The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

Starting D held the colts to 41 yards and one 1st down in the 1st half. Sure they didnt have Manning or Wayne, but we were missing Atogwe, Landry, Flethcer and Wilson(although im not convinced he would have made much of a difference) I realize I may be jumping the gun but are you all seeing what Im seeing. The making of what could be a killer Defense?

Puhlease - this is the preseason - give me a break


we are trying to remake this franchise and it will take a little time

CajunSkin wrote:Starting D held the colts to 41 yards and one 1st down in the 1st half. Sure they didnt have Manning or Wayne, but we were missing Atogwe, Landry, Flethcer and Wilson(although im not convinced he would have made much of a difference) I realize I may be jumping the gun but are you all seeing what Im seeing. The making of what could be a killer Defense?

Carriker, too.

from last year...yes

I put too early to say. It is just so hard to guage. We had several starters missing. The Colts O had several starters missing. It was impressive for the game and it points to better things, but too early to tell if our D is impressive.


We are clearly better than last year and I like the hustle. I am concerned about the the corners giving up the big play (D Hall is always good for a few during the season). Don't know if we have a good pass rush because offenses aren't game planning and we aren't showing out good blitzes.


Next week is the dress rehearsal preseason game. We owe the Ravens a whopping after John Harbaugh talked his trash after the game.

John Harbaugh says Ravens ran over the RedskinsEvery August, some fans and media types start talking about whether the Redskins and the Ravens have a rivalry, and other fans and media types chime in that this is ridiculous, and that they play in different conferences and have no shared history and just can't be rivals.

But at least the Ravens are trying. First they dumped Gatorade on Jim Zorn after a meaningless preseason win, eliciting a "Wow" from Phillip Daniels, and then Coach John Harbaugh pounded his chest a bit about the meaningless, valueless, pointless, does-not-count, will-soon-be-forgotten victory.

"We have had a good camp, it has been a lot of fun actually," Harbaugh told Ravens fans at the team's recent fan barbecue. "Guys like football, and our guys have gone to work....I thought when we played against the Redskins especially this last week, you saw that. I mean, our guys got after it pretty good, and we kind of ran over that team, and we're kind of proud of that. That's the way we ought to play."

The Ravens fans interrupted Harbaugh with cheers and he laughed.

"Yeah," he said. "That's what it was."

Someone save this item for next August.

I saved it!

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcspor ... s_ran.html

yes, totally impressed vs 1st team offenses

While they've done a good job, Peyton didn't play tonight so until regular season, I'll form an opinion then.

Wow. People, it's not like your being asked to make a post season prediction...

If your eyebrows have risen during any of these games, your answer must be "Yes". If you are finding your expectations for the defense this season elevating, your answer must be "Yes". If positional questions that you might have had are being answered by dominant play, your answer must be "Yes".

At this point, YES... I am impressed. Does this mean that I must surrender my 401K if the Defense falls on it's face come the regular season? I don't think so.

C'mon! Admit it! This is looking good.

Countertrey wrote:Wow. People, it's not like your being asked to make a post season prediction...

If your eyebrows have risen during any of these games, your answer must be "Yes". If you are finding your expectations for the defense this season elevating, your answer must be "Yes". If positional questions that you might have had are being answered by dominant play, your answer must be "Yes".

At this point, YES... I am impressed. Does this mean that I must surrender my 401K if the Defense falls on it's face come the regular season? I don't think so.

C'mon! Admit it! This is looking good.

I think people are just scared of change.

Countertrey wrote:Wow. People, it's not like your being asked to make a post season prediction...

If your eyebrows have risen during any of these games, your answer must be "Yes". If you are finding your expectations for the defense this season elevating, your answer must be "Yes". If positional questions that you might have had are being answered by dominant play, your answer must be "Yes".

At this point, YES... I am impressed. Does this mean that I must surrender my 401K if the Defense falls on it's face come the regular season? I don't think so.

C'mon! Admit it! This is looking good.

In 2 straight weeks, the D has made two of the better AFC teams look pedestrian. Sure, it's preseason, but our d looks like it's ready for the Giants on 9/11.

langleyparkjoe wrote:

Countertrey wrote:Wow. People, it's not like your being asked to make a post season prediction...

If your eyebrows have risen during any of these games, your answer must be "Yes". If you are finding your expectations for the defense this season elevating, your answer must be "Yes". If positional questions that you might have had are being answered by dominant play, your answer must be "Yes".

