The first half defense vs the Vikings

[footy_29]

It's all about a few players on a few plays. There were only three players that came to play/elevated their play, fortunately one at each level: McGee, Spaight, Swearinger.
 

First Half Defense

Long Murray run where DeAngelo Hall is lucky to get enough contact to bring him down (after a poor approach). Designed line slant works against the Redskins and ILB blitz (Compton) results in a big hole.. that could have been finished early if Zach Brown doesn't choose the wrong gap and run into a block. You could argue McGee's line/angle on this play was poor and contributed to widening the hole, but I'm not positive what his line is supposed to be.

The Norman almost pick. McGee beats his man and has a decent line to Keenum, but Preston Smith's initial overpursuit of the run led to a poor angle and concentrated the pressure on one side, helping Keenum escape the situation.

Two plays later Zach Brown and DeAngelo Hall bungle up apparent double coverage on Thielen. Brown seemingly trying to figure out what he's doing (with less than 10 seconds left on the play clock, smh) and Hall's bad angle on top of it were brutal to watch. Brown gets his hips opened up the wrong way for an easy catch inside.

Two plays later Brandon Banks has an invisible sail behind him as he gets run off the LOS and McClain doens't do much with his man allowing McKinnon to get to the 5. Brown could have swept in to fill the hole but was late to recognize the play. Leads to a score on a missed assignment (not going to specultate).

After the turnover, 1;11 left
Hood is manhandled at the POA, McGee doesn't feel his way to the gap. Not sure what Brown is thinking. Brown's the free man on that play, he has to recognize the run (slow to read the play) and not allow himself to be absorbed by a lineman going to the second level.

Cannot begin to figure out what Compton is doing on the TD that follows.
 

A few comments otherwise...

The highest paid are not playing elite ball: Norman and Kerrigan.
McClain and Hood were manhandled by the Vikings OL. (recurring theme)
McGee is the only capable nose on this team.
You could feel Swearinger trying to turn the game around before the interceptions.

IR filling up after this game, but good for progress:
Spaight>Compton
Perine > Kelley
Nsekhe > Clemmings

[turtle28]

@footy_29 Thanks man, great analysis.

[mar29020]

10 hours ago, footy_29 said:

It's all about a few players on a few plays. There were only three players that came to play/elevated their play, fortunately one at each level: McGee, Spaight, Swearinger.
 

First Half Defense

Long Murray run where DeAngelo Hall is lucky to get enough contact to bring him down (after a poor approach). Designed line slant works against the Redskins and ILB blitz (Compton) results in a big hole.. that could have been finished early if Zach Brown doesn't choose the wrong gap and run into a block. You could argue McGee's line/angle on this play was poor and contributed to widening the hole, but I'm not positive what his line is supposed to be.

The Norman almost pick. McGee beats his man and has a decent line to Keenum, but Preston Smith's initial overpursuit of the run led to a poor angle and concentrated the pressure on one side, helping Keenum escape the situation.

Two plays later Zach Brown and DeAngelo Hall bungle up apparent double coverage on Thielen. Brown seemingly trying to figure out what he's doing (with less than 10 seconds left on the play clock, smh) and Hall's bad angle on top of it were brutal to watch. Brown gets his hips opened up the wrong way for an easy catch inside.

Two plays later Brandon Banks has an invisible sail behind him as he gets run off the LOS and McClain doens't do much with his man allowing McKinnon to get to the 5. Brown could have swept in to fill the hole but was late to recognize the play. Leads to a score on a missed assignment (not going to specultate).

After the turnover, 1;11 left
Hood is manhandled at the POA, McGee doesn't feel his way to the gap. Not sure what Brown is thinking. Brown's the free man on that play, he has to recognize the run (slow to read the play) and not allow himself to be absorbed by a lineman going to the second level.

Cannot begin to figure out what Compton is doing on the TD that follows.
 

A few comments otherwise...

The highest paid are not playing elite ball: Norman and Kerrigan.
McClain and Hood were manhandled by the Vikings OL. (recurring theme)
McGee is the only capable nose on this team.
You could feel Swearinger trying to turn the game around before the interceptions.

IR filling up after this game, but good for progress:
Spaight>Compton
Perine > Kelley
Nsekhe > Clemmings

you should never point the finger at kerrigan and norman. look at the TRASH they are surrounded with! garbage d-line poor safetys and WILL COMPTON....

[turtle28]

46 minutes ago, mar29020 said:

you should never point the finger at kerrigan and norman. look at the TRASH they are surrounded with! garbage d-line poor safetys and WILL COMPTON....

This is the wrong answer, every player on the field is up to be analyzed for how they play. The truth hurt sometimes but it needs to be told and it’s especially disappointing when your two highest paid players on defense played their worst games of the season when our offense put up 30.

