Perry Fewell Is the Unsung Hero of the Washington Redskins' Season
He spent five years designing defenses to stop them. Now, Perry Fewell is the unsung hero of the Washington Redskins' march to the top of the NFC East standings.
The Burgundy and Gold's secondary coach has solidified what had been a problem area for several seasons. He's coaxed stellar performances from unheralded first-year players, while helping more than one veteran return to form.
Fewell has done it all with a patchwork group of low-round draft picks, rookie free agents, waiver-wire arrivals and career backups.
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ESPN's John Keim detailed the below-the-radar and bargain-bin look to Washington's defensive backfield in 2015:
The tapestry Fewell has stitched together enjoyed its peak moment against his old team, the New York Giants, in Week 12. His unfashionable group made life difficult for quarterback Eli Manning and his Odell Beckham Jr.-led contingent of receivers.
How they did it speaks volumes about the coaching miracle Fewell has performed this season.
Manning became the first quarterback to top 300 yards against the Redskins' secondary during this campaign. That's a hugely impressive number considering passers the calibre of Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Cam Newton have already appeared on the schedule.
Yet, despite Manning the younger's gaudy numbers in Week 12, he needed 51 pass attempts to get there. New York's No. 10 completed just 26 of them. Most of the time, the 34-year-old was left baffled by a shape-shifting coverage scheme that mixed and matched personnel to keep Manning's targets guessing.
Michael Phillips of the Richmond Times-Dispatch provided the snap counts for the game, and the numbers are revealing for the secondary:
Cornerbacks Bashaud Breeland, DeAngelo Hall, Quinton Dunbar and Will Blackmon were all kept busy. So was hybrid safety Kyshoen Jarrett, a key figure in this season's revamped pass defense.
How Fewell used his resources really stood out, as Mike Jones of the Washington Post notes:
"Breeland and Blackmon started at cornerback, Hall got his first start at free safety, and Dashon Goldson moved from free safety to strong safety. Rookie Kyshoen Jarrett played both free safety and nickelback. At times, when Jarrett played safety, Hall came up to cover a fourth receiver one-on-one. In nickel packages, Dunbar often lined up on the outside opposite Breeland, and Blackmon covered the slot.
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Jones described how the changing puzzle kept Manning asking questions, questions he rarely had answers for until it was too late:
"All the moving around appeared to confuse Manning and his teammates. Several times there was miscommunication; the quarterback threw one way, and receivers ran another. And entering the fourth quarter, Manning had completed just 15 of 34 passes for 152 yards, the three interceptions and no touchdowns while posting a 20.7 passer rating.
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Moving players around to change the looks a quarterback sees is great in theory. But it can only work in practice if those players are well-schooled in the right fundamentals and techniques.
Washington's three-interception day against Manning, with two picks credited to defensive backs, proved Fewell's cover men have been taught well.
Dunbar, the undrafted rookie who converted from wide receiver, snagged one of those picks. His explanation for his end-zone heroics is very revealing about the quality of the coaching Washington's secondary is receiving this season.
Speaking after the game, Dunbar highlighted film study as the key to stealing a slant pass away from Rueben Randle, according to Stephen Czarda of the team's official site: “Like I said, he ran a breaking route and I knocked the ball down. That’s all. It’s film study all through the week.”
Czarda emphasized how Dunbar had reacted to "tendencies" he'd seen in the film room involving what the Giants would do on third down in the red zone.
Getting players, especially young and inexperienced ones, to both engage with what they see on film, then translate it to the field, is an indicator of quality coaching.
So is letting players do what they do best. Fewell let Breeland, an innately rough-and-rowdy cover man, play his natural game against Beckham. That meant a heavy dose of press techniques against the Madden cover boy.
Keim tweeted screen shots of an example of Breeland's smothering approach frustrating Beckham:
Mixing in some bump-and-run to go with coordinator Joe Barry's traditional reliance on off-coverage was a wrinkle that caught the Giants cold. It annoyed Beckham, Big Blue's premier playmaker, while also showing up the inadequacy of his supporting pass-catchers.
