The key to the Washington Redskins competing with the explosive offense of the New Orleans Saints this Sunday is going to be the play of the defensive line and linebackers.
If anyone thinks that the off-season issues that the Saints have dealt with is going to impact their play on the field negatively in 2012, they haven’t been watching quarterback Drew Brees over the last few years. If anything, the Saints are going to be extremely motivated to play well for their suspended head coach, Sean Payton as well as their suspended defensive players: linebacker Jonathan Vilma and defensive end Will Smith. To predict that New Orleans will be playing “with a chip on their shoulder” is a likely an understatement. The whole Bounty-Gate situation has just made the team want to play as tough as they ever have.
With the Redskins finally being able to showcase their talented and expensive-to-the-team rookie quarterback Robert Griffin, III, at least one eye of professional football fans everywhere will be on the scores and highlights coming out of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome as the Saints host the Redskins in both teams’ season opener. A bunch of those highlights may be of Griffin-the-rookie making rookie mistakes however, no matter how talented he is and how well he plays overall. Because of that, the Redskins’ defense must play lights out for Washington to be competitive in this game.
The oh-so-talented Brees will try to pick apart Washington’s depleted secondary on Sunday. In 2011, he broke the NFL single-season record by gaining 300+ yards passing in 13 games and passing for 5,476 yards. As a team, the Saints led the league with an average of 450+ offensive yards per game.
Fortunately, Washington’s defense has improved steadily over the past couple of years and has the potential to be a top-10, maybe even top-five squad this season. All of the starters in the defensive front-seven from last season have returned as well as some who were injured throughout last season. The fact that these starters are in the second and third years of the same system will become more evident as the season continues and Redskins’ defensive coordinator Jim Haslett will be able to exploit more of the different elements of the 3-4 defense.
Second-year linebacker Ryan Kerrigan said that he can already tell the improvement in his own play from last season to this. He will be instrumental in keeping Brees off-balance and trying to contain the Saints’ offense. If this is at all possible, Kerrigan – teamed up with third-year linebacker Brian Orakpo – believes that being in this second year of the same system improves his chances.
“You just look on film from last year to this year,” he told reporters. “Last year I’m just shaking my head, like, ‘What was I doing?’ I know this year what I’m supposed to do and how I’m supposed to be doing it. I feel so much more comfortable.”
Defensive coordinator Jim Haslett has seen the improvement in Kerrigan as well.
“Remember that Ryan didn’t have an off-season last year,” Haslett reminded reporters during his press conference yesterday. “He walked in and he had two weeks of training camp before he got hurt, so he missed the first couple weeks. Then, he hadn’t played in a couple games and lined up and played. I thought he did a great job last year; I really did. I think he has really good cover skills for a big guy. He’s really smart, besides all the other stuff – his motor, his pass rush ability, he’s strong – he’s got a lot of good things. I think he feels a lot more comfortable doing those things this year after having a year under his belt. I know he does. It’s the same with the guys up front.”
With nose tackle Barry Cofield, the two ends Adam Carriker and Stephen Bowen; and linebackers Kerrigan, Brian Orakpo, London Fletcher and Perry Riley all feeling more and more comfortable, this could eventually become an elite defense. That said, Brees could be kept a little more off-balance more often that people might expect in this game.
The depth on this defensive line is a thing of beauty and is what gives the Redskins a shot on Sunday. With this Redskins defense, what the Depth Chart calls the “Second String” is really a group of guys that will be able to come in and spell the starters without missing a beat.
Carriker’s “back up,” Jarvis Jenkins, already promising last season before having to go on Injured Reserve, is back and he played well in the preseason. Rob Jackson, Orakpo’s “back-up” started this preseason against the Indianapolis Colts in August after Orakpo got hurt and did a nice job, recording two tackles and causing some trouble for the Colt’s rookie quarterback Andrew Luck.
While Kerrigan and the other starters are starters for a reason, guys like linebacker Chris Wilson – listed on the depth chart as Kerrigan’s back-up – have shown their ability to get after quarterbacks and interrupt their rhythms as well as their counterparts on the “First” team. Substituting these players with each other during the game likely will not generate a drop-off in productivity.
Washington’s secondary is a concern because it lost promising safety Tanard Jackson to a suspension and safety Brandon Meriweather did not practice yesterday due to a knee injury. Meriweather’s backup, Reed Doughty, gets little respect and has never been called much more than “capable,” not a great compliment in the National Football League. But he generally gets it done when he needs to. It will be up to Doughty or second-year safety DeJon Gomes to split time for Meriweather, a long with Madieu Williams, a nine-year veteran who came to the Redskins from the San Francisco 49ers.
Cornerbacks Josh Wilson and DeAngelo Hall will be under a huge amount of pressure from a quarterback like Drew Brees. Saints giant tight end, Jimmy Graham 6’7”, 265 lbs., is a nightmare match-up for any defensive player not 6’7” himself. Saints starting wide out Marques Colston is dealing with a foot injury but veteran Devery Henderson is no slouch.
Redskins’ Pro Bowl linebacker London Fletcher and the D-line will have their hands full with running back Darren Sproles, who led the league in all-purpose yards in 2011 and can catch the ball out of the backfield as well as anyone. He is small but elusive, changing directions quickly. If he gets by Fletcher and that first level of the defense, the secondary will have its hands full.
Of course, the obvious keys to the game are to get Brees off of the field on third down, get Griffin and the offense on the field and, of course, score more points. Other than that, being careful with the blitz, hurrying Brees and keeping him off balance should be Washington’s goal. Whoever is at nose tackle is going to have to play one of their best games so the Redskins are lucky that Cofield is their starter. He has come a long way since last season.
“He’s just comfortable,” Haslett said of his starter. “Barry kind of analyzes a lot – very, very smart guy, a Northwestern guy. He analyzes things, but he stopped doing that now and he’s just playing. I think Barry has the ability to be the best nose in the league, by far, not even close. He is powerful, he’s athletic, he’s smart. He’s got a lot of good attributes…He can do everything.”
Doing what has to be done to win this Sunday is as possible with this defense, this year as it has ever been.
Hail.