The Washington Redskins have evolved into a winning team in 2018 and it’s being noticed. On a ‘Victory Monday’ after a hard-fought 20-13 win over a division rival (New York Giants), Redskins linebacker Mason Foster has collected ‘standout’ status from Pro Football Focus and safety D.J. Swearinger has received an apology.
Foster is one of eight other NFL players to get the recognition and the status is justified. Leading the team in tackles with 13 against New York, he has now recorded 10 or more tackles in four games this season. More importantly, the ILB was instrumental in rendering Giants rookie running back sensation, Saquon Barkley, null and void in the ground game. The former Heisman Trophy winner recorded just 38 yards on 13 runs (a 2.9 ypc average). The duo of Foster and teammate Zach Brown (along with the interior of the D-line) has been instrumental in the ballclub’s improved run defense.
In his NFL Week 8 Sunday Standouts: Defense piece, PFF author Evan McPhillips wrote:
Key signature stat: Produced a run stop percentage of 35.7%
Mason Foster stood out against the Giants in a big way. He was a one-man wrecking crew, producing 10 tackles, three assists and seven defensive-stops. He played just 14 snaps against the run, yet he racked up an eye-opening five run-stops, good for a 35.7% stop percentage.
Foster earned an 82.0 grade by the metrics website for his overall defense but an even more impressive 90.6 for his run defense. Brown received an 80.8 for his overall defensive performance.
In PFF’s recap of the Week 8 matchup, its Analysis Team wrote:
The most impressive group of the day for the Redskins’ defense was no doubt their linebackers Mason Foster and Zach Brown. Those two faced a tough matchup with the Heisman trophy winner Saquon Barkley lining up against them. But both Foster and Brown were outstanding containing Barkley in the passing game, and Foster impressed in run defense also by flowing to the point of attack and not missing tackles.
Of course, this win must be attributed to the play of the entire team and the defense can’t be addressed without the mention of safety D.J. Swearinger who logged another two interceptions to bring his season total to four. For this game, the safety earned an 87.0 overall defensive grade and an 82.9 for coverage. But on the season, those two grades are an impressive 90.9 and 90.1 respectively.
In the aforementioned recap, PFF analysts also wr0te:
One of the better under-the-radar performances of the year for the Redskins has been the play of safety DJ Swearinger. The former South Carolina standout was one of the top-ranked safeties in the NFL coming into this game and did nothing to hurt that ranking on Sunday. He made sure tackles underneath when called upon in the box and read Eli Manning‘s eyes and get to the sideline from the middle of the field to get an interception off of Manning, as well.
It is appropriate that PFF should give the veteran DB props not only for his play but for after what Swearinger says was disrespect when the website put Green Bay Packers’ Ha Ha Clinton Dix’s picture on their tweet about the highest-graded safeties after Week 7 even though Swearinger had the higher (actually the highest) grade of the five guys listed.
It’s OK now though… the website fixed it after the win over the Giants, tweeting:
Hey @JungleBoi_Swagg, we wanted to say sorry for not using your image on the highest graded safeties graphic last week. Is this better? pic.twitter.com/Z0u96BftFt
— PFF (@PFF) October 29, 2018
Swearinger retweeted the tweet with the comment, “I Appreciate It!! Yall Still My #Motivation Though”
The Redskins are now 5-2 (the first time since 2008) and still in the lead in the NFC East. All is well in the world.