It was lost in the euphoria over Joe Gibbs' return to the Washington Redskins, the trades to acquire Mark Brunell and Clinton Portis, the free-agent shopping spree that bagged, among others, Shawn Springs and Marcus Washington and the drafting of potential superstar Sean Taylor.
Who the heck is going to rush the quarterback? More specifically, when are the Redskins going to add a pass-rushing defensive end?
Currently, the Redskins remain in stand-pat mode. And that's fine with the incumbents, Regan Upshaw and Renaldo Wynn.
The duo was much maligned last year, and rightly so, considering they combined for a whopping three sacks and the team finished 24th in the NFL with only 27 sacks.
But ...
"I definitely feel we can get it done here with the guys we have," Wynn said after minicamp practice Friday at Redskins Park. "They've brought in guys to help the defensive scheme, but (on the line) we have players, depth and veteran leadership."
All parties are taking the fresh approach.
They say the scheme of assistant head coach-defense Gregg Williams is more linemen-friendly.
"He knows what he's doing," Upshaw said. "We're just pawns in his game, just small parts in his machine."
They say the coaches understand the strengths of the current personnel.
"What (Williams) wants to set up is 1-on-1s for the defensive linemen," Wynn said.
"Even when the linebackers are blitzing, we can't let up. We have to beat our man 1-on-1 and get pressure."
They say last year is last year, 5-11 is just a memory.
"The good thing is, with me being new and the guys being new, everybody has a clean slate," said defensive coordinator Greg Blache, who also coaches the defensive line. "What a guy did last year - the good and the bad - is left in last year."
That's good news for both Upshaw and Wynn.
Upshaw, 28, will be entering his ninth season and his second with the Redskins.
He has recorded six or more sacks four times in his career, but last year was a lost season - one sack.
"You look at his numbers and you can see that Regan has had some success as a pass rusher," Blache said. "I hope he'll be a better pass rusher this year than he was last year and just a more confident pass rusher."
Wynn, 29, spent the first five years of his career with Jacksonville. In two seasons with the Redskins he has 4.5 sacks, including two in 2003.
Asked what went wrong during the 5-11 season, Upshaw said, "You don't want to talk bad about anybody, but we didn't know what we were doing half the time. I don't know if we had leadership. Now we have a real leader in Gregg Williams."
Wynn added that the Redskins had a paralysis-by-analysis situation.
"Sometimes you can worry about the opponent too much," he said. "When that happens, you lose sight of what you're trying to do. With Coach Williams, we could care less what they're doing as long as we have our stuff together."
In order for the Redskins to translate "stuff together" into winning, Wynn and Upshaw know they need to play a big role.
"My impression is that in this defense, anybody can be successful, including myself," Upshaw said. "With all the blitzing by linebackers, safeties and corners, it's going to be like Star Wars out there."
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Does that mean that he was 19 when entering his first season?
