Washington Redskins: With Gregg Williams Gone, Defense Faces Uphill Battle

The Washington Redskins have experienced a great deal of success on the defensive side of the football for the past several. The defense ranked in the top ten three out of the last four years (the exception being the disastrous '06 campaign).

Much of this success can be attributed to the former Defensive Coordinator, Greg Williams. Williams has departed, and his assistant Greg Blache has remained to coach this stellar unit.

With this change comes a new test. It is imperative that the Skins prove early on this season that they were not a product of Williams' ingenuity, but a unit that can succeed under any coach's guidance.

The fortunate side of this transition is that Blache will be running a near identical defense to the one Williams implemented upon his arrival in 2004. "The terminology is the same [as last year]," linebacker Marcus Washington said. "A lot of it is just review. We don't have to learn anything new."

So with Blache using the same defense, the main question is: Will he bring the same intensity that Williams brought to every practice and game?

Williams coached with a passion that was often channeled to the players, and gave them the grit to tough out many adverse situations. Blache will have to prove he can motivate the team on gameday, even if employs a more laid back style of coaching. As of now, the players appear very comfortable with their new coach, which is a positive sign of things to come in DC.

However, a look at the personnel making up the Skins' defense raises some concern. Age is a key factor, as several big name starters are approaching the end of their careers. MLB London Fletcher is 32, CB Shawn Springs is 34, DE Phillip Daniels, DT Cornelius Griffin, and LB Washington are all over thirty as well.

Fletcher and Springs played great football last season, but Springs is only a full season removed from an injury-plagued year. Daniels and Griffin appeared to be near the end of the road last season, while Washington was hampered by injuries the whole year. With this age catching up to them, the 'Skins really needed to address the depth on defense this offseason.

Despite this issue, the Skins largely ignored those needs. They did draft CB J.T. Tryon from ASU in the fourth round, but aside from this, they opted to depend on last year's squad.

This wouldn't have been as much of a problem, but the 'Skins are also hoping to have several injured players return in time for the start of the season. CB Carlos Rogers and standout LB Rocky McIntosh are both recovering from season-ending injuries. These players probably won't be up to speed upon their return and there isn't much to cover for them.

So even with some solid players like LaRon Landry and Andre Carter on the defensive side of the football, there are many questions the 'Skins will have to answer this upcoming season. They possess talent, and yet they have to overcome several obstacles in order to provide another quality defense. Only time will tell if they can adapt to the new scenery in the beltway area.