Redskins Defense Plans To Set Tone

[Chris Luva Luva]

http://www.nflplayers.com/news/news_feature.asp

Attention NFC East offenses: The Redskins defense is coming for you.

Armed with a new head coach, a new coordinator and plenty of new faces, the Washington Redskins have revamped their defense and plan to attack and be more aggressive than in years past.

Under new coordinator Greg Williams, who spent the previous three seasons as the head coach in Buffalo, Washington plans to utilize its athleticism to put pressure on its opponents. "Players usually would rather be aggressive than passive. They like blaming coaches when the coaches hold them back," Williams mused. "There won't be anything like that here. We are all in this foxhole together, and we are going to be as aggressive as our personnel allow us to be."

"We're sending guys all the time from every position, even cornerback. You never know who is coming and we are setting the tempo."
- DE Regan Upshaw
With some very gifted athletes on the defensive side of the ball the Redskins will be forcing the issue with an in-your-face mentality. "We're coming to get you," defensive end Regan Upshaw stated. "We're sending guys all the time from every position, even cornerback. You never know who is coming and we are setting the tempo."

One of the reasons the Redskins are able to take such an aggressive approach is their solid corps of defensive backs. "We have good corners that are able to man-up and that is the key," Upshaw explained. "You have to have corners who can make it easy. They can lock-up a receiver and not allow him to make any plays and then you can go in and do things with the other players on the defense."

Williams agrees that having corners with the ability to slow down receivers is a key to the Redskins success this year. "When you have cover-corners, you can do a lot more things with loading up the box and putting pressure on protections," he said. "When you aren't as good at the corner position, you are lighter inside, lighter against the run and lighter against the pass. We have shut down corners and we need to see that. We need to see our corners line-up and shut people down by themselves so we can overload the protections and overload the run front. We'll be pretty good on defense when that happens."

With the departure of Pro Bowler Champ Bailey in an off-season trade, veteran cornerback Fred Smoot is ready to step up and accept the responsibility of shutting down the opponents' best wide receiver each week. "I love the pressure," he said. "Pressure brings out the best in good players. Corner is a pressure position anyway. I'm a man-to-man corner, that's what has got me here, that is what is going to keep me here."

Washington also boasts one of the league's best linebacker groups, which can cause havoc for opposing coaches as they game plan for the Redskins. "You've got the best linebacking corps in the NFL right here," Upshaw stated. "You've got Michael Barrow, he's like the Godfather – running the whole show. You've got LaVar (Arrington) and Marcus Washington and both those guys are terrors coming off the corners."

Washington, who joins the Redskins after four seasons with the Colts, joined the Skins in part due to Williams and his reputation for being aggressive. "He's going to turn me lose a little bit, take the chain of me a little bit," Washington offered. "It's going to be a lot of fun. Greg Williams is a smart guy and we have a great coaching staff."

The talent level the Redskins boast is what allows Williams to be creative with his scheming. "You have to have the right personnel to be as aggressive as we want to be," he explained. "We're not going to say that these guys have to play our system. We're going to adapt to the personnel that is here and play the best thing we can for the 11 that are on the field. We're going to play a lot of people and a lot of packages and do whatever we can to get into pressure mode."

While the talent level is there, Williams knows the influx of new faces means chemistry could take a while to build. "We're really happy we have five pre-season games," he commented. "We have a lot of guys that need to get used to communicating with each other on the field."

Williams' aggressive approach to defense formed from years of working with some of the NFL's most successful defensive coaching including Buddy Ryan, George Allen and Jack Pardee. "We've tried to evolve our system to where we are always attacking and always dictating to the offense instead of the offense dictating to us."

During his tenure in Buffalo, Williams' defenses improved tremendously each of his three seasons as head coach. In 2003, the Bills defense finished second in the NFL, improving from 15th in 2002 and 21st in 2001. Last season, Buffalo finished first in the AFC in total defense and pass defense.

In 2003, the Redskins ranked 14th in the NFC and 25th in the NFL in total defense under Head Coach Steve Spurrier and his staff.

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[Cardas]

Good Read.

[Redskin Stouff]

Living close to Buffalo, I get to (have to ) watch a lot of Bills games. It was obvious that GW knew nothing about offence, but his defence was downright scary.

They flew to the ball and you could actually see the terror in some opponents faces whrn they were getting gang tackled.

Our defence is in good hands this year.

[hailskins666]

Living close to Buffalo, I get to (have to ) watch a lot of Bills games. It was obvious that GW knew nothing about offence, but his defence was downright scary.

They flew to the ball and you could actually see the terror in some opponents faces whrn they were getting gang tackled.

Our defence is in good hands this year.

true. buffalo smacked us last year. what did we get, a total of 50 yds on offense that day?

[SkinFan 0-16 or 16-0]

We have the personnel to be scary on defense. And put that with a good Coach. Wow. All our D line has to do is stop the run. And give us some what of a pass rush, and we will have a dominant defense. If our offense and defense plays to their full potenial, which I believe that Gibbs will have us doing.

We have a decent chance at a winning season.

[Justice Hog]

I've been impressed with what I've seen in the preseason thus far and, the scary thing, that's supposed to be a bland defense. Furthermore, we haven't even seen Barrow in the mix yet!

[Chris Luva Luva]

We have good personal this year and the improvement will be significant!!

But can you imagine what its going to be like when we get a dominant DT and or DE!!

[Brandon777]

Our defense has impressed me so far. The d-line has put pressure on the QB's. If we can get our offense in gear, we will be a solid team this year.

[Redskin in Canada]

I wish I could share your collective and full enthusiasm about our defence.

I agree that the right system will be in place.

I agree that some components are as good as any team might wish to have.

