Pass coverage is the key to sacks

Credit for this story idea goes to the guest blogger on Redskins Insider (with a nod to ExtremeSkins Fan Forum for pointing me there). On Monday, Hog Heaven speculated what the Washington Redskins were thinking by not drafting a defensive lineman to address the turnover deficit. A poster using the handle “Sheriff Gonna Getcha” may have come up with the answer. It seems the Sheriff dug into the numbers for the Redskins defense to see what was different about 2004 (third-ranked defense), 2005 (ninth-ranked defense) and 2006 (31st-ranked defense). He combined the stats for sacks, interceptions and forced fumbles into what he called Defensive Impact Plays (DIP). Next he grouped the DIP by unit — defensive line, linebackers and secondary — for each year.

The numbers point to one conclusion, and it’s a stark one. The defensive line held up in 2006. The shortfall was with the linebackers and secondary! Here is the crib note version of the DIPs for each unit:

It’s worthwhile to read Sheriff’s whole post at Redskins Insider.

Compare the DIP and the Redskins’ roster moves. The first free agent move was a linebacker. Two of the five 2007 draftees are linebackers. A safety was the number one pick. The linebacker coach was the only one let go at the end of the season. What position does Lance Briggs play? Hmmm.

Meanwhile, at Redskins Park, Coach Joe Gibbs says the pass rush problem was a coverage problem.

“When you look at the overall structure of the defense, what we felt hurt us last year with the pass rush, a lot of it was the coverage. That was the problem for us. With the guys we added at corner [in free agency] and now what we added at safety, hopefully what we can do is play much tighter coverage and much better coverage. It’s going to force [quarterbacks] to hold the ball.”

Now, that’s why he’s the Super Bowl coach and I’m not. Conventional thinking says that pass rushing D-linemen force quarterback mistakes and hurry-up throws to help coverage. The coach-in-chief says that better coverage forces the quarterbacks to hold the ball longer, allowing for sacks.

I’ll watch the DIP on that one.