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Redskins vs. Bengals: Stud & Duds, Defense

Lanky Livingston

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Examiner: John Keim's Redskins vs. Bengals: Stud & Duds, Defense

Studs

LB Rob Jackson. The guy makes his first start a memorable one. What we here at Studs and Duds Inc., look for are playmakers and Jackson qualified as one don’t you think? He made a good read on the diving interception for a touchdown. His job is to drop to the curl/flat area, but he also knew the only outlet Andy Dalton had was the running back, in the left flat. A decisive read and reaction. But Jackson did more than this play. He was sound against the run, making three tackles for a loss, including one for eight yards. He was helped by teammates who plugged holes, but Jackson did a lot of things right on these plays too. On one play, Jackson stepped upfield and lowered his shoulder as tight end Jermaine Gresham attempted to cut him. Jackson stayed on his feet and tackled Benjarvus Green-Ellis for a loss. On the next series, Jackson knew a receiver was split wide to his right. Before the snap he checked back outside and saw the receiver coming in motion. So Jackson widened his stance, knowing a run to his side was coming (anticipating a crackback). Because of this he was too wide for the tackle and made a tackle for another loss. Late in the third he used his hands well against the left tackle, shed him and made another tackle for a loss. There was one play, the end around to A.J. Green in which I wondered if he had lost contain. But he said his job on the play was to play the ballcarrier. Of Jackson’s six rushes, five produced little pressure. But the sixth resulted in a hold. Not a bad first start.

DE Stephen Bowen. He has been the Redskins’ best defensive player through three games. He was a Stud in Week 1, a near-miss in Week 2 and he’s back on the list in Week 3. Bowen makes some plays on his own, but he also sets up teammates for big stops, whether against the run or the pass. Linebackers typically ran clean to the ball on his side. On Jackson’s touchdown, he drove the left guard back for a good rush. On Jackson’s first tackle for a loss, he drove the tackle back and into Green-Ellis’ path, forcing him wider. One of Bowen’s stunts helped result in a sack; another ended in a pressure by him. On a one-yard loss by Green-Ellis, Bowen shed his block and helped on the play. Bowen continues to be much better than I anticipated when they signed him.

LB Ryan Kerrigan. He did not draw the extra attention some thought he might with Brian Orakpo sidelined. But maybe he should have. Kerrigan, as usual, was active much of the game. He spent almost the entire game rushing, which is what he should be doing. He proved to be a mismatch when the Bengals tried to block him with tight end Jermaine Gresham, which happened way too often. Two of his better plays came when he was (foolishly) unblocked, the first a pressure of Dalton on Jackson’s touchdown and the second, by design, on a Dalton pass his way. Kerrigan did a nice job batting the pass down as he ran at Dalton. He should have drawn a holding penalty on another rush, but it was missed (in the open no less) on Dalton’s 14-yard completion to A.J. Green on the run. Kerrigan’s sack was the result of a well-designed and executed rush (see below). But Kerrigan’s power, driving the left tackle back after getting leverage, made it work. Kerrigan got inside Gresham to help on a two-yard stop. He had another pressure in the fourth when he drove Gresham back and two plays later he stopped Green-Ellis for two yards.

LB Perry Riley. The only reason I hesitated on Riley is because Gresham’s six-yard touchdown pass was caught in his area. Once Gresham crossed Riley, he was open. There was help behind them as Madieu Williams raced up and hit Gresham, as did Richard Crawford. Neither stopped him so it turned into a six-yard touchdown catch. It was Riley’s area and responsibility but others could have saved him and didn’t. But overall Riley was excellent. The line kept him clean to run to the ball, but aside from this play he was sound in coverage. He covered speedy slot Andrew Hawkins well twice. The first time he had him covered so the pass went elsewhere. The second time was textbook. He shaded him to the inside off the ball and when Hawkins broke, so did Riley. He then got his eyes back on the quarterback and caused an incompletion. Another time, on the Kerrigan batted pass, the play wouldn’t have worked anyway because of Riley’s quick read. On a slant to Brian Leonard, he drove on the upfield shoulder and caused another incompletion. And on his sack he saw the running back release to the other side, triggering his rush to the right side. Riley finished with 11 tackles; the line did a good job keeping him clean vs. the run.

