Emptying the notebook: Washington's defense vs Raiders
Notes on Washington's defense against the Raiders
Rather than focus on a specific player or topic on defense this week, I figured I’d try and cover a few different notes I had from watching the All-22 of Washington’s win over the Raiders. If there is a specific topic you had any questions about on the defensive side of the ball, leave me a comment and I’ll see if I can answer it. But for now, let’s get into some things that stood out to me on defense.
Daniel Wise
Without Chase Young and Montez Sweat, Washington was short at defensive end. Casey Toohill and James Smith-Williams have taken the bulk of the snaps, but this week, Daniel Wise caught my eye on a number of occasions. Wise is an interesting fit on this roster because he’s listed at 285 pounds, which is not the size of a typical 4-3 defensive end. That’s more of a 3-4 defensive end or even a light 4-3 defensive tackle. It has meant that when he’s in the game, Washington can go to it’s five defensive lineman package and effectively play a 3-4 with the ends becoming outside linebackers and Wise playing as a 3-4 defensive end. As you’ll see in these clips, Washington often aligned Jamin Davis outside of Wise on the line of scrimmage, giving the offense essentially a 3-4 front.
What stood out to me with Wise was his run defense. He looked very stout against the run and he blew up a couple of run plays called to his side.
On this play, the Raiders look to use a pin-pull scheme to the left. The tight end to that side of the field looks to crack down inside on Wise and pin him inside, allowing the left tackle and the center to pull around to the edge. However, Wise makes a terrific read. He sees the left tackle pulling and immediately anticipates the down block from the tight end. He quickly gets his hands up and works himself around the block of the tight end to take outside leverage, preventing the tight end from pinning him inside. With that leverage, Wise then extends his arms to keep the tight end off him while giving himself the ability to work either side of the tight end depending on the path of the running back. The back initially works inside, so Wise dives inside, but the back then bounces his run to the edge. Wise does a great job mirroring the cut and using his outside arm to toss the tight end inside. Wise just manages to keep his balance and reach out to make the tackle.
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