At this point, YES... I am impressed. Does this mean that I must surrender my 401K if the Defense falls on it's face come the regular season? I don't think so.

C'mon! Admit it! This is looking good.

I think people are just scared of change.

We've been burned more than once . . .

Irn-Bru wrote:

langleyparkjoe wrote:

Countertrey wrote:Wow. People, it's not like your being asked to make a post season prediction...

If your eyebrows have risen during any of these games, your answer must be "Yes". If you are finding your expectations for the defense this season elevating, your answer must be "Yes". If positional questions that you might have had are being answered by dominant play, your answer must be "Yes".

At this point, YES... I am impressed. Does this mean that I must surrender my 401K if the Defense falls on it's face come the regular season? I don't think so.

C'mon! Admit it! This is looking good.

I think people are just scared of change.

We've been burned more than once . . .

Yeah, every year I buy into the Skins and then about week 4 I usually realize I got duped. This year I actually feel good about the direction they're going in. They have added youth, avoided the flashy signing, had a solid draft, I think they are 2-3 years away from going deep into the playoffs... but I feel like they are headed in the right direction.

I wish I could tell if that was my Redskins blinders or a objective opinion

Skinsfan55 wrote:I wish I could tell if that was my Redskins blinders or a objective opinion

The way I see it so far, the execution is there. We've had good runs in the recent past (say, since Zorn took over four years ago) but I've never in that time seen a Redskins team this disciplined and focused. I've never seen the offensive linemen take on their assignments so well, so many nice holes open up for RBs, and the QB get such good protection.

Sure, we're running vanilla offense and the Colts allegedly don't try at all in preseason. I'm also not expecting more than a .500 season, though we are capable of more. But I think what we can find encouragement in is the execution we're seeing from this team. That's legit, or at least it has been for two weeks.

Skinsfan55 wrote:

Irn-Bru wrote:

langleyparkjoe wrote:

Countertrey wrote:Wow. People, it's not like your being asked to make a post season prediction...

If your eyebrows have risen during any of these games, your answer must be "Yes". If you are finding your expectations for the defense this season elevating, your answer must be "Yes". If positional questions that you might have had are being answered by dominant play, your answer must be "Yes".

At this point, YES... I am impressed. Does this mean that I must surrender my 401K if the Defense falls on it's face come the regular season? I don't think so.

C'mon! Admit it! This is looking good.

I think people are just scared of change.

We've been burned more than once . . .

Yeah, every year I buy into the Skins and then about week 4 I usually realize I got duped. This year I actually feel good about the direction they're going in. They have added youth, avoided the flashy signing, had a solid draft, I think they are 2-3 years away from going deep into the playoffs... but I feel like they are headed in the right direction.

I wish I could tell if that was my Redskins blinders or a objective opinion

I agree with this. Headed in the right direction. With the performance of both lines, you have to believe we'll be in just about every game this season. Could there be games where they're flat? Sure. However, I'm more optimistic that it is turning around.

Looking good or at least better than last year. Let's just all keep a cool head about last night. No Peyton Manning. No Reggie Wayne. Hard to claim that we were really playing a first team offense.

I love the work from the young guys out there right now though. If nothing else, it has to give you some hope for the future.

My thoughts and expectations have not changed much - I felt that the defense would be improved and I have some concerns about the passing game

Even though the defense has NOT played against an NFL offense yet the discipline, attitude and energy do make me feel that we will see a better defense than last year
that's really not saying much as last year's D was NOT good

However, I do think that the defense will be decent - I hope that the secondary is helped by this D getting more pressure from the front 7

I just don't see that we can get a lot of offensive scoring and the offense will need more time to develop a good offensive line and have the ability to include a lot more pass plays than we're likely to see here

I'm still hoping for 8-8 ... maybe even 9-7

I really want to see these guys continuing to play as hard as they have shown despite the opposition's (Steelers & Colts) apparent non interest in pre-season games

I may be wrong here, but wasn't our record with Zorn in the preseason like 4-0?

chiefhog44 wrote:I may be wrong here, but wasn't our record with Zorn in the preseason like 4-0?

that is like comparing apples and oranges

comparing anything from the players in B&G during Zorn's tenure and the group that Bruce & Mike has assembled here is just not possible and completely irrelevant - many of those players did not belong together on a football field


we are going to see a marked improvement from the group that played in B&G last year and a lot of turnover in the roster of 53 from last season as well

chiefhog44 wrote:I may be wrong here, but wasn't our record with Zorn in the preseason like 4-0?

