The one thing I hope many of you learn from this preseason so far

[fansince62]

Williams' first year of D here was good - but mostly because opposing teams didn't have to do much against us. They ran vanilla offenses, because our O couldn't put any points on the board. I think we averaged what, 11 points a game? Truly pathetic. So opposing team offenses didn't show their playbooks against us because it was unnecessary.

good point. but it was a good D!!! I remember thinking after the very first game...man.....we haven't swarmed to the ball like this in ages. somehow that was lost the very next season. also.....Williams' CB blitzes seemed to work better that year than in following seasons.

 

[Rymanofthenorth]

Im just curious, how much of our resources did we put into the defence? lol because as I recall we would sign a couple free agents every year but aside from taylor we never drafted anyone of note. the defence wasnt the issue, we havent had a consistent offence in a decade, you can get by with an average defence if you can score, or you can play ball control and contend with a good defence, we havent gone either way.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

Sean Taylor, Carlos Rogers, Rocky McIntosh (2nd-round pick, no 1st) Laron Landry, Brian Orakpo - Redskins went defense with their first overall for 4 straight drafts and 5 out of 6.

And here is what "a couple of free agents" looks like.

Marcus Washington
Walt Harris
Shawn Springs
Pierson Prioleau
Joe Salave'a
Cornelius Griffin
Reynaldo Wynn
Omar Stoutmire
Matt Bowen
Adam Archuleta
Andre Carter
Troy Vincent
Phillip Daniels
Fred Smoot
Jason Taylor
DeAngelo Hall
London Fletcher
Albert Haynesworth

 

[Rymanofthenorth]

Sean Taylor, Carlos Rogers, Rocky McIntosh (2nd-round pick, no 1st) Laron Landry, Brian Orakpo - Redskins went defense with their first overall for 4 straight drafts and 5 out of 6.

And here is what "a couple of free agents" looks like.

Marcus Washington
Walt Harris
Shawn Springs
Pierson Prioleau
Joe Salave'a
Cornelius Griffin
Reynaldo Wynn
Omar Stoutmire
Matt Bowen
Adam Archuleta
Andre Carter
Troy Vincent
Phillip Daniels
Fred Smoot
Jason Taylor
DeAngelo Hall
London Fletcher
Albert Haynesworth

I am not talking about the most recent drafts lanky, if your contention was that our defence was old so we should make the switch, then you have to accept that we didnt put much in the way of resources into this defence, aside from taylor how many first rounders went into this defence?

aside from Haynesworth (who was pretty recent btw) how many free agents came here before they turned 30? we had a tendency to sign one of two WOW guys every single off season, thats not addressing needs, that was putting asses in the seats. On that list of free agents that YOU just posted, only Washington and haynesworth came here in their primes, Hall came here after a terrible season in LA pretty much ruined his rep, Taylor was brought in to play DE after injuries killed us, Griffin was a steal but was already near the ned when we got him, springs was a band aid so nobody else tried really hard to get him.

basically our scouting department was lazy, we signed big names rather than guys who could fill a role, and THATS what bit us in the ass , a few years ago we had a run of injuries at corner and linebacker and we tried to switch schemes, to a tampa 2 to cover that up, but our run stop linemen, couldnt get heat, so we had a brutal defence, if you had known me then you would know that at the time I stated that despite injuries, you cant just change your scheme without investing.

 

[Rymanofthenorth]

I didnt include fletch because he was also pretty recent and while a solid signing who has been very good for us, he wasnt exactly the most sought after LB in free agency., He would be the one time we went for substance over flash. not Vinny or dannys strongsuit.