However, our system is based on control over the DL and OL.

Forgive me, I do not mean to pick up a fight. I stand to be corrected by the results. But I do not see dominating OL or DL in our team this year.

They will have to play their hearts out and with excellent coordination to make the system work. It might happen but I do not see a Lachey or a Mann or a Manley in our OL or DL of the team. Do you?

[Justice Hog]

I feel ya, R.I.C.; however, this isn't really about the DL. This is about team defense! As a "team", this defense could be very good. When you consider our secondary, our LBs and coaching, notwithstanding any arguable weakness on the DL, this year's defense will be much improved.

[Redskin Stouff]

Every defense has a weakness. Good coaching can help mask those deficiencies and we have great coaching in place.

[Redskin in Canada]

Justice Hog, I could not like the system more than I do. I feel GW is the best def coach we could have.

My point to be precise is: give -any- decent QB time to throw without pressure from the DL and he will tear you apart. No matter how good the CB and ST are. Think Manning, Warner, Mcnabb, even Testaverde...

Sure we can bring the LB but you do that at the expense of another hole in the back. This would be particularly difficult against "West Coast" systems, such as Philly.

I am thinking about our matchups in the NFC East. This is the litmus test for me. Are we ready to beat the guys around us?

The results may prove me wrong. But I would feel a lot better knowing that a DT or a DE or both will be in the face of the opposing QB instead of having to send necessarily my LB or ST or CB to help them everytime.

Some of the current players may blossom. But I do not feel that a new face will be brought in time to help. DL is about not missing assignments and -team- coordination as well as personal effort. The current guys might do it well. I just wished to temper your collective enthusiasm.

Injuries may yet play another role and we may even be in a more difficult situation. I have doubts about our DL depth.

Having said all of the above, I -do- believe that our defense will be in the upper half of the league. The system is that good and some of our players are outstanding.

Hey! Big improvement over 25th last year! Perhaps just a bit too early to call it a superbowl.

[Chris Luva Luva]

They will have to play their hearts out and with excellent coordination to make the system work. It might happen but I do not see a Lachey or a Mann or a Manley in our OL or DL of the team. Do you?

We won't know till the season is over. Someone may step up, you look at the better teams in the league and there are a lot of no name guys who get the job done, and do it well. We have to have at least one, lol.

Justice Hog, I could not like the system more than I do. I feel GW is the best def coach we could have.

How many of "you" are there? We're dealing with a split personality here!!!

My point to be precise is: give -any- decent QB time to throw without pressure from the DL and he will tear you apart. No matter how good the CB and ST are. Think Manning, Warner, Mcnabb, even Testaverde...

Exactly! I said the same thing when I tried to defend Champ but nobody cared. Im so bitter.

[Redskin in Canada]

We won't know till the season is over. Someone may step up, you look at the better teams in the league and there are a lot of no name guys who get the job done, and do it well. We have to have at least one, lol.

OK. I did not attended Camp or practice days. So, I only have the two past games to go by. I agree that someone may step up.

I wish we had some young talent. I did not like to see Kalu leave for Philly.

Who are the candidates who you really feel have the potential to step up in our DL to rush consistently their passers?

[Chris Luva Luva]

Who are the candidates who you really feel have the potential to step up in our DL to rush consistently their passers?

I'll let you know after Sats. game. Im not familiar with all of their names. But there is a LB I've been impressed with, and the line seems to get enough of a push. I know we don't have any Strahans on our team but all need is pressure and they seem to be able to do that at least.

[njskinsfan]

For the first two preseason games the d-line has not been too bad. Couple of good runs by Denver ... not much from Carolina but they need to pick a starting four after Miami and let them gel for the last two preseason games.

Williams has not showed his hand (schemes) yet but we got some nice tacklers and some big hitters on the d-fense.

have faith.

[tcwest10]

I think, personally, we'd've got by with Ray Rhodes as AHC-D. I'm not complaining; I'm just saying, I think Williams will be like Marvin Lewis...i year, and gone.
Also, I still want one qb killer threat at end. I wish to whatever that we'd managed to land O-Gun, but as time passes the chances of that happening get slimmer and slimmer.
I'll take what we have, but I still would feel a lot better if we weren't so thin at the ends.

[hailskins666]

I think, personally, we'd've got by with Ray Rhodes as AHC-D. I'm not complaining; I'm just saying, I think Williams will be like Marvin Lewis...i year, and gone.
Also, I still want one qb killer threat at end. I wish to whatever that we'd managed to land O-Gun, but as time passes the chances of that happening get slimmer and slimmer.
I'll take what we have, but I still would feel a lot better if we weren't so thin at the ends.

actually, williams choose this job, because he wanted a little stability. and he thought that gibbs being here, would give him a good five years of stability.

regan upshaw was looking really good in camp. he smoked samuels a couple times on fan apprec day. i don't think he's a jason taylor, but he was holding his ground. didn't see much of daniels at camp.

[SkinsJock]

TCW - I am concerned about our D-line depth also BUT I think you would agree that we are looking like a decent team and, potentially, a good (not great) team. I hope we don't go back to thinking "if we can just get so and so...." and then next year we have the same problem of not enough picks. I think the coaches realize it's maybe not a SB team as is but it's a good team and let's not give up on our future as we have done.
I also am of the opinion that GW is here because he sees a better oportunity down the road.

[Justice Hog]

It's hard to value the full talent on the DL during preseason because, let's face it, they're being told..."go after the guy directly in front of you" simply so they can be evaluated. There are usually no schemes, stunts, etc., so it's hard to get a good "read" on just how good/bad these players are going to be.

That being said, I have still noticed that they're getting a nice push to the QB in the first 2 games.