To make this comparison, you must make an effort to miss the point.

There was NEVER a time under Zorn that I saw the kind of confidence on Defense that I am seeing now. There is a discipline to the scheme. There is attention to detail. There is an understanding of cause and effect. There's no swagger... just a clear sense of purpose. Never did I see this in the preseason with Zorn.

It would not matter if this team were 0-2 right now... what I am seeing from the defense would be the same.

chiefhog44 wrote:I may be wrong here, but wasn't our record with Zorn in the preseason like 4-0?

So what? Nobody is talking about wins & losses. We are discussing how our 1st team D has looked. It looks MUCH improved.

I gotta say we're looking pretty darn impressive even though we were going up against Painter on Friday. However the main thing that impresses me the most compared to the past 6-7 years is our DEPTH!!!! In the past the 1st string would look great and hold other O's and when the 2nd and 3rd string came in everything would fall apart. This year tho is a different story.....Hardly anybody is out of position and we are wrapping guys up when tackling. I actually feel better now than in the past if somebody goes down with an injury due to our depth so keep it up D!!!

Countertrey wrote:Wow. People, it's not like your being asked to make a post season prediction...

If your eyebrows have risen during any of these games, your answer must be "Yes". If you are finding your expectations for the defense this season elevating, your answer must be "Yes". If positional questions that you might have had are being answered by dominant play, your answer must be "Yes".

At this point, YES... I am impressed. Does this mean that I must surrender my 401K if the Defense falls on it's face come the regular season? I don't think so.

C'mon! Admit it! This is looking good.

Well said.

Honestly, I do feel the defense looks solid -- but it is the PRESEASON!!! That is the end of story!! Not only did Zorn go 4-0 in the preseason, but Spurrier did as well.

That being said, we do have a greatly improved defensive line-up, a defense that is no longer "transitioning" into a 3-4, a DC with one more year under his belt, and players that are better fitted for the system. There are a good number of reasons to be excited about this defense -- I (the skins pessimist) myself am even excited after watching the preseason games.

But we have to keep in mind that it is stil the preseason. Right now everyone is healthy and playing for their jobs. The ability to be competitive over the course of a season comes from having depth --- which I also think was tremendously improved over the offseason.

The biggest concern is not our D -- which I agree looks great -- it is with our QB position. Both QBs have at times looked good in the offseason, but they are seeing vanilla defensive packages. There is no way to know if they will be able to perform this way in real games. That is my #1 concern right now -- but I must say I have been pleasantly surprised while watching the first 2 preseason games.

Countertrey wrote:

chiefhog44 wrote:I may be wrong here, but wasn't our record with Zorn in the preseason like 4-0?

To make this comparison, you must make an effort to miss the point.

There was NEVER a time under Zorn that I saw the kind of confidence on Defense that I am seeing now. There is a discipline to the scheme. There is attention to detail. There is an understanding of cause and effect. There's no swagger... just a clear sense of purpose. Never did I see this in the preseason with Zorn.

It would not matter if this team were 0-2 right now... what I am seeing from the defense would be the same.

^^ what he said +1

and let me add that a recent report has ey stating that apart from the fact that he's missing being a part of what is going on with the players and practices, he reports that the players on both offense and defense have not looked as good to him for years
he says the players are working very hard but they all seem to be really having fun doing what they're doing

it sounds like this group could be coming together well

I do expect the defense, especially, to be very keen to make a good showing this year

markshark84 wrote:Honestly, I do feel the defense looks solid -- but it is the PRESEASON!!! That is the end of story!! Not only did Zorn go 4-0 in the preseason, but Spurrier did as well.

That being said, we do have a greatly improved defensive line-up, a defense that is no longer "transitioning" into a 3-4, a DC with one more year under his belt, and players that are better fitted for the system. There are a good number of reasons to be excited about this defense -- I (the skins pessimist) myself am even excited after watching the preseason games.

But we have to keep in mind that it is stil the preseason. Right now everyone is healthy and playing for their jobs. The ability to be competitive over the course of a season comes from having depth --- which I also think was tremendously improved over the offseason.

The biggest concern is not our D -- which I agree looks great -- it is with our QB position. Both QBs have at times looked good in the offseason, but they are seeing vanilla defensive packages. There is no way to know if they will be able to perform this way in real games. That is my #1 concern right now -- but I must say I have been pleasantly surprised while watching the first 2 preseason games.

No one is going to disagree with your last paragraph... the problem is... the title of the thread.