistent performer when healthy throughout his career. He’s healthy again. The depth has been better also since the Redskins have made a concerted effort to invest picks in the defensive side of the ball. They have started to find young talent such as Chris Wilson and Lorenzo Alexander to rotate in on the defensive line. H.B. Blades appears to be a guy who will be London Fletcher’s replacement in the future. The Skins are a very different team from 2005, but the defensive results have been equally impressive. Gregg Williams has adapted his scheme to fit his new talent. I now expect this unit to continue it’s success, not only this year, but as long as the team keeps investing draft picks into it.
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