With Colts looming, Redskins improved tackling is a bright spot

There were folks who had predicted the Washington Redskins would beat the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1 but more that thought the opposite. Most oddsmakers gave the Cards at least a one-point advantage which, isn’t necessarily a rout but still shows a lack of confidence in Washington. Aside from the people inside the Redskins training facility, no one thought that the Redskins would dominate the Carcinals the way they did.

Offensively, the Redskins new running back, Adrian Peterson, and teammate Chris Thompson; gave older die-hard fans flashbacks of when the run game was the ballclub’s identity. And defensively, the Cardinals running back, David Johnson, didn’t actually hit a home run every time he touched the ball.

There was much to like about that Cardinals-Redskins game but one of the best things was the sure and consistent tackling of the defense. With QB Andrew Luck and the Indianpolis Colts looming, that is a real bright spot.

There was the gang tackling that started on Arizona’s first offensive play and stopped Johnson. Not long after, Redskins defensive lineman Ziggy Hood tackled the RB so that he netted only a yard. There was a sure tackle by CB Josh Norman (after a short pass over the middle to Johnson) that, had it not been made, likely would have resulted in a huge Cardinals gain.

Many fans around the league are used to their team’s defense getting opposing players to the ground consistently but the Burgundy and gold faithful are not. In fact, bad tackling was one of the biggest problems for defensive coordinator Greg Manusky’s squad last season, especially after so many defensive starters were injured. Running backs and wideouts logged yards after the snap with little apparent effort and the defense couldn’t get off the field on third down.

Those things didn’t happen much against the Cardinals and hopefully won’t in Week 2.

The Colts are having serious injury problems on their offensive line and Colts QB Andrew Luck will be playing only his second game since 2016. He looked healthy in Indy’s 34-23 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1 but the offense still had its problems.

Indianapolis had built up a 23-10 lead but, in the second half, could not run against the Bengals. As well, TE Jack Doyle fumbled the ball. Luck threw some nice passes but also almost threw a couple of interceptions. The Colts aren’t considered a power house but they have a good quarterback that is a threat every time he gets on the field and a Pro Bowl wideout in T.Y. Hilton. Washington’s defense can’t — and won’t — sleep on Indy.

Even if the Redskins defense didn’t do all the other things it did so well against Arizona in that game, just the better tackling would have likely impacted the outcome and, should they continue to do so, will have a huge effect on every game.

The matter of better tackling seems like a no-brainer. But because it’s been such an issue in the past for the Redskins, it’s notable that it was so improved against Arizona. In fact, the issue has been brought up before and didn’t improve. Why has it now?

Is it because the team has better talent now? Did head coach Jay Gruden put more of an emphasis on it this offseason? Has the team employed a new training technique?

“It was a little bit of everything,” LB Mason Foster said after practice Wednesday. “Working on it in OTAs, and then Jay made a big point of making practice physical at camp… in pads. All preseason, real physical tackling, really bent up in practice. We knew we had to do it against a good team like [the Cardinals] and have to week-in and week-out in the NFL. But I feel like we can still even be better, you know? There were certain missed tackles, you know what I mean? But, guys were out there just playing hard and that’s another big thing. If you’re out there swarming like that, even if the first guy misses taking a shot, there’s three or four more guys behind him. I think it’s just a group effort and it helps out with tackling.”