Third Down, Breakfast of Champions

No Shawn, he's asking for his money back

Third down was a hard place for the Redskins last season, something I and other Redskins fans noted in the very first game of last season against the Vikings. Things never got better for the defense last season and we can rehash and beat to death all the contributing factors:

Weak defensive line play. Cornelius Griffin and Joe Salave'a were playing hurt, Joe Salave'a's replacement Kedric Golston was a rookie sixth round pick, not exactly Mario Williams which is an insult to Mario BTW. The pass rush was more like the pass pretty-please and Andre Carter only started living up to the money after the season was gone.

Mediocre linebacker play. Marcus Washington, Lemar Marshall and Warrick Holdman all took a step back from 2005. The Redskins linebackers seemed to be playing a lot of contain and not a lot of I know where this play is going.

Awful corner play. Shawn Springs waited until training camp to have major surgery. Carlos Rogers was not ready for an Applebee's menu much less the responsibility of being the number one coverage player. Mike Rumph and Kenny Wright looked like they belonged further down the depth chart and were regularly beat like a rented mule.

Exploding safety play. No, not explosive. Adam Archuleta was a failure for whatever reason and Troy Vincent and Vernon Fox combined to make one player. As a result Sean Taylor played distracted and appeared to be totally off the page by the end of the season.

Every time the defense would attempt to stop opponents at the line would result in a long pass play which caused the defense to play off the ball which resulted in a good run which would cause the defense to walk up and check run which would result in a long pass play which caused the defense to play off the ball, you get where this is going.

Even if the Redskins could mount two good defensive plays there was that third down, waiting like a tease, the hot chick in the bar that just wants to bum smokes. You finally go to make your move and she breezes right past you.

Well the team wants to do something about it this season and I, what the hell let's do it. Jason LaCanfora's piece is pretty wonky, with lots of names and stats but overall read it and you will agree with me on two things:

1. The names are better. Though not perfect it's kind of nice to see a bunch of good players on the same team in the same article healthy at the same time for the same season. Shawn Springs, London Fletcher, Rocky McIntosh, Carlos Rogers, Sean Taylor, LaRon Landry.

2. The Redskins defense was painfully bad last season. Franchise low sacks. Modern NFL low takeaways. Worst overall. Near the bottom in opponents' third down passer rating. When you are at the bottom, the only place to go is up, right?


Next: Jaguars preview with extra special blast from last season's past.



Shawn Springs and Gregg Williams: Preston Keres / Washington Post from here.