Washington pass rush far more cohesive vs Packers
Breaking down how Washington's pass rush was much improved against Green Bay
Washington’s defensive line got off to a slow start to the season but has started to come together and become a more threatening pass rush unit in recent weeks. Through the first few weeks of the season, the talent-filled defensive line were often rushing as four individuals, relying on winning individual matchups rather than working as a cohesive unit. Opposing offenses copied the same game plan to negate them, built around chipping the defensive ends and using play-action and quick game passing concepts.
Over the last few games, however, the defensive line has started to use more stunts and games up front, which has messed with protection plans and enabled the talented individuals to work together to help each other generate far more consistent pressure. This was evident against the Packers throughout the game.
This play came on the Packers second drive of the game. It’s third and eight, a down and distance that should be relatively easy to defend but Washington has given up plenty of times already this season. The Packers show an empty formation, but keep both the tight end and running back tight to the formation so they can help chip and slow down Chase Young and Montez Sweat off the edge.
In this situation earlier in the season. Washington just rushed the front four straight up or perhaps added a linebacker on a rush, but without any real intent to use any sort of pass rush game to help them. Here though, Washington calls for a stunt up front. Both defensive tackles, Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne, stunt across the face of the center and right guard while linebacker Jamin Davis joins the rush and loops back around them.
This does a couple of things. It gives Washington a three-on-three rush inside, rather than just a two-on-three where one defensive tackle can get double-teamed. It also hands the advantage to the defenders, who know which gaps they’re rushing into and can attack them aggressively, while the offensive lineman have to adjust their sets from what gaps they expected each defender to appear in. It requires a lot of communication and teamwork to pass off these kinds of stunts and the Packers have had a lot of moving parts along the offensive line recently as they’ve dealt with injuries.
The center slides inside with Allen, but the left guard is late to slide across and fails to cut him off. That means the center is forced to try and block Allen on his own. Meanwhile, the right guard is trying to pass off Payne to the center, who is still occupied by Allen, before then trying to peel off and pick up Davis. On this occasion, it’s Allen that breaks through and brings down Aaron Rodgers for the sack, but in reality, it could have just as easily been Payne or Davis given how the Packers struggled to pick up the stunt.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Bullock's Film Room to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.