Thoughts on Preseason Week 2: Redskins vs Steelers: Defense

DL Barry Cofield:

-Cofield was a monster throughout his time in the game. He was credited with a half a sack, a fumble recovery and a pair of tackles, but his impact went far beyond that. He consistently collapsed the pocket or filled the hole in the running game. The Steelers didn’t have an answer for him and he disrupted their whole offense. Cofield did fracture his hand in the game, but he isn’t expected to miss any regular season time, though his effectiveness will be slightly compromised if he doesn’t have free use of the hand to bring down ball carriers.

LB Ryan Kerrigan:

-Kerrigan came up with the play of the day, picking off a screen pass and returning it for a TD. That is something he has done in each of the past two seasons, hopefully this wasn’t his only one for 2013. Kerrigan also forced a fumble on a sack later in the game that Cofield recovered. They are lining him up in a variety of ways and it is paying off big time for the Redskins defense.

LB Darryl Tapp:

-Tapp has not gotten a lot of attention this camp/preseason, but he had a really good game. He got pressure and penetration on a number of plays and looks to be making a case for himself to be on the team past the first four games.

LB Brandon Jenkins:

-Another strong performance by Jenkins, who continues to show good pass rush ability. Jenkins hasn’t wowed with stats  yet, but when he’s out there you can see what he brings to the table.

CB David Amerson:

-Amerson was tested a bit more against the Steelers and it led to a few mistakes. While he made a couple of nice tackles, he did lower his head on one and completely whiff. In coverage he was solid, but had three miscues from what I saw. On first and 20 on the play that Jon Gruden called him out on the broadcast he allowed, Amerson had to be deeper in his coverage. That left a huge window that allowed the Steelers to compete a 20 yard 1st down pass. Later on that drive Amerson was unaware that TE David Paulson came into his zone. While Amerson focused on the receiver who was there, the Steelers were able to complete a 26 yard pass to get into the red zone. Finally on that drive on 3rd and 8 from the 14, Roethlisberger found Emmanuel Sanders along the sideline for a 10 yard completion. Now that play was negated by a holding penalty, but Amerson got too deep into his zone and completely left the first down marker wide open. The only other target in the area was RB Jonathan Dwyer, but he was covered by S Bacarri Rambo and LB Perry Riley. Amerson needs to see Emmanuel Sanders crossing into his zone and come up and defend the first down line.

CB E.J. Biggers:

-Biggers has not looked good to start the preseason, and that continued last night. He had a pass interference penalty, and gave up a couple of catches that he wasn’t there to defend. Biggers also struggled in run support failing to contain on a long run by the Steelers. Biggers may have experience and know DB Coach Raheem Morris, but it looks like he’s getting passed on the depth chart.

CB Chase Minnifield:

-Minnifield continues to play well as he had 5 tackles and for the most part showed nice tight coverage.

S Bacarri Rambo:

-Rambo struggled once again with his angles and tackling he was saved on one play being called back for being a hold, but it still showed on the tape. Rambo didn’t learn his lesson from last week, and there is no longer the excuse that it was Chris Johnson and no one could make that tackle. Rambo did force a fumble which was good, but unless his overall run defense improves it won’t be enough to keep him from being a liability. He wasn’t really challenged in the passing game, which is a positive in the sense that he didn’t make any major mistakes that were exploited.

S DeJon Gomes:

-Hopefully Brandon Meriweather will be healthy this year, because Gomes gets far too exposed in the secondary. He took poor angles on ball carriers, missed tackles, allowed too much separation in coverage and committed multiple personal foul penalties. While one of the hits you could maybe understand the other one there was no excuse for and it cost the Redskins. Gomes just had a bad game all-around and continued to struggle even when the Steelers 2nd team unit was in there. I would expect Reed Doughty to take over as the starter, until Meriweather gets back.