Duds

CB DeAngelo Hall. The first play was a mess-up by many people, but while Hall said he was trying to get DeJon Gomes to switch, he didn’t do so with enough vigor. Gomes, though, did wave him off. But this play wasn’t Hall’s fault by any means. But Hall struggled throughout the day. The Redskins pay him like a top corner so he’ll be judged accordingly. In this game, that’s not how he played. In some cases his coverage was sound, but a good throw to an elite receiver (A.J. Green) beat him. That’s what happened on a 28-yard pass in the second half (see below). Hall was sound in the first half and did a nice job in one instance vs. shifty/speedy Andrew Hawkins. The slot receiver faked inside, but Hall was balanced, stepped with him and cut back out with power leading to an incompletion. Hall had a good tackle in the open field on a dump-off to Arman Binns. But his missed tackle three plays later on tight end Jermaine Grisham really hurt. He missed Gresham at the 37-yard line on a third and 14. If Hall makes the tackle, the Bengals have a 55-yard field goal attempt. Instead, Mike Nugent was good from 47. On the Bengals’ third play of the fourth quarter, Hall allowed a 31-yard pass to Green and was flagged for a facemask penalty for an additional 15 yards (he grabbed it as Green started to go by him). On the play, Green stepped inside, causing Hall to open his hips that way. When Green turned back and up he was immediately open.

S DeJon Gomes. I don’t know if Brandon Meriweather is the answer at safety, but maybe his return can help at least a little bit. Gomes adds value because of his special teams play, but he’s still learning to play all aspects of safety. How much do you ping him for the opening play? He could have lined up deeper or switched to Andy Dalton, lined wide right. Regardless, once the ball was snapped he had no chance but as pointed out in Hall’s write-up, this was more than one players’ failure. Gomes was aligned near the line of scrimmage most of the game and finished with three tackles. Not a lot, but it’s not like the run was hurting them. Gomes wasn’t effective as a blitzer. In the first quarter running back Benjarvus Green-Ellis de-cleated him, leaving a gap open for Dalton to run to his right. The next time Gomes blitzed, he stutter-stepped as he approached Green-Ellis and slowed and was hit. On the first play of the second quarter Gomes missed a tackle in the backfield on Hawkins, a third-and-2 play that resulted in a first down. On the first play of the third quarter, Gomes lost awareness of the ball. He was lined up over Hawkins at the snap and dropped into a zone on the left. As he looked back to Dalton, the ball already had been thrown. About three yards to his left, Hall is wrestling Green to the ground as Gomes is looking for the ball. He never knew it was near him. Fortunately for him, Hall got him to the ground.

CB Josh Wilson. Said this after the game, but from what I’ve heard no one dislikes cover zero more than Wilson. He does well in other coverages because he understands where his help is and plays accordingly. He’s a smart player. But he allowed a couple big plays Sunday. The first one was an eight-yard pass interference penalty. Yeah it looked like he got there early, but the Bengals eventually punted on this series. However, one play is all it takes to land on the Dud list and the 48-yard touchdown to Binns in cover zero did the trick. Wilson rounded his cut on the play, but he also stumbled. Even if his angle was a little off he makes the play with no stumble and the Bengals would have been faced with a third and long situation. But one stumble in a cover zero is all it takes. Beyond this play Wilson was fine. He even recovered a fumble, which should have resulted in his second touchdown in two weeks. But the refs inexplicably blew the play dead; no Bengal came within a couple feet of touching him.

