Are the Skins too focused on defense?

[KI Skins Fan]

Does anyone think that the Skins focused too much on improving the defense and not enough on improving the offense during the off-season?

We added AH, signed Hall to a long-term deal, drafted Orakpo, Barnes, and Jarmon, plus we added a few more defensive players, as well.

Personally, I don't have a problem with it because I happen to know that if the other teams can't score on us then they can't beat us. It sticks in my mind that the Ravens won a Super Bowl with what was, at best, a mediocre offense - but they also had a great defense. I think our defense has a chance to dominate this season and, if they do, we could go a long way in the playoffs.

I suppose that the big questions gnawing at most of us concern the offensive side of the ball. For example, I wonder if we should have gone after a top OT in the off-season.

Yet, I'm content with loading up on defense because that's where the best opportunities to improve presented themselves and because I believe that it is better to dominate on one side of the ball than to just be above average on both sides of the ball.

[44Deezel]

Originally Posted by KI Skins Fan

Does anyone think that the Skins focused too much on improving the defense and not enough on improving the offense during the off-season?

We added AH, signed Hall to a long-term deal, drafted Orakpo, Barnes, and Jarmon, plus we added a few more defensive players, as well.

Personally, I don't have a problem with it because I happen to know that if the other teams can't score on us then they can't beat us. It sticks in my mind that the Ravens won a Super Bowl with what was, at best, a mediocre offense - but they also had a great defense. I think our defense has a chance to dominate this season and, if they do, we could go a long way in the playoffs.

I suppose that the big questions gnawing at most of us concern the offensive side of the ball. For example, I wonder if we should have gone after a top OT in the off-season.

Yet, I'm content with loading up on defense because that's where the best opportunities to improve presented themselves and because I believe that it is better to dominate on one side of the ball than to just be above average on both sides of the ball.

If the defense gets sacks and turnovers, which it should, it will only help put points on the board. I think we'll see this unit take a few to the house as well. The offense doesn't need to be elite. It just needs to be effective. Cut down on the 3 and outs, keep turnovers to a minimum, win the time of possession battle, score in the red zone and don't hurt the defense by keeping them on the field all day. Do that and the Skins could be elite.

But that said, I do think they could have upgraded the offensive line. I would say they should have addressed the WR position, but they did last year with Kelly, Thomas and Davis. If none of them step-up, then shame on the FO for drafting poorly. Can't say they didn't try though. Like I said in another post, we have pro-bowl caliber players at WR, RB, FB, LT and TE. That should be enough to produce 20+ points per game. It's all on Zorn and Campbell.

[CRedskinsRule]

Originally Posted by KI Skins Fan

Does anyone think that the Skins focused too much on improving the defense and not enough on improving the offense during the off-season?

We added AH, signed Hall to a long-term deal, drafted Orakpo, Barnes, and Jarmon, plus we added a few more defensive players, as well.

Personally, I don't have a problem with it because I happen to know that if the other teams can't score on us then they can't beat us. It sticks in my mind that the Ravens won a Super Bowl with what was, at best, a mediocre offense - but they also had a great defense. I think our defense has a chance to dominate this season and, if they do, we could go a long way in the playoffs.

I suppose that the big questions gnawing at most of us concern the offensive side of the ball. For example, I wonder if we should have gone after a top OT in the off-season.

Yet, I'm content with loading up on defense because that's where the best opportunities to improve presented themselves and because I believe that it is better to dominate on one side of the ball than to just be above average on both sides of the ball.

I agree with this paragraph, and feel they are justifiably counting on the second year production from this offense. I think we all agree we would have like a little more focus on the OLine, but overall I am content with this offseason.

[wilsowilso]

Originally Posted by KI Skins Fan

For example, I wonder if we should have gone after a top OT in the off-season.

I think we made the right call because there are only a handful of top Offensive Tackles that have more of an impact on the game than AH does and none of them was available.

We grabbed the best player on the market probably by a large margin.

[53Fan]

I think the expectations are for the offense to be better this year with who we had. The lack of turnovers, sacks, and points scored by the defense became a big concern and needed to be addressed. We did pick up some o-linemen as FA's so that helps.

