Do the Redskins have a Defensive Weakness?

In my game previews, I often like to try to put myself in the shoes of the opposing offensive coordinator. It's a fun, effective way to pose the question: how would you best attack the Redskins offense?For example, last year the easiest ways to pass on the Redskins defense was to get their predictable blitz schemes, and throw either where the linebackers used to be, or at whoever Chris Horton was covering. But teams with good receiving running backs could also use them very effectively in the passing game, often slipping them out uncovered (so long as they weren't the focal point of the defensive scheme, such as Brian Westbrook) after the linebackers had cleared back in pass coverage.So, now that the Redskins have added Albert Haynesworth, Brian Orakpo, and Jeremy Jarmon to the mix, how does that change how opposing coordinators try to attack the Redskins?Certainly, Brian Orakpo's number one weapon against the pass, even as a SLB, is his ability to attack the passer. So he's going to be rushing the passer in a lot of 1st and 10 situations. But with Haynesworth occuping blockers, the use of Orakpo as an edge rusher to complement Carter seems to take care of the issue that the Redskins had defending running backs last year: it's simply not safe to try to protect your passer against the Redskins base defense with 5 guys. Even teams with elite LTs who can neutralize Andre Carter will run out of bodies. I'll demonstrate:Let's take the New York Giants offense, for example. If you are Kevin Gilbride, you are going to be inclined to use more 2 back sets because your top two RBs are unproven as pass blockers. But, lets say you are going to attack from a 3 WR set with Kevin Boss and Brandon Jacobs on first down. LG Rich Seubert and C Shaun O'Hara will double team Albert Haynesworth on more or less every play, run or pass. RG Chris Snee might be the best Guard in the league, and you figure that he can handle Cornelius Griffin on 95% of pass plays with no help. If the Redskins are in a "solid" front, that means that Phillip Daniels will be on the outsider shoulder of RT Kareem McKensie. The Redskins aren't going to win that one on one too often, but they likely don't care.In this scenario, the trigger guys of the scheme are LB Brian Orakpo, who is on Kevin Boss' outside shoulder, and DE Andre Carter, on the outside shoulder of LT David Diehl. These are the matchups the Giants can't feel comfortable with. You can't leave Orakpo one-on-one vs. Boss, that's a huge mismatch for the Redskins. You can release Boss and force the Redskins to pick him up, but then you rely on a lone Brandon Jacobs cut block to protect Eli Manning should Orkapo rush. You'd like to have Jacobs there help on Carter should he beat Diehl, but that assumes that Orakpo is going to drop into coverage. The biggest change, schematically, is in the role of Rocky McIntosh. Last year in this scheme, the Redskins might have used McIntosh to rush the edge, but even a weaker pass blocker in Jacobs had no issue neutralizing him one on one. This year, instead of just an additional warm body as a pass rusher, McIntosh becomes primarily a zone defender. If the Giants blocked with six guys, the Giants could expect a clean pocket against the Redskins on 80-90% of plays. With a clean pocket, they had moderate success passing against the Redskins secondary in their two games last year. Now, with what we'll call three and a half receiving options (half a Boss), the Giants' weaker-than-last year receiving corps doesn't really have any matchups that they can win against the Redskins.The Redskins coverage of preference last year appeared to be "man-free", or man coverage underneath with Landry up top. Now, the benefit of the 3 WR sets from the Giants' perspective (on a down and distance such as 1st and 10), is that you force the Redskins out of man coverage, and into more of a cover three look. If you have Steve Smith as a slot receiver, the Redskins would move Rocky McIntosh out to that side, but that's not a man coverage matchup. Instead, some combination of Orakpo, Fletcher, Horton, and McIntosh would handle the underneath zone, while Landry, Rogers, and Hall take the edges and deep coverages.While the word "force" makes it seem like the Giants offense would have a playcalling advantage, the Redskins had above average numbers against No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 WRs last year. Now the Giants had some success with Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer last year, but that was mostly using the "find Fred Smoot" offensive gameplan, and neither of those players are with the team anymore.Thusly, you can see why the Giants might prefer to go with the fullback or second tight end to help get the Redskins blocked. A fullback probably doubles the rate of clean pockets that quarterbacks will see against the Redskins defense, even given the propensity of Greg Blache to bring a 6th blitzer against these offensive sets. The key, of course, is that the Redskins bringing another blitzer means that they take either Fletcher or Landry out of coverage, and you have man coverage across the board at that point (with Landry still in deep coverage, if Fletcher is the 6th blitzer). If Horton or McIntosh rushes, well, those are players who can be blocked by the not-so-adept Bradon Jacobs, thus negating the Redskins' rush advantage.In this set, the Redskins do have a defensive mismatch. Against the Giants, they could exploit Steve Smith against DeAngelo Hall in those dreaded 8-12 yard chunks. Hall isn't going to get beat deep by those No. 2 receivers, as not too many receivers in the last two years have beaten Hall deep. But good quarterbacks with a clean pocket against Hall tend to find his weaknesses fairly quickly.Notice how, in 3 WR sets, a cover three zone plays right into Hall's strengths. He's got underneath help from either Horton or McIntosh, and it takes a perfect throw from a historically inaccurate quarterback to beat Hall underneath. But in the prefered-by-Blache man-free scheme against 2 WR sets, the best chance to blow up the play involves pressure, or a knockdown at the line of scrimmage.If the Redskins do have a defensive weakness, it will show up in their coverage numbers this season, and it will be reflected in limited targets at Carlos Rogers, who is as good in man coverage as he is in zone. But the offseason acquistions of the Redskins appear to have fixed their obvious weaknesses from last year, and have, at the very least, pigenholed opposing offenses into a patient passing game that lends itself to higher interception totals for inaccurate passers.