Matt Bowen, now an analyst for the National Football Post, was always one of the best players to discuss strategy with when he played for the Redskins. Nothing has changed; he’s still tough to beat when it comes to talking X’s and O’s.
On the Bills’ offense: “It’s a fast-break offense. I compare it to a fast break offense in basketball. They’re basically a spread offense. A lot of teams are now using that. Detroit and Buffalo are similar to what they want to do offensively — a lot of different formations and personnel groups. They spread the field and put stress on the secondary.”
On how a defense should play them: “Well, you have to have a good mix of coverage and pressure. If I’m attacking a spread offense…zone coverages that’s what they want. You can almost compare it to the college game and what you see in the Big 12, a lot of soft Cover 2 and a lot of soft Cover 4 zones, with underneath concepts and they can pick and choose down the field. If I’m playing against a spread and I have the corners and safeties to do it, which I think the Redskins do, I’d play press and go after them. Be aggressive. Try to disrupt those releases at the line of scrimmage. They have good receivers; they’re not big-name guys. I would try to rough them up at the line and disrupt the timing of that offense.”
On the problems Buffalo poses because they get the ball out fast: “You have to disrupt the timing. They’re like most offenses, they want to run combination routes so you have that somehow. Also, zone pressure is good against a team like that, get underneath [defenders dropping] to take away those inside breaking routes. But you want to get Ryan Fitzpatrick off the spot; you want to move him outside the pocket, get some inside pressure and put hits on him. Every quarterback wants to throw inside breaking routes. It’s easy. Who wants to throw a deep out route or a deep 7 route? Take away what’s easy for them.”
On Fred Jackson: “I think he’s great, I really do. I’m a little biased. He was on the practice squad my last year in Buffalo. I’ve never seen a guy work that hard in one year. Same with [safety] George Wilson – he was a practice squad receiver that year. Fred would play scout team defensive end if they asked him to. He reminds me of Eric Dickerson – I don’t mean in terms of production but in running style, a tall runner. He has very good vision. He’s a lot more powerful at the point of attack than people think. He can run through tackles. He has good agility in the open field to make people miss. If I’m voting for the Pro Bowl he’s the AFC starter. He makes that offense go because he can run the ball when the quarterback is under center and he can run the ball when the quarterback’s in the gun. He can also catch the ball and match up against a linebacker in space and make life tough for a defense….I go back to that Giants-Bills game a couple weeks ago. They ran a basic counter play and he took it 80 yards, outran the entire defense down the field. He has good top-end speed, too. It’s deceptive. You can’t let this guy in the open field and let him break tackles because then you’re looking at an explosive play.”
On Buffalo’s defense: “They have to have big plays. You look at the big games they won against Philly and New England, they had eight interceptions. That’s a lot. They’re a very opportunistic defense. They’ll take chances and risks because they have to when you think about the injuries they’ve had, losing Shawne Merriman and Kyle Williams. Losing Kyle is huge. That will be the struggle for them, how do we get pressure on the quarterback and make the ball come out quickly. That’s what an opportunistic secondary wants them to do. They don’t have the big names and they might not have the best talent – I’d take Washington’s secondary over them any day – but they can sit on some routes and [defensive coordinator] George Edwards has done a good job calling the game plan. I go back to that last interception they had against Michael Vick. They set a trap for an out route and pulled it off. They’re doing creative things on defense. They have a lot of different looks and they want to disguise. It’s an unappreciated defense; they have the ability to spin a game and cause big plays.”
On where the Redskins should attack: “Use the tight end. I’d use Fred Davis a lot. You have to get the run game going. John Beck doesn’t have a lot of experience so I’d try to help him out with the run game. Losing Santana is big, but you have to find a way to take some shots. The Bills want to sit on routes and cut underneath routes. You have to have the ability to move the ball and take shots downfield and get some big plays going.”
More on losing Moss: “From a defensive perspective, even though he doesn’t have the numbers he did when he was younger and he’s not as explosive, you still have to worry about him when you’re calling a game plan. You still have to know where he is on the field. He’s one of those players you have to account for when you line up if you’re a safety: Where is he? Is he at No. 1? Why is he aligned at No. 3, what are they doing? They have to figure this out before the ball is snapped. So when you take that away, I won’t say it’s easier to call a game plan but there’s less stress on the secondary without him on the field.”
On who should start at running back?: “Torain has to be the guy. If I’m going up to Buffalo and trying to slow down a fast-paced offense, you have to control the tempo and take their offense out of the game, like what Atlanta did to Detroit last week. They handed the ball to Michael Turner all day. Torain doesn’t have to have a buck 50, but he has to have 20-plus carries. You have to control the tempo. If you go three and out and give the ball right back it’s a big play offense and sooner or later they’ll get one. You can’t play defense forever in this league. You need to keep the defense off the field for five minutes at a time, led the defense rest, pound the ball and control the clock.”
On the Redskins’ defense: “Before Carolina I looked at their defense as a playoff unit. One game doesn’t change my opinion. They have the talent. I love LaRon; he’s the best in the box safety in the NFL. But you can’t give up big plays. I’d like to see them get more turnovers and create more opportunities especially with Beck in there. If this team is going to move forward and still be in the discussion in the NFC, it has to come from the defense.”
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