Joe Barry Report Card

[Goaldeje]

1. How do you know they didn't make any adjustments? Because they didn't send out texts to the fans?

Because Brown kept torching us.

If they did move a safety over, would 5 yard running plays turn into 12 yard running plays?

No idea. But I'd have been willing to try it to see. Personally, I was tired of watching Brown own us.

If Brown goes in the slot and you move Norman over, who plays on the outside? Just move our slot corner outside, where they may suck?

No idea. But I'd have been willing to try it to see.

If Norman goes in motion, why don't the Steelers then just release the tight end to exactly where Norman was standing prior?

No idea. But I'd have been willing to try it to see.

Many teams, especially in basketball, know that the best will still score points. Contain Kobe, but stop everyone else.

The idea that Gruden and Barry thought they were playing basketball instead of football may be the most plausible explanation I've heard yet.

This is Antonio Brown. Many expect him to go for the greatest season in history this year--over 2,000 yards as a WR. He's going to get a lot of catches regardless of coverage.

Yes. Sure would have been nice if we hadn't been made his bitch on national TV though.

Breeland has played with the best. He also had an INT in the first half. He doesn't suck.

I haven't heard anyone say Breeland sucks. Barry on the other hand?

There were many things more important than stopping Brown. Like stopping Williams.

Brown scored twice on us. I'd say stopping him was fairly important. The fact that we struggled to stop a 33 year old RB doesn't bode well for your argument that our coaching staff adjusts well in-game.

Would stopping Brown have prevented Kirk Cousins from sucking in the game?

Maybe. Who the hell knows? Would Kirk have settled down if he felt like he didn't have to match RoethlisBrown? I can see both sides on that one, kind of an unanswerable question, frankly.

Their running game, and our running game still sucked.

Beg to differ. Their running game was quite good. Our running game sucked. Our running defense sucked. Again, not exactly helping your argument that our coaches knew their ass from a hole in the ground on Monday.

 

[McD5]

McD5,

That's a lot of spaghetti to throw at the wall, but largely irrelevant to the discussion on why Pittsburgh's best WR was allowed to line up against our second best CB all game long.

Because that's what coaches--from Carolina to Seattle to us--believe to be best.

 

[Henry]

Because that's what coaches--from Carolina to Seattle to us--believe to be best.

If we continue to get out-coached I'm sure the thought that Carolina and Seattle do whatever it is they do will keep us all warm at night.

 

[Elephant]

1. How do you know they didn't make any adjustments? Because they didn't send out texts to the fans?
2. If they did move a safety over, would 5 yard running plays turn into 12 yard running plays?

Actually, they did move Hall back on the next 4th and short, then they completed a pass over the middle for the 1st down. Adjustments were made. However, the Steelers simply had our number on every one of them.

 

[McD5]

To put things into perspective.

All I want to know is what genius defensive scheme Wade Phillips cooked up last year to hold A. Brown to 16 rec for 189 yards and 2 TDs?

--@rich_tandlercsn

We held him to 8 for 126 yards and 2 TDs. Yes, he really is that good.

 

[Burgundy Burner]

Looks familiar.

 

[Burgundy Burner]

So we finally have a corner that shuts down one side of the field. And some of us hates it.

Oh well.

 

[Miles Monroe]

I thought Barry's explanation made perfect sense. Telling Norman, "You got that guy", is easy. Getting everybody else on the right guy, especially with the Steelers often going no huddle, would be extremely confusing to a secondary that hasn't played together much. The chances of leaving someone uncovered would be great. The fact that it didn't work out as planned doesn't mean it wasn't the warranted approach.

And, as I've said before, Breeland was "right there" most of the time. He just didn't close the deal. I hope every team that we play goes after Breeland. Cause I think the kid is pretty damn good. with the potential to be great.

Barry needs to worry about stopping the run, and pressuring the QB. I think our corners will be fine.

Ya, to me that reeks of a coach not being able to design that type of system, and coach up the players to make it work.
I saw enough confusion pre-snap during the course of the game, which tells me the players weren't prepared for what they were seeing, which reinforces to some degree my feeling about Barry being in over his head.

I agree, stopping the run, and getting some consistent pressure on the QB will help immensely. What scares me is, we weren't all that good at that last season, and to open up looking like that same squad at the beginning of last season is not where I expect to be in the growth process of the D.

 

[micks113]

This is where Joe Gibbs says....."we got to fight our guts out". No time for anything fancy, bread and butter win the trenches have some pride on defense. They've got an advantage running the ball, could be really boring but not if we can plug the gaps. If I'm Barry I come out in 4-3 plus 8 in box. Right from the start.

 

[Bulldog]

Barry and Gruden are in the same box philosophically that Jim Haslett was - namely, that you have to run a 3-4 these days to get pressure on the qb with the movement to spread offenses and greater accent on the passing game.

But at the end of the day, it's not scheme but talent that determines success.

Yes, a 3-4 with Vince Wilfork in his prime as a NT and an outside rusher like Clay Matthews with 17 or 18 sacks will work great.

But the Redskins have never been able to draft, trade for or sign those kinds of players in free agency.

We have 'made do' with talent on the DL through the waiver wire, late draft picks and street free agents.

We have drafted outside linebackers but Kerrigan and Smith, while effective players, are never going to be Dwight Freeney scaring defenses with 18-20 sack seasons.

In fact both players at 6'4 and 264 and 6'4 and 270 would appear to be better fit for the roles they filled in college, defensive ends in a 4-3 alignment.

 

[Boone]

2 drafts.
2 seasons.

That's all McCloughan has had to work with. Skins fans tend to freak when we bring in anything more expensive than free agent blue collar players - we're 'Going Vinny'. So short of rebuilding via big free agent signings, there's only one other option - right?