Fewell's emphasis on technique made the tactic possible. His ability to adjust got the Redskins through some difficult moments in the second half.
When Dunbar suffered an injury, Fewell changed the Rubik's cube in front of Manning one more time, per Anthony Gulizia of the Washington Times: "After that, Blackmon switched to the outside and Jarrett mostly played nickel while Hall remained at free safety."
Being able to successfully riff your formula on the fly is the hallmark of any good coach. Position coaches like Fewell have to be able to roll with the punches in real time and get their players on board with the new plan.
Fewell has been rolling with the punches since he arrived at Redskins Park, according to CBS DC's Brian McNally:
"Strong safety Duke Ihenacho fractured his left wrist the first day of training camp. Neither Trenton Robinson nor Jeron Johnson have played well enough at that spot to think they’re a long-term solution. Third-year pro David Amerson, once a second-round draft pick, was unceremoniously cut on Sept. 21 when the team decided he couldn’t play. Nickel corner Justin Rogers was placed on injured reserve on Sept. 29 with plantar fasciitis.
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McNally also referenced the suspensions served by Breeland and high-priced offseason acquisition Chris Culliver (currently injured), along with Hall's problems staying healthy.
Having the 13th-ranked pass defense against the backdrop of all these issues is a testament to the job Fewell has done.
In this context, one stat provided by Rich Goldberg of CSNMid-Atlantic.com, offers the ultimate seal of approval for Fewell's efforts: "Between the middle of the first and fourth quarter, the Redskins defense stopped the Giants on 11 consecutive third-down conversions. Entering Sunday, Washington had the eighth-worst third-down defense, allowing opponents to convert over 42 percent of the time."
One 3rd-and-6 play from the second quarter really stood out.
Washington showed a single-high safety look with Dashon Goldson patrolling deep. The Giants may have expected soft coverage here, thinking the Redskins would drop off as they often do.
But instead, Fewell's men would play tight man coverage across the board:
They locked up all eligible receivers underneath. Notice how physically outside corners Breeland and Blackmon played things:
A great wrinkle was having inside linebackers Will Compton and Perry Riley Jr. hover as underneath robbers ready to steal any crossing patterns in the middle.
Despite the packed coverage shell, Manning still trusted Beckham to beat man coverage. He tried to fit the ball inside despite Breeland's attentions:
The presence of Riley underneath presented another obstacle. From his deep position, Goldson had read the throw and was already closing on the route.
So Manning had only a minute throwing window in which to fit the ball:
His pass predictably fell incomplete:
This play is just a single snapshot of the fine work Fewell has been producing all season. He's taken the best of what he learned with the Giants and refined it to mold a motley crew into a very effective unit.
As a coordinator in the Big Apple, Fewell was always a little too cute with formations and schemes. But he was never afraid to trust his cover men.
He routinely adopted man coverage to challenge the top quarterbacks in the game. The approach famously stymied Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs during New York's last Super Bowl run.
His work with individual players has been outstanding since he arrived in D.C. Jarrett is the best example of that work bearing fruit. A sixth-round pick originally selected to be a backup safety, Jarrett has rapidly evolved into a capable slot corner and an invaluable matchup equalizer.
Fewell is shifting the rookie around formations to lock up tricky tight ends, sturdy slot receivers and dynamic, backfield pass-catchers. He's using the ex-Virginia Tech ace the same way he used to utilize Antrel Rolle and Kenny Phillips with the Giants.
Then there's Blackmon, the 31-year-old waiver-wire pickup who has now played for four teams, including Fewell's Giants, and was out of football in 2012.
In Washington, Blackmon has been a starter, one who has snagged an interception and forced a pair of fumbles. He's just another Fewell success story.
Fewell has been coaching defensive backs in the NFL since 1998 when he worked for Tom Coughlin's Jacksonville Jaguars. He's consistently shown his strengths as a teacher of technique and sound, assignment football.
Fewell's coaching has turned a secondary that's taken so many hits this season, and in years prior, into a sudden team strength and the backbone of Washington's defense.
All statistics and player information via NFL.com
All screen shots via Fox Sports and NFL.com Game Pass.
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