Abandoning the Blitz Derailed Washington Redskins Defense
Jim Haslett must stop making wholesale changes to the Washington Redskins defensive scheme every week. One game removed from rightly being lauded for his blitzing game plan that destroyed the Dallas Cowboys, Haslett plotted a much more passive course against the Minnesota Vikings.
The result was 29 points surrendered to an offense directed by skittish rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. By altering the game plan from one based on pressure at every level to purely reactive containment, Haslett surrendered the initiative and took away what suits the strengths of his best players.
He derailed a defense that had logged five sacks and recovered a pair of fumbles in Dallas. Yet in Minnesota, the Redskins mustered just two sacks, rarely collapsed the pocket and failed to create a turnover.
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That Haslett would relinquish the right to blitz a nervy, first-year passer was frankly baffling. Bridgewater is exactly the type of signal-caller who should be pressured into speeding up his decision-making and rushing his throws.
What's really galling is that Haslett didn't even need to look far for evidence of how pressure can disrupt Bridgewater. In fact, he simply only needed to cast an eye over Minnesota's 17-3 home loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 6.
The Lions rampaged their way to eight sacks and three interceptions precisely because of the way they blitzed Bridgewater. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin and senior assistant Gunther Cunningham sent numerous additional rushers to attack the Minnesota offensive front.
On this second-quarter sack, the Lions showed pressure by having linebackers DeAndre Levy (54) and Tahir Whitehead (59), along with a defensive back (36), crowd the line of scrimmage:
Detroit showed an eight-man pressure but would only rush five. Levy would blitz, while end Ezekiel Ansah ran a twist stunt behind him.
Behind the pressure, the Lions played a simple Cover 2 Man concept, man coverage on the outside with a pair of safeties covering the deep zones:
Faced with the strong rush and blanket coverage, Bridgewater had to hold onto the ball. Levy and Ansah soon combined to drop him for a 10-yard loss:
In the third period, Austin and Cunningham again used a blitzer to create a five-man rush. This time, safety James Ihedigbo would blitz off the edge:
The Lions played a single-high safety concept behind the rush. They maintained deep coverage while retaining man coverage on the outside:
Ihedigbo and rookie lineman Caraun Reid converged to dump Bridgewater for a loss of seven:
Both of these play designs are startlingly simple, yet brutally effective. They ensured Bridgewater was put under intense pressure in the pocket, while his receivers were tested by plastered coverage down the field.
That's the simple concept Haslett abandoned. Instead, he called a game that trusted three- and four-man fronts to generate a strong enough pass rush, while zone coverage was the technique of choice behind it.
All that did was make Bridgewater's day easier, en route to 268 passing yards, including a touchdown strike. Mike Jones of The Washington Post noted how comfortable Bridgewater looked against Haslett's cautious game plan:
The difference between the performance against Minnesota and the game in Dallas was inevitable. After all, Haslett reined physical, single coverage on the edges and showed none of the aggressive Cover 0 concepts that had given the Cowboys fits.
CSN Washington reporter Rich Tandler described how the watered-down game plan played out:
"In the first half, the Redskins sacked Bridgewater twice and made him uncomfortable while he was passing on several other occasions. It appeared that Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner made some adjustments that Haslett could not counter. Bridgewater was not sacked in the second half and he was rarely pressured.
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The reference to the one-time Redskins head coach, now Vikings offensive coordinator, Norv Turner, is key. By adopting such a passive approach, Haslett's only made his defense easier to play against.
He made it easier for Turner to pick apart the holes in the zones. Turner, while never a great head coach, has always been an exceptional offensive play-caller.
Sitting back against a coordinator with his attacking instincts was always going to lead to disaster. So it proved as Turner second-guessed Haslett all game, something referenced by NBC reporter Dianna Marie Russini:
Sitting back in zones and trusting a front-line rush is going to get predictable pretty fast. Not only that, but such restraint simply doesn't suit the key players on Washington's defense.