[SBXVII]

With out reading.....Defense wins Championships.

If we can get turn overs then we are set. Then get like 2 TD's extra per game then we will win most of our games.

[Lotus]

We strengthened our strong suit to make it dominant. That is a reasonable strategy.

It would have been nice to upgrade at OT, etc., too. But we had many holes not long ago and now (hopefully) we've plugged some of them. It was a good strategy, for many reasons, to plug defensive holes first.

Building through the draft requires patience. Maybe next year at this time we'll be talking about awesome new additions to the OL.

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by SBXVII

With out reading.....Defense wins Championships.

If we can get turn overs then we are set. Then get like 2 TD's extra per game then we will win most of our games.

Then what happened in '04 with Joe Gibbs at the helm? We were 6-10, but we had the #3 overall defense in the league?

That's one of the biggest myths in football. You still have to score.

[SBXVII]

Originally Posted by Beemnseven

Then what happened in '04 with Joe Gibbs at the helm? We were 6-10, but we had the #3 overall defense in the league?

That's one of the biggest myths in football. You still have to score.

What happened is what's happened for the last like 10 yrs......no offense. We need to score atleast 21points per game or more. The most we have been doing through Gibbs until now has been in the teens. We came close last yr, a couple of times we made into the twenties.

The way I see it if we can score 2 more TD's per game then we should be winning a few more games that were close last yr.

[Zerohero]

Originally Posted by SBXVII

With out reading.....Defense wins Championships.

If we can get turn overs then we are set. Then get like 2 TD's extra per game then we will win most of our games.

What he said

[ethat001]

Take what you can get, best available. Now we've stacked our defense and it should be AMAZING for the next decade. Our entire defense is YOUNG and many key players are signed for long-term contracts. Dominating defenses can keep you in most games (Steelers, Ravens come to mind).

Now, we can slowly fortify our offense (ie. OL) for the next several years with draft picks and free agents. Even if our offense sputters this year, I feel like they've set us up to be a great team for the next decade.

Hail.

[53Fan]

Originally Posted by ethat001

Take what you can get, best available. Now we've stacked our defense and it should be AMAZING for the next decade. Our entire defense is YOUNG and many key players are signed for long-term contracts. Dominating defenses can keep you in most games (Steelers, Ravens come to mind).

Now, we can slowly fortify our offense (ie. OL) for the next several years with draft picks and free agents. Even if our offense sputters this year, I feel like they've set us up to be a great team for the next decade.

Hail.

Absolutely. Hail!

[Daseal]

2 more TDs a game makes us the most potent offense in the league. That's an extra 14 points per game. Add that on to our 16.6 from last season and we're scoring 30.6PPG, which would have been enough for #1 on the NFL last year.

Turn overs are great, but sounds like one big giant excuse to me. The defense has a job of not letting the other team score. They do pretty damn well with that goal. Maybe we should ask the offense to pull their weight. Defense gets easier to play as the game goes on and you're a) winning. b) forcing them to throw.

So yes, we'll win most of our games if we have a top5 defense and score 30PPG....

Come on people, think just a little bit. This team needs to be at 21PPG to be competitive. Hopefully we can do that.

[dblanch66]

Key will be which receiver steps up and takes the #2 opposite Moss. Would love to see Devin Thomas step up because it will bring back Moss as a deep threat and open Cooley up in the red zone. Lack of a 2nd weapon in the receving corps really hurt Cooley's numbers as he was double teamed and Moss was taken away as a deep threat. The emergence of a legit # 2 will elilminate those problems and give Jason much better options in his progressions. See what Lee Evans does in Buffalo this year with the additon of T.O., for example. That said, adding a top D to the mix and the Redskins should be the surprise NFC East champ this year.

[SeanTaGodsSafety]

I think we did the right thing by bolstering the d-line. That way the linebackers can get busy. I think alot of what hurt our offense was field position. With a better defense we will get the turnovers and better field position. And turnovers are momentum shifters.