The Redskins want LaRon Landry to learn. They want him to read the receivers longer; decrease his aggressiveness a tad and, for goodness sake, stop biting on the double move.
What they don’t want to do is bench him. So they’ll have to live with his mishaps (two touchdowns allowed vs. the Saints) along with any improved play (12 tackles and sure tackling, also vs. the Saints).
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They say, after two years at free safety, he’s still making the transition. He was drafted fifth overall in 2007 as a strong safety, moving to free midway through his rookie season when Sean Taylor was murdered.
“He’s going through a learning process,” Redskins secondary coach Jerry Gray said. “The guy was an All-American strong safety [at LSU], a great player, really aggressive. Now he’s playing free, which is more cunning, cat-like. You’ve got to be really thinking that position.”
Landry has maintained that he’s comfortable at free safety. He’s also said — and repeated after Sunday’s loss — that “I’m just gonna play my game.” Which means: aggressiveness. And head-hunting hits.
But the job of a free safety is to not get beat deep; his mistakes result in touchdowns. If he wants to realize his talent, he’ll have to figure out a way to not let that happen twice in the same game. On the same move no less.
“You want teams to say, ‘Let’s try and double-cut LaRon,” Gray said. “If he understands that and learns from his mistakes, he’ll get interceptions because they’ll get greedy and try to throw the ball.”
The coaches say it’s a matter of being more disciplined with his eyes. If he focuses longer on the receiver, then he won’t get fooled by a pump fake. That’s what happened vs. the Saints on the first touchdown; Landry saw quarterback Drew Brees move up in the pocket and pump fake a little.
“I always try to break on something to get the jump,” he said.
Instead of getting a big hit, he had to turn and chase.
“He just has to pick and choose his spots better,” Redskins safeties coach Steve Jackson said. “It requires more patience and discipline.”
The irony, Jackson said, is that Landry’s play — aside from the touchdowns — was solid. And Jackson said he’s been pleased with his performance in the second half of the season.
But there’s this: “He has to learn to be more passive rather than aggressive,” Gray said. “We’ve got to put him in a position to where when it’s time to be aggressive, let him be aggressive.”
Also, it’s not as simple as having him move to strong safety. The second time he was beaten Sunday came when the Redskins were in a cover 2 — which means both safeties are deep. So even if he plays strong full-time, he’ll still have to learn this lesson.
These next four games could say a lot about what kind of player Landry will become.
“It just depends on how fast the individual studies what he’s doing,” Gray said. “This year, it’s going to be a big learning curve for him … Now if they run a double cut, is he back where he’s supposed to be?”