It certainly doesn't bring out the best in young cornerbacks David Amerson and Bashaud Breeland. Both are stout and lengthy cover men whose aggressive instincts are at home in single coverage.
It's also a risk playing zone with a safety pairing long since past its sell-by date. Veterans Ryan Clark and Brandon Meriweather no longer have the speed or range to cover gaps and hold zone structures together.
Like their youthful teammates on the edges, Clark and Meriweather have to be allowed to get physical. This secondary was denied that right by the loose zone shells Haslett had the group adopt.
ESPN 980 reporter Chris Russell lamented one key lapse caused by the soft coverage:
But this issue extends beyond one play. It speaks to the continuity every facet of Washington's defensive schemes appear to be lacking.
It's the type of continuity needed in a defensive backfield where ageing safeties with declining skills are attempting to work in unison with enthusiastic and skilled, but still raw, youngsters.
Such a secondary needs the sanctity that a go-to coverage scheme provides. One players learn by rote, trust and adopt every week.
Without that regularity to lean on, the type of coverage breakdowns Grant Paulsen of 106.7 The Fan chided against Minnesota will become commonplace:
The same continuity is needed for a front seven loaded with players at their best when given license to attack. Denying that right led to Bridgewater having an eternity to make key throws, something head coach Jay Gruden explicitly criticized, per Liz Clarke of The Washington Post:
"I can’t believe it. We got them in third and longs. Had [Bridgewater] standing back there for 10 minutes to pass. We’ve got to look at the film and see if it was something physical or they out-physicaled us, outschemed us or something else. I don’t know.
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The Redskins have talent up front, but they're rarely good enough to consistently create pressure without the support of a blitz. This is not a call to blitz every play, but it is a full-throated shout to make blitz concepts the core characteristic of this defense.
Maybe teams will know to expect pressure from the Redskins in certain down-and-distance situations. Maybe they'll know what coverage they'll face on base downs.
But knowing what's coming doesn't automatically translate to being able to beat it. This is especially true of defensive football.
Take a look at some of the league's better defenses. Everybody knows the Seattle Seahawks, ranked fourth overall, will play press coverage on the outside, usually as part of a Cover 3 shell. But few teams have been able to beat it the last three seasons.
Even though every team knows what to expect, head coach Pete Carroll and coordinator Dan Quinn don't suddenly have cornerback Richard Sherman and company switch to off-coverage one week. It's just not the strength of their defense.
Similarly, fellow NFC West stalwarts, the Arizona Cardinals—ranked fifth in points allowed—are going to blitz every offense they face. They won't do it every play, but you'll be hard-pressed to witness a third down where the Cards don't send additional rushers.
That's their system, and they don't change from week to week purely for an opponent.
Most defenses lean heavily on familiar concepts that suit the strengths of their players. Naturally, within that framework there's room for flexibility.
But that flexibility should be on an individual design level. For instance, Haslett might draw up a different blitz to target a specific, weak blocker.
However, the basic premises of a defensive scheme shouldn't alter so radically every week. That kind of flexibility demands very specific players.
Those players are usually hybrid veterans very amenable to coaching. Think Rob Ninkovich of the New England Patriots, who has flip-flopped between defensive end and linebacker for years.
But if Haslett thinks he has the right players for a multiple-front scheme, and that he's a hybrid play-caller akin to Pats head coach Bill Belichick, then he's kidding himself.
What Haslett has at his disposal is a unit constructed on the premise of creating pressure. Draft picks such as linebackers Ryan Kerrigan, Trent Murphy and Keenan Robinson, as well as free agents like D-tackle Jason Hatcher, are proof of that.
Haslett has had all season to establish a consistent identity for his defense. It's time he stopped flipping the script and settled on the right formula to improve Washington's capable, but under-performing defense.
All statistics via NFL.com.
All screen shots courtesy of Fox Sports and NFL.com Game Pass.
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