[Dashing202]

Norman and breeland has a terrible game 

it happens Kerrigan wasn't a factor today

where was Preston smith?

 

this was the worst redskins D I ever seen for the first three quarters . That 4th quarter showed who the Vikings where a terrivle offensive team that took advantage of the worst teams in the NFL with a good defense .

there Defense should of given us trouble which was expected but there offense should of NEVER had 30 points . Keenum literally almost gave us the game .

[footy_29]

I should specify I meant this game specifically for Kerrigan and Norman. But it's fair to ask the question for both this season. Neither have been elite. Norman at times, and some games absolutely. All depends on how the defense responds. Should tell us a lot about the coaching too.

Spaight is a guy to root for amongst the defensive woes (bad games). The Dallas game where the defense failed to make a stand at the goal line was great to see. I love the passion about failing to make a stand. He's part of the solution here. Take Dunbar in comparison who points to Everrett in that game after he's beat by Bryant like "where were you dog?", when it's Dunbar who technique/execution aren't up to snuff. Makes you doubt that Dunbar can be more than a 4 on this team at any point if that's his approach. Even if Everett was supposed to be tighter, Dunbar has to man up. 

Galette's workload has increased, maybe he'll grab more snaps moving forward to the point where he may push Preston Smith inside in 34 defense sets for passing situations. Ryan Anderson is arguably good enough to play more now. Fast forward a year and this is a good group if they can keep Galette around. Anderson is probably the solution at ROLB sooner than later though...something to consider moving forward. 

The cap is structured for a new coach to take over if they choose to move on. Even if they anticipate it's going to work, they are still being smart by managing these contracts. Eric Schaffer is basically rocking this show. 

If trading Cousins garners you the team you need to become Seattle with Russel Wilson, why not give it a go? There are plenty of options to consider if presented with them, nothing is off the table ever. Players are evaluated every play, at practices and games. They know this more than we do.
 

[turtle28]

10 hours ago, footy_29 said:

I should specify I meant this game specifically for Kerrigan and Norman. But it's fair to ask the question for both this season. Neither have been elite. Norman at times, and some games absolutely. All depends on how the defense responds. Should tell us a lot about the coaching too.

Spaight is a guy to root for amongst the defensive woes (bad games). The Dallas game where the defense failed to make a stand at the goal line was great to see. I love the passion about failing to make a stand. He's part of the solution here. Take Dunbar in comparison who points to Everrett in that game after he's beat by Bryant like "where were you dog?", when it's Dunbar who technique/execution aren't up to snuff. Makes you doubt that Dunbar can be more than a 4 on this team at any point if that's his approach. Even if Everett was supposed to be tighter, Dunbar has to man up. 

Galette's workload has increased, maybe he'll grab more snaps moving forward to the point where he may push Preston Smith inside in 34 defense sets for passing situations. Ryan Anderson is arguably good enough to play more now. Fast forward a year and this is a good group if they can keep Galette around. Anderson is probably the solution at ROLB sooner than later though...something to consider moving forward. 

The cap is structured for a new coach to take over if they choose to move on. Even if they anticipate it's going to work, they are still being smart by managing these contracts. Eric Schaffer is basically rocking this show. 

If trading Cousins garners you the team you need to become Seattle with Russel Wilson, why not give it a go? There are plenty of options to consider if presented with them, nothing is off the table ever. Players are evaluated every play, at practices and games. They know this more than we do.
 

Oh my god! Where have you been for a few years footy! I’ve been saying similar things for a few years about some of the players you mentioned and been getting killed by many in this forum for it! 

The only things I’d differ on is I’m not sure how much if it is coaching or the players just not executing what the coaches want them to. Basically the players aren’t executing their assignments well enough and even worse sometimes blowing their assignments take Moreau vs San Fran and Brown a few times in coverage this year.

I 100% agree with you about Spaight and what you’ve been saying all week.

With Dunbar, I agree he shouldn’t have said what he said about Everett. I think we need to realize that both guys are still learning and transitioning to new positions still though. Dunbar in my eyes is still a converted Wr who’s only on his 3rd year playing cb, I still think he has room to improve. Everett is a college corner who was converted to S about mid way though his rookie season in 2015. He’s basically in his 2nd year of learning S. I think both guys should continue to improve. I definitely agree at this point they both look like solid back ups but probably not starters at this point, I hope we can retain Dunbar for depth in March.

I know this is a bit of a crazy though - but it is one that the FO should consider - do you think they should cut Norman after this season ($14m cap savings if designated a June 1st cut) and re-sign Breeland long term to be the #1?

Fuller would start opposite him. Moreau or Dunbar would be the #3 & 4 cbs and when we go to nickel Fuller would go to the slot and Dunbar or Moreau would be our other outside corner opposite Breeland.

