2025 Washington Commanders- All Things Defense

[Chris]

Since this topic is being discussed and debated in numerous threads…how about a dedicated one. Including, bur not limited to scheme, players and coaches.

 

[Chris]

I was going to call this the Joe Whitt Appreciation thread but didn’t want to piss anyone off. 🙃

 

[prodigy]

I was going to call this the Joe Whitt Appreciation thread but didn’t want to piss anyone off. 🙃

probably a good idea. BUT...i propose an emmanuel forbes tracking thread.

 

[Simeon]

The Ron Rivera amnesia thread?

 

[MartinC]

Can I go on record as saying that I am very much in favor of having one.

 

[RedWolf]

I hope this defense becomes a strength for us this year

 

[Simeon]

I hope this defense becomes a strength for us this year

I’m optimistic and apprehensive both. I really do think they have the personnel now to be above average, maybe even top ten. Not so worried about the pass rush as others and I think their secondary is very good. If they still can’t stop the run then I’m going to point fingers at the coaches (not saying which coach or finger).

 

[Darc Requiem]

I'm really concerned about our pass rush. I really don't have much confidence in the Ghost of Von Miller. I feel we should be much better at corner this year. Of course if the line can't get to the QB, even an improved secondary is going to have a rough time.

 

[Simeon]

I'm really concerned about our pass rush. I really don't have much confidence in the Ghost of Von Miller. I feel we should be much better at corner this year. Of course if the line can't get to the QB, even an improved secondary is going to have a rough time.

Pass rush is more than just personnel although that’s important. Quinn has a history of schemes that maximize his players potential, last year they did just fine given the group they had. I will take Miller over Fowler any day. His is history with run defense is not as good and that’s why I am still apprehensive that we will get less than the sum of the parts there, but I’m going to take it on faith for now that he’s learned some lessons there just like he’s now a better head coach than he was in Atlanta.

We should know in another month or so.

 

[TTViper]

I think our slightly improved secondary (still not great) will be just good enough to compliment the growth and impact of Newton this year.

 

[Bulldog]

I think Amos and Sainristil give Washington a pair of dynamic young corners to go with veterans Lattimore and Jones.

The corner room is now completely made over and I don’t think there is a question that this group is a vast upgrade on Forbes, St. Juste and Co. from the last Rivera regime.

Up front I don’t know about Miller. He could be washed or he could be a great situational rusher playing 15-20 snaps a game like Tony McGee did in the first Super Bowl under Gibbs.

Either way I see Whitt scheming to free up Frankie Luvu to be the impact rusher and a 10-12 sack season is not out of the question.

 

[Always Commander Never Captain]

I'm probably in the minority here thinking that Jeremy Chinn was a bit overrated. I'm not sure that Will Harris will be much better, but I don't think moving on from Chinn will hurt us much. The rest of the secondary should be better though.

 

[Commander Wraith]

If your defensive philosophy prioritizes preventing big plays and turnovers (a sound choice IMO), but you’re lacking high quality pass rushers and your corners are mostly terrible… what do you do? Somehow, you have to protect your corners, but also manufacture a pass rush.

Whitt’s answer seemed to be blitzing on 1st and 2nd to try to create long 3rd downs, then dropping 7 into coverage when that worked. The trade off is the run defense becomes boom or bust (mostly boom) as you’re working light boxes and/or blitzing away from the run action. A further byproduct is that offenses are better able to get guys open in the short/intermediate areas. It’s not exactly bend but don’t break (to me it’s attempting to force more mistakes vs waiting on them), but it has a similar effect - forcing teams to work the ball down the field.

We (and Whitt) will have to hope that our corners truly are improved, our dline is a bit stouter/deeper, and that Miller/Luvu/Armstrong can have a pretty serious impact (maybe especially on those 3rd and longs). If so, it might allow him to rely on the blitz a bit less and/or not focus as much on having to protect his corners. You can then get a bit more aggressive in the secondary/put more bodies in the box.

I’m expecting at least a small uptick in run D and a somewhat significant improvement in turnovers and overall D (moving toward average or perhaps better). Excepting injuries, I think I could live with achieving 2 of those 3. If there’s no real change (or maybe if just one facet improves moderately), I’ll be ready to question if Whitt’s the man for the job. Defensive side of the roster still needs help though of course.

 

[SkinsFTW]

We face the AFC West and the NFC North this year, and still get the division 2x each with Dallas having their QB again and NY actually having an NFL QB this year. I'm going to have to believe that the defense is going to be similar or worse this year.

Hopefully the offense is just better to make up for it.

