How Washington Became NFL's Best Run Defense During its 3 Game Winning Streak

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How Washington Became NFL's Best Run Defense During Winning Streak

https://www.washingtonfootball.com/news/washington-football-best-run-defense-winning-streak-steelers

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Benny Snell took the handoff from Ben Roethlisberger and slammed into a swarm of white jerseys and burgundy helmets at the line of scrimmage.

Daron Payne, who stonewalled center J.C. Hassenauer, was the first to reach Snell. The rest of the defense followed, converging on the running back and pushing him back two yards before officials blew the play dead for no gain.

It was a common set of events for Pittsburgh. It ran the ball 14 times against Washington's defense for 21 yards and a measly 1.5 average.

Washington has won three straight games -- including a 23-17 upset over the Steelers -- for the first time since 2018, and one of the reasons for that success is its suffocating run defense. It has allowed an average of 50.3 rushing yards in that span, which is by far the best in the league. There is still room to grow, but head coach Ron Rivera is confident the group is ascending.

"That's the big thing is that you want to see that growth where they're going up because it bodes well for the future," Rivera said Tuesday. "That's the thing. We don't know what's going to happen in the next few weeks, but we're going to come out and play hard and give our best effort and see what happens."

...Washington allowed 70 yards on the ground, and all five of the Bengals' ball-carriers were limited to fewer than 20 yards each.

Washington followed that up by allowing 60 yards to the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving and just 21 versus the Steelers. That success involves the players buying into what Rivera and his coaches are teaching them. It took time for the players to get used to the techniques, but now that they have, the results are coming to fruition. Washington is 5-0 when it allows fewer than 100 rushing yards.

"I think, in all honesty, it's the development over time," Rivera said. "You have to break habits and you have to get them to be more confident in what you're trying to do to get them to do it. It was a little bit of a struggle, to be honest. Some of our guys held onto the old techniques and old styles of play and getting them to understand what we're trying to teach I think was a big part of it."

I think our run D on top of everything else is the key to us continuing to win. We lost in large part to the Giants the second time & Lions bc of our poor run defense. If we had held each team to under 100 yards, we win both of those games and we’re on a 5 game win streak right now and sitting at 7-5 with a 3-game lead in the division over the Giants.