Defensive line
Stud: Nothing special up front, but Adam Carriker and Phillip Daniels did a solid job holding down left end. Carriker helped blow up a screen with a good read. Maake Kemoeatu had a couple nice plays in which his strength paid off; even applied pressure once. Vonnie Holliday uses excellent technique, which allowed him to split a double team on the first series; but he’s strictly a backup at this point. Do I need to say that Albert Haynesworth had some good plays against backups? Does that count? Anthony Bryant had one pressure from the nose.
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Dud: Kemoeatu still gets stood up more than I’d like to see from a guy of his size. Kedric Golston played the nose a couple times; got driven back, too. Holliday lined up over the nose once and was crushed by a double team. Darrion Scott was slow off the ball. There were at least a half-dozen times where he was the last lineman to move after the snap and it cost him, whether by getting driven back or by being unable to generate much pressure. Jeremy Jarmon played awfully late, which usually isn’t a good sign. Jarmon still needs to add some strength. He does a decent job staying low, but even when he does he sometimes gets moved back. Howard Green is really, really slow. If he needs to help at end, then this will cost him. Just can’t run.
Linebackers
Stud: Brian Orakpo didn’t get a sack, but he does apply more pressure than he’s probably being given credit for. He’s doing it minus any other real threats in the front seven at this point. He did apply pressure a few times, once allowing Rocky McIntosh to get a sack on a blitz. Orakpo does a terrific job of exploding into blocks on the rush and dipping his shoulder to get around the edge. London Fletcher wasn’t perfect, but he made a couple more stops that make you realize how important he is to this defense. Once, he was running in coverage when Joe Flacco ran around his side; Fletcher turned and didn’t slow down in coming back to make a nice tackle. Chris Wilson showed some explosiveness, but if that doesn’t work he’s done. H.B. Blades had one or two nice fills. Carter had one or two decent rushes and was fine taking on blocks. He forced the back to cut inside by taking on the lead blocker. McIntosh forced a fumble.
Dud: Carter is still adjusting, clearly, and was again fooled on an end around. Hey, the more he sees it, the more it will help him. But my concern is the lack of explosiveness that he plays with while rushing from end. He faced the Ravens’ No. 3 right tackle yet couldn’t beat him. Unlike Orakpo, Carter does not explode into blockers. Before contact, Orakpo is low and springs into his guy; Carter is more upright and that takes away some strength. He’s still learning to dip his shoulder to get around guys, too. Rookie Perry Riley was not as active and lost a collision at the goal-line. The coverage wasn’t the best; some guys who were beaten at the line got lucky the pass wasn’t completed. I like Lorenzo Alexander vs. the run, but as a rusher he’s limited. He’ll dip and try to get low, but it wasn’t working.
Secondary
Stud: Better effort with tackling than I originally thought. DeAngelo Hall was more physical and LaRon Landry was all over the place and even caused a fumble. More and more I’m thinking that’s a preview of things to come. Still has issues in coverage, but he makes more plays in the box than deep, that’s for sure. Hall had a good form tackle and was more aggressive vs. the run. Justin Tryon had two excellent strips, even if the officials disallowed one of them on a questionable call. He needed a good night. Kevin Barnes had a good blitz. Carlos Rogers was involved in the run game, too, as always.
Dud: Barnes missed a couple tackles. There were a couple times the Redskins looked a little late on the safety rotation, but once it was because of the play design by Baltimore and the other time it seemed that Phillip Buchanon could have done a better job making contact with the receiver, as he passed him off to the safety. The receiver didn’t break stride and Reed Doughty could have used another half-second to break up the play. He’s not fast enough to get there without help from in front of him.
Special teams
Stud: Loved Fred Davis’ effort on a punt return in which he and Reed Doughty both got downfield in a hurry. Davis made an athletic play for the tackle. Darrel Young had a terrific block on a Brandon Banks punt return. Devin Thomas had one good return when he fielded the ball eight yards deep, but returned it 36 yards. Josh Bidwell was mostly solid on his punts; high and deep and he had a 42.5 net. The Redskins allowed only 10 yards on six punt returns.
Dud: Gano missed a field goal wide right at the end of the first half. Had a good snap and hold, too. Another penalty wiped out a decent return by Banks. The other returns weren’t anything special, but the young guys made good decisions on fielding punts, calling for fair-catches deep in their territory.