 

[DWinzit]

I have a feeling Trey Amos is going to become a fan favorite around here

 

[Hail Raiser]

Quan is going to break out this year and become a nationally know name. His trajectory has only curved up sharper and sharper over the years.

Sain in year two, playing exclusively in his natural position is going to be a strength.

Amos and a healthy Lattamore starting instead of BSL and Forbes? Huge upgrade. HUGE.

Our secondary is going to be very good.

Our LBers are pretty awesome and a great mix of young and old. 2 first ballet HoFers and some promising youth in Modano and Magee. Luvu should be able to play off the chain more.

Our DL I have no idea about. If anything they're huge at least. Hopefully they can generate a rush and slow the run. I'd still like Clowney

 

[Chris]

I predict that Von Miller is going to be a (part-time, winning-time) game-wrecker.

 

[Canadian Hog]

Javonte Jean-Baptiste was a guy that showed flashes on occasion last year and a player I was excited about Washington selecting last year in the draft. I will be particularly interested in seeing if he can develop a bit further and become a useful contributor in our d-line rotation eventually. Speaking of the d-line, I think that if everyone plays up to their potential, we can have strength in numbers. Wise, Miller, Armstrong, Martin, Kinlaw, Payne, Newton, while not superstars at this juncture, are all quality NFL linemen who have NFL experience and proven they can contribute some. In the cases of Newton, Armstrong, and Kinlaw, those three in particular have more to give and room to grow and if they can elevate their games a few notches in ‘25, we will obviously be better off for in as a whole. Teamwork makes the dream work.

 

[Simeon]

Our DL I have no idea about. If anything they're huge at least. Hopefully they can generate a rush and slow the run. I'd still like Clowney

Several others here have raised the point that some of the guys signed to beef up the run defense don’t actually have a great record as run defenders, including Kinlaw and I think Wise. Do you think that is likely to hold here (I.e. they are who they are) or do you think the coaches saw some specifics in their game that they thought could lead to different results in our scheme?

I personally am not worried about Kinlaw. Looking at last season it seems most of the issues were from end around runs more than up the middle, specifically right end and especially D. Fowler. Armstrong held up much better. And part of that I think was him being too focused on sacks and letting himself get out of position.

Wise, I just don’t know, but I think he’s got to be an improvement. And there was talk of using Kinlaw at end in some situations. My concern is less personnel and more coaching. Quinn has a better history with pass defense than run defense and Whitt hasn’t shown yet that he’s the answer at DC. But I’m going to remain optimistic just based on the belief that they are getting better here just like the players.

There’s something special about this team. It’s starting to feel like the old days.

 

[Ashburn Dave]

I thought we needed to temper our expectations on defense since we'll have a top 5 offense and it's rare that you can have both since the salary cap began in 1994.

I might have thought wrong since the 96' Packers, 99' Rams, 04' Patriots, 16' Patriots, and 17' Eagles had both a top 5 offense and top 5 defense, so it does happen more than I thought.

If we can't stop the run this year, here's to hoping we can create lots of turnovers then.

Teams that won with balance

15 of the last 26 Super Bowl winners were top 10 in both offense and defense. What is interesting is that in the 90s it was very common for balanced things to win, then in the early 2000s you don't see many of them, but five of the last 6 winners were balanced.

Year	Team	Offensive Ranking	Defensive Ranking
1993	Cowboys	2	6
1994	49ers	1	6
1995	Cowboys	1	9
1996	Packers	1	2
1997	Broncos	1	6
1999	Rams	1	2
2001	Patriots	7	6
2004	Patriots	5	4
2005	Steelers	6	4
2010	Packers	8	1
2013	Seahawks	9	1
2014	Patriots	3	8
2016	Patriots	5	1
2017	Eagles	4	4
2018	Patriots	7	7

There are four examples where a team had a top 10 offense but a lower ranked defense. Teams that had a much better offense than defense:

Year	Team	Offensive Ranking	Defensive Ranking
1998	Broncos	2	13
2006	Colts	1	28
2009	Saints	2	16
2011	Giants	9	24

Teams that had a much better defense than offense:

There are five teams that won with a top 2 defense and a lower ranked offense. The Ravens, Bucs and Broncos being the prime examples when someone brings up defenses that straight up carried the teams to a title.

Year	Team	Offensive Ranking	Defensive Ranking
2000	Ravens	18	1
2002	Buccaneers	23	1
2003	Patriots	16	1
2008	Steelers	18	2
2015	Broncos	24	1

The outliers: teams that were balanced but not top ranked on either side

There were two teams that won with neither the offense or defense being ranked top 10. Prime examples that people bring up of unlikely teams getting hot.

Year	Team	Offensive Ranking	Defensive Ranking
2007	Giants	15	16
2012	Ravens	11	11