I 100% agree with your take on Galette as well and moving Smith to 3-4 DE in nickel/dime D aka definite pass defense sets. We also could do this with Kerrigan, he’s done well when we’ve slid him down to 5-tech in definite passing situations in the past, I believe Has started doing that with him in 2013. We miss Murphy because he was ideal for this position as well. Anyways, I agree about Galette needing more run and we need to slide Smith or my preference would be Kerrigan inside to rush against guards. Im not certain about Anderson yet. I think his future is to take over for Kerrigan at LOLB, he’s not a speed pass rusher and doesn’t even have the gifts as a pass rusher that Smith has. I think Smith remains the starter at ROLB for years to come and Anderson eventually takes over for Kerrigan when he retires. The question becomes if we retain Galette after this season, and imo we should but we shouldn't overpay to do so.  

I also don’t want to see a day w/o Cousins on this team until he retires but I do agree we could trade him and go the Russell Wilson avenue where we’d draft a qb or go with Mccoy - if he beat out the rookie, which likely bc Gruden loves him - and then we’d draft a good RB, sign/draft a better #2 wr, draft/sign a LG, draft/sign a true NT and re-sign Brown and draft an ILB high to compete w/ Spaight.

[footy_29]

@turtle28

Breeland can't hack being a #2 right now, but Moreau needs discipline
The valuation of the slot receiver keeps Fuller there.
Dunbar can look like an inferior Byron Maxwell with safety coverage. He's fine as a 4/5 for one more year after this one.
It's not realistic to be able to sign Preston Smith to ~8 million AAV and commit 20 million to your starters. Someone is going to be traded/walk.

If Spaight is your best starter by season's end, you no longer need Brown. That's the truth of it.
 

 

 

[turtle28]

15 minutes ago, footy_29 said:

@turtle28

Breeland can't hack being a #2 right now, but Moreau needs discipline
The valuation of the slot receiver keeps Fuller there.
Dunbar can look like an inferior Byron Maxwell with safety coverage. He's fine as a 4/5 for one more year after this one.
It's not realistic to be able to sign Preston Smith to ~8 million AAV and commit 20 million to your starters. Someone is going to be traded/walk.

If Spaight is your best starter by season's end, you no longer need Brown. That's the truth of it.
 

 

 

Has Breeland been bad this year? I haven’t seen it really. Our whole defense had a rough game last Sunday but that hasn’t been the norm throughout most of this season. 

So you don’t think Smith is the future starter at ROLB? You think we’ll move on from him when his rookie deal is up?

Is that what you mean to commit $8m on avg to him behind $20 million committed to the starters?

Or are you saying if we’re commit $20 m to a starting cb we can’t keep Smith?

I get what you are saying about not “needing” to keep Brown if Spaight plays like our best ILB the finals half of the year but 1) I don’t see that happening 2) I’d personally like to re-sign Brown, pair him next to Spaight next year and draft another ILB to compete with JHC as the back ups.

I hope they move on from Compton. He’s a great guy and a try hard intelligent player but I just feel we need more speed and athleticism from the position even in reserve.

[footy_29]

Even before the sprain/tear of his knee, Breeland hasn't come out with the aggressive mindset that he needs and be physical at the LOS. The team drafted another corner Moreau similar to Fuller in the sense that some projected him as a first round CB before injury (meaning second rounder).

Not uncommon for a player to 'fall a round' if they're injured within a couple months of the draft, for Moreau it was a month before the draft. Fullers injury was earlier, but team's are leery with meniscus injuries, particularly ones that might need microfracture surgery. Fuller's previous season consisted of playing with a fractured wrist that needed surgery post-season. Both those guys are second round talents, and you expect second rounders to start or be a major contributor (nickel corner).

At this time:
Looking at Norman's cap hit compared to other corners he's #1 this year and next year (comfortably). He's #4 the following season and then back to #1 in 2020. It's fair to ask him to be the Revis of the next 3.5 years because he's the highest paid corner in the game in 3 of those 4 years, and two years comfortably. Realistically, if he's top 3 consistently, it's worth the overpay for what it allows the defense to do. We'll assume injuries for the body positioning and hand use errors of late.

Again, I don't worry about linebacker 9/10 unless you lose a valuable young asset through the waiver wire on the way to the practice squad.

[Dashing202]

Wait u don't want Brown to stay ? 

[turtle28]

1 hour ago, Dashing202 said:

Wait u don't want Brown to stay ? 

He thinks Spaight’s best position is the same position Brown plays. Spaight could be the future there and he’d be much cheaper to re-sign, like vet min for Spaight vs 5 or more mil a year for Brown. It would be a drop off but how big of one who knows? @footy_29 doesn’t think it would be huge drop off, I think most Disagree though. I’d rather see Spaight stay where he is, call the defense, play next to brown after he’s re-signed and draft a ILB to develop along with JHC.