Washington Redskins Still Missing Consistency, Execution on Defense

The Washington Redskins defense came into Monday night's matchup against the Seattle Seahawks ranked No. 3 in the league in total defense, but its performance in the 27-17 loss didn't stack up.

Slowed down by injuries and simply outmatched by their opponent, the Redskins defense continued down a turn in the wrong direction after a comparatively strong start to the season. 

After allowing the New York Giants to score 45 points and 449 total yards in Week 4, a performance that defensive coordinator Jim Haslett called "embarrassing," per Michael Phillips of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, containing the defending Super Bowl champions and their multidimensional offense was a tall order. 

Though the unit had its moments, such as forcing a punt on three straight Seattle drives to start the second half, it ultimately allowed 403 total yards—122 of which were rushing yards by Wilson, a career high. 

The irony of a team that has gone up against a zone-option offense in practice often not being able to defend it was not lost on the night. Doug Farrar of Sports Illustrated highlighted Washington's familiarity with the zone option: 

The momentum is moving in the wrong direction for Washington's defense, which has seen spikes in total yards allowed and points allowed in the last two weeks.

Unless the Redskins can make adjustments to suggest otherwise, the high early-season marks for the defense are proving to have been the result of facing subpar offenses, including a Jacksonville team ranked 29th in total offense and a struggling Philadelphia Eagles rushing attack led by LeSean McCoy. 

Opponent	Yds Allowed	Pass Yds Allowed	Rush Yds Allowed
@ HOU (L, 17-6)	321	206	115
vs. JAC (W, 41-10)	148	123	25
@ PHI (L, 37-34)	379	325	54
vs. NYG (L, 45-14)	449	295	154
vs. SEA (L, 27-17)	403	178	225

What has gone wrong for Washington's defense so far this season, and how can the team turn it around?

Some were surprised when Haslett kept his job heading into the 2014 season after the Redskins defense allowed 29.9 points per game in 2013, tied with the Chicago Bears for the second-highest in the league.

This offseason, Washington went about fortifying the unit, particularly the secondary, which suffered from a lack of veteran leadership. 

The problem was, many of those additions and adjustments have not panned out. Safety Ryan Clark, who returned to Washington after the Pittsburgh Steelers released him in free agency, is near the top of the league among safeties in missed tackles, with seven on the season, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). 

His durability was called into question Monday when he sprained his ankle against Seattle, as Zac Boyer of The Washington Times reported. 

The biggest loss in the secondary to injury was of course to cornerback DeAngelo Hall, who is out for the season with a torn Achilles suffered in the game against Philadelphia. Having to start rookie Bashaud Breeland in his place was not part of Haslett's plan to improve the unit this season. 

As for the defensive front, signing Jason Hatcher in free agency was supposed to help with the Redskins pass rush, and though he had 2.5 sacks against Jacksonville, the Redskins haven't been able to create disruption when it has mattered.

The three sacks Wilson took Monday did virtually nothing to slow the steamrolling Seahawks offense, which beat the Redskins on all levels of the defense. Mike Wise of The Washington Post shared his thoughts on Washington's run defense:

The run defense was exposed when Wilson was able to break out into open space on multiple occasions, making those extremely low rushing totals for the Jaguars and Eagles that have been propping up the Redskins' run defense in the rankings look suspect in retrospect.

The Redskins' front was simply not equipped to contend against Seattle's offensive line, with Wilson behind it. 

Schematically, Washington's defense should be working. As Andy Benoit of The MMQB noted, prior to the start of the season, Haslett has attempted to rise above Washington's defensive personnel woes caused by injury, lack of experience or failure to execute and has diversified the playbook, throwing in eight-man coverages and plenty of blitzes. 

But injury woes and personnel issues have continued into the season, hampering progress the unit might have had to this point. For his part, coach Jay Gruden acknowledges that it's not a problem with the scheme, per Liz Clarke of The Washington Post:

"

I don’t think schematically was really the issue. I just think we failed to make some plays. ... If I can help in any way and put my two cents in and change a few things, we will. But I don’t really think it’s really schematic-related. I think more so it was just guys not making plays and finishing tackles and competing when the ball was in the air.

"

Gruden also noted the loss of Hall, Hatcher's continued hamstring concerns and linebacker Brian Orakpo's finger injury were all factors in the defense's performance against the Giants, and those issues were compounded with Clark's ankle injury Monday. 

If this unit cannot stay healthy and execute against upcoming competition such as the Arizona Cardinals, Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers and Indianapolis Colts, that third overall ranking in total defense, currently held aloft by easier matchups early in the season, will drop quickly.