Washington Redskins three-step formula for success
By Craig Stofko
How have the the Washington Redskins quietly gotten into first place?
Going into the 2018 season, Jay Gruden and his cohorts knew they had to build a defense that could stop the run and find a way to reduce the astronomical number of turnovers created by the offense. This simple formula now has the team in first place nearly halfway through the season.
You can’t win in the NFL if you can’t stop the run. The Redskins have not done a whole lot of winning in recent years and their porous defensive line was at least half the problem.
The lack of talent on the defensive front was pitiful. More agonizing still was the team’s reluctance to address the issue. Surely at some point this team was going to sign, draft, or in some manner retain the services of a nose tackle.
Running a 3-4 defense without a true nose tackle is about as effective as running the triple option with Eli Manning at the helm. Hey, I love Eli but even in his prime, not the right QB to run the option.
Likewise, bumping defensive ends inside and asking them to pretend that their nose tackles never fooled anyone. The Skins didn’t have the right personnel to be lining up in a 3-4 defense and everyone in the league knew it. And they proved it week after week as they pounded it up the middle for 5 and 10 yards a pop.
Finally, the team made a commitment to rebuild the defensive line. Considering that they really had to start from scratch it is both surprising and impressive how quickly they were able to remedy one of the two biggest problems with which they were faced.
Today Washington boasts a D-line that is nothing short of dominate. It seems somewhat ironic that this team that went for what seemed an eternity without a true nose tackle drafted two of them in the 2018 draft.
DaRon Payne, a potential defensive rookie of the year, and Tim Settle are just what this team has needed for too long. Payne is such a monster that Settle, who is a tremendous player in his own right, is only getting limited snaps. Suffice to say, he’ll be ready every time they call his name.
Jay Gruden has been pretty clear about how impressed he is with the “Alabama Wall.” Despite having an outrageously strong D-line rotation with the likes of Matt Ioannidis, Settle, Stacey McGee, and the recently acquired Caleb Brantley, Gruden does not like to take the two Alabama studs off the field.
Who can blame him? When Payne, Allen and Ioannidis are lined up between Ryan Kerrigan and Preston Smith the Redskins are essentially saying to their opponents, “Let’s see what your quarterback can do because you’re not running the ball against us.”
It’s hard to believe I’m talking about the Redskins but the numbers speak for themselves. They went up against the two best rushing teams in the NFL in the Panthers and the Cowboys in back to back weeks and absolutely shut them down.
This defense is for real. Washington’s front seven is as impressive as any in the NFC. The secondary, while lacking depth, is playing at a very high level also. The veteran leadership of DJ Swearinger and Josh Norman compliment the younger player perfectly. This defense is one that is rarely going to give up more than a couple touchdowns.