CB Richard Crawford. Again, one play. Crawford helped force a fumble, but he was beaten badly by Hawkins on the 59-yard touchdown pass down the middle. Crawford said a double move got him, but all Hawkins did is run at him and then cut to the middle. Crawford was flat-footed and couldn’t recover against a speedy target. With both safeties heading to the numbers off the snap, Crawford was left in a cover zero look of his own. Another time he was beaten off the line by Binns, but Dalton wasn’t looking that way. That’s a tough look for Crawford against Hawkins, but the rookie had played well in limited looks the first two games.

LB London Fletcher. A rare appearance on this side of the ledger. Maybe another player who had the same game doesn’t end up here, but the standard is high for Fletcher. He audibled on the first play of the game, but took away any safety help in doing so. Fletcher gets so many calls right but this one burned the Redskins. Of course, the Redskins defenders said they weren’t aware Mohamed Sanu had thrown from this look 18 times in college. Most times, in at least 90 percent of the cases, the wildcat results in a run anyway so percentages were played. They lost. Fletcher missed a tackle on Greshman on the same third down play Hall did. Fletcher was beaten for a 25-yard catch by Orson Charles on the Bengals’ second play in the fourth quarter. On the Hawkins touchdown pass, Fletcher was called for holding on Gresham. There were a couple times Fletcher didn’t clean up on some outside runs like he normally does. Once Green-Ellis pulled him in a little bit by starting up the middle then cutting wide. I’m not going to say Fletcher lost a step when I saw the same guy cover Darren Sproles two weeks ago. But Fletcher didn’t make these plays.

Click link for rest.
 
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Did this really warrant a new thread? It's almost the exact thread I made Sunday.
 
I don't have any problem with the duplicate thread (I'm sure if he'd seen it, he wouldn't have posted it Extreme). But let's try and attribute articles to their source (at least put a 'WP:' in front of the title for example). I would've read that as your own thoughts LL if I hadn't seen or clicked on the link.
 
London Fletcher on the dud side? Really?

This is the last article I will ever read from this author.

Seriously, that's it.
 
Ah come on I saw Fletcher miss the first couple of tackles the last couple of weeks I have ever seen. He's been un-Fletcher-like the past couple of games. I dunno what the mystery injury was in August maybe its that but he has lost a little bit lately. I love the guy, I hope its just the blip that it seems to be.
 
Sorry, thought everyone knew about Keim's studs and duds. We've had threads for the last two, I'm pretty sure.
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Nevermind!
 
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I don't have any problem with the duplicate thread (I'm sure if he'd seen it, he wouldn't have posted it Extreme). But let's try and attribute articles to their source (at least put a 'WP:' in front of the title for example). I would've read that as your own thoughts LL if I hadn't seen or clicked on the link.

And honestly thought I'd done that. It was a busy day.
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And honestly thought I'd done that. It was a busy day.
Posted via BGO Mobile Device

Not a big deal. Just as an fyi, we don't 'ask' for that kind of thing to be rigid...but we have previous experience getting 'cease and desist' letters from traditional media outlets due to not giving appropriate 'attribution' or posting entire articles.
 
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Yeah, I thought it was a Lanky original too. Until I read some of it.

Stud - Robert

Dud - Redskins coaching staff

Defense? What defense?
 
I found a little piece of information in that article I think is being glossed over, I hadn't heard anyone break it down this way yet:
Kerrigan dropped into coverage only six times. The triumvirate of Jackson, Chris Wilson and Markus White dropped into coverage a combined seven times. Of those seven, Jackson dropped five times and Wilson twice. White rushed all 12 times he was on the field.

I think that's pretty telling of what our scheme was, and (i hope) may continue to be. that is that our OLB's are essentially rushing every play, giving us 5 guys rushing minimum on any given play.

i think that leaves riley and fletcher in coverage?
 
I think it also might partly explain why opposing coaches and players have had so little trouble beating our pass coverage and we keep hearing comments like "we have answers" ... i.e., suggestions that deciphering Haslett's schemes/calls are less than rocket science.

Grr.
 

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