Commanders Coffee #3

[Canadian Hog]

Two weeks of the preseason are in the books after Washington's 24-14 loss in Kansas City. The general consensus following Saturday's performance is that several of the question marks surrounding this team from a year ago might very well spill over into the 2022 season yet again. This includes Washington's defensive struggles, which will be our topic of conversation for the 3rd installment of Commanders Coffee.

For this week's question, we ask...

On a scale of 1 to 4, how worried are you about the Commanders' defense heading into the regular season?

Make your choice, give your reasons, and let the discussion take us where it will!

 

[burgold]

I probably need a fifth option.

There is enough talent, but the game planning and coaching will let us down. The scheming is too predictable and easy for teams to counter.

 

[MikefromOH]

The drop off play of young concerns me
The drop off play of the overall D concerns me
Payne being in limbo of staying or going yet he's a starter concerns me
Cutting Kerrigan concerns me
How horrible we've looked in preseason concerns me

We don't seem to have a real game plan. He's rushing the same 4 hoping to get the same magic he had in 2020, but it hasn't worked since then.

I was a huge fan of his hiring, but this is a show me kind of sport. Show me you can coach or else you should go.

 

[Boone]

Del Rio had a promising first season as DC I felt. But last season the D regressed and a really slow start added to the concern. I do think we have enough talent to be a top 10 defense - so I don't where else to lay the blame for underperforming than at Jack Del Rio's feet. We have had a lot of injuries, but again, at some point all teams go through it. The good ones find a way. Look at what our coaching has been able to do in some other spots, like OL and TE?

I have no answers. I think there's a fine line between confidence and swagger and stubbornness and rigidity.

I don't have any idea what the players think of the scheme, the plan, and Del Rio himself. I think that's huge and we just can't know. It's possible last season was more of an aberration and we will see the defense rise this year if key guys can stay relatively healthy and Young comes back and looks anything like the world beater he is supposed to be.

My areas of biggest concern are the same as everyone else's - LB and DBs. That's a big chunk of the defense to be concerned about. But honestly, our vaunted pass rush, full of early round picks, has been generally disappointing.

I'll say what I always say. It's the preseason. I'll wait until we suck and can't stop anyone on 3rd down in a real game before freaking out. But it hasn't been impressive so far.

 

[Boone]

One comment about Del Rio being on the hot seat. If he is, which is possible based on both lack of results and falling on his sword over public comments repeatedly, I think that's a mistake. One of the biggest factors in our franchise failure has been the constant coaching turnover. I would really prefer they put more pressure on Del Rio to get this D up to snuff than blowing it up and starting over again. If we don't see the defense playing to its potential over the next 2 seasons, do what you have to do (you can let your new head coach find the new DC).

 

[Canadian Hog]

I think towards the latter half of the 2020 season, when this defense really caught fire and feasted on some teams with below average QB play, we started putting some false expectations on it for what it could eventually become, when it was still very clear that there were some question marks on the defensive unit going into 2021. You had guys starting to buy into the hype, people were talking about sack records, and the notion of being a top 5 defense was even floated around. This all coming after Tom Brady schooled us in the Wildcard matchup and showed us how to neutralize the vaunted defensive fromt. On top of that, you had a slew of upper echelon QBs that we had to face last year - in many regards, it was going to be an uphill battle for this unit to live up to the hype from the start.

Coming into '22, the list of elite QBs we have to face is quite short. There is Aaron Rodgers, and a few other good QBs on the slate, but beyond that, nobody that we shouldn't be able to realistically control if we want to be taken seriously.

While I don't think we are a bottom feeder defensive unit, I think we have to toss the idea of becoming the '85 Bears or 2000 Ravens out the window just because we have four first rounders up front.

The way I see it is that we are a middle of the road unit that can move up or down a few notches any given week depending on the competition and if things break right for us from a health standpoint.

With a productive offense, that is likely enough to win some more ballgames. If our offense stalls this year, it is foolish for any of us to think that this defense can steal enough games to stay in the race so to speak.

 

[SkinsOrlando]

I have no clue what to think about the defense at this time, pre-season has become more of a cluster than it ever was on judging where a team is at since it's more a scrimmage than a game. Week 1 and 2 will tell us where we're at, Jags we should easily win, Detroit not quite as easy (they had some close games last year) but again should be a win. I'll hold my thoughts until then, hopefully they'll be happy thoughts instead of let's burn it to the ground !!

 

[Primus Porcus]

I voted 2, because I don't think the talent is necessarily the problem... and the schedule is much weaker than last year, which will likely result in an improvement. Hope is about the only thing I've got keeping me from quickly descending to somewhere between 3 and 4. I think a big part of the problem is Del Rio. There's been a very delayed adaptation on this team. A very hard line in the sand about 'maintaining' a scheme and mentality, instead of adapting one to take advantage of the abilities of the players. It took a long time for adjustments last year... and when they were made, the team improved... I guess I'm hoping we see a different scheme come week 1... but i'm not exactly holding my breath.

 

[Henry]

"[Something about the team] was good recently, therefore we can expect it to be good now and think about other things" has been going on with this team forever. The team hasn't done anything consistently well since the first Bush Administration. I don't expect it to start happening now. The defense will suck until it doesn't. But if it doesn't I wouldn't throw a parade.

EDIT: I will add exceptions for McLaurin and Tress Way. They're as close to a sure thing as you'll find around here.