Draft. We've had two with Rainman at the helm. He's a self-professed BPA guy. IMHO, that means it'll take longer to rebuild. I get it. We would prefer he start almost exclusively with rebuilding the lines. I'm in that camp myself. We want to be a bruising, dominating team, not a small, finesse one. That's what I want too. But when you are drafting BPA, you don't snatch linemen because you need them.

We're 2 years in. I think patience by Skins fans is both needed and in short supply. We lose the season opener, and it sounds like from a lot of fans every positive sign we saw last year has evaporated or was a mirage to begin with.

I'm buckling in, biting my lip, and trying to take the long view. My biggest area of contention with most here is with the idea that Gruden is a bad coach. I think he's going to prove a lot of people wrong once the roster talent allows us to do what he envisions this team doing.

 

[Bulldog]

Here's what I thought.

2015 was a season all about finding out what the team had in quarterback Kirk Cousins and in building some blocks for the offensive line with the draft of Scherff, the promotion of Morgan Moses and the long-term extension given to Trent Williams.

We made do on the defensive line, signing Terrence Knighton and Stephen Paea in free agency and grabbing Ricky Jean Francois when he was cut by the Colts.

My assumption was that with the return of Cousins as the established starter for 2016 and the offensive line fairly young and with Bill Callahan to help develop the unit, that attention would THEN be focused on the other side of the ball at DL.

It seemed everything was coming together time-wise. While Knighton did not have a good season here in Washington, he was only on a one year deal and left for greener pastures.

The 2016 draft was hailed as the 'defensive line draft' for the depth of NFL talent coming out of college, with many indicating you could find quality defensive linemen well into the third round that could project to being starters early in their careers, if not right away.

So, I thought when April came around we were in good stead to be able to pick up an anchor for the defensive line inside, either in Round 1 or in Rounds 2-3.

Instead, we went exclusively for skill players through the first 100 plus selections and then traded out of the fourth round.

We were left with trying to pick up a potential developmental player for the bench or practice squad in Rounds 5-7 when Ionnaidis was finally selected.

With Ionnaidis on the practice squad, the only additions for 2016 that would impact games were going to be two players signed very early in the league year who had been released by their former clubs, Kendall Reyes and Ziggy Hood. The latter was coming off a major injury in 2015.

I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop, thinking perhaps the team was going to make a trade to bring in a player with a contract issue with another team or a fit issue with a new coach, etc.

But here we are going into the season with the same players as last year, with the additions of Reyes and Hood.

What we are seeing out there is what we deserve to see.

A unit almost completely overlooked, while the team loaded up on players at WR and CB and just kept adding to the pile as the summer wore on.

I don't think with the improvements on offense we saw in 2015 that it was a big stretch to think we should shore up the front seven in 2016.

That was the smart move to make and I think the one most folks thought we would take.

 

[JohnssBass]

Actually, they did move Hall back on the next 4th and short, then they completed a pass over the middle for the 1st down. Adjustments were made. However, the Steelers simply had our number on every one of them.

Yeah - let's not forget about the adjustment to not run the ball more than 12 times!

I truly hope that was an adjustment and not the game plan more or less. Jay did say afterwards that some games they were going to plan more for run, some more for pass and some more like 50/50. But that is an excessively low number of running plays & they were still in the game until things fell apart in the third quarter. They seem to have and have had a problem with breaking down in the 3rd which is pretty much a coaching issue.

 

[Ax]

Well, part of the reason our D has struggled so much against the run, is because they only get to practice against a Jay Gruden running attack. I'm sure the run D looks All-World against them in practice. Then on gameday, when they face an actual NFL caliber running game, they look like they did last week, and most of last year.

Yeah, I'm still in shock at "How" we lost, and looked, last week. Opening week jitters? Could be. Typical Monday Night wilting under the lights? I sure hope so.

Good teams, bounce back with a big chip on their shoulder, and get it done, at home, against a division rival, starting a rookie 2nd string QB.

So, we'll find out today if we're a good team, or a bad team. I believe we're in the good range.

 

[Henry]

So on NFL channel right now, they are saying Breeland will travel with Bryant. They showed how Norman followed Bryant last year when he was in Carolina, but apprently today thats Breelands job.

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[Boone]

Breeland covered him in the first game last season - 3 catches for 62 yards (42 of those were on one long pass). Betting we see a great game from Bree today.

 

[Henry]

Breeland covered him in the first game last season - 3 catches for 62 yards (42 of those were on one long pass). Betting we see a great game from Bree today.

Yes, Breeland is a solid CB. Never said he wasn't.

But all I know is that $75 million is a lot of money for a #2 CB.

 

[Boone]

Yes, Breeland is a solid CB. Never said he wasn't.

But all I know is that $75 million is a lot of money for a #2 CB.

And I never said you said he wasn't

 

[Ax]

Most #1 corners play on the left. Just like Josh.

 

[Henry]

Again, they were just talking about this on NFL network. They noted that in Carolina Norman followed Bryant around ("here's Norman lining up on the right against Bryant"). They then said that apparently Breeland is going to be doing that today.

I realize the damage-control narrative out of DC is that corners cover one side of the field all the time and thats how its always been done and always will be done and the rest of us who have been watching football our whole lives have just been seeing and hearing things, but apparently top corners actually DO shadow top WRs sometimes. In fact, Norman did it in Carolina last year. They actually showed film of it.

Im really really trying not to look at this signing as a 'typical Redskin move' where we sign a player we dont need for a lot of money because he played really well on another team in another system. But I'll tell you, every week we put Breeland on the top WR its going to look more and more like that. Especially if we start losing more games like we did Monday.

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