Where's the D?!

I was going to write up about how the Redskins defense is overrated today, then Mr. Tony Summed it up better than I could have on his show this morning. But too bad, I wanted to write this up so I am going to anyway.

People are quick to criticize the offense for being inept, and granted - they are not the best in the league, their conference, or even their division for that matter. What they do is score enough to win, or at least what should be enough to win. 3 weeks in a row now, they have lost in the 4th quarter - not because we failed to score (although more points would have helped - especially against Oakland), but because we failed to keep the other team from scoring.
Granted the 36-0 whomping they got from the Giants exposed "weaknesses" on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, but for the sake of argument lets exclude that game as I believe that the Giants were playing unconsciously and vicariously through there former owner who had passed away during the week.

So back to the Defensive struggles:

Bucs - 35-36 loss in Tampa. The game shouldn't have come down to a 2-point conversion, that "controversial" call has no bearing in my mind. What has bearing is how the hell do you give up 36 freaking points to an offense run by CHRIS SIMMS. We could comb through the statistical details about Chris Simms, but for simplicity sake let's just use 1 number, QB rating. He went in late in the Miami game after Griese was knocked out for the season, so I wont use those stats (It was still only 80.8), but lets look at the rest of his games:

10/30 @SF L 10-15 71.2
11/06 CAR L 14-34 65.5
11/13 WAS W 36-35 119.8
11/20 @ATL W 30-27 54.3
11/27 CHI L 10-13 82.9

Anything jumping out at you as an anomaly? Its CHRIS SIMMS! I don't care for Phil (his Dad) because he played for the Giants mostly, and I really don't care if Steve young thinks he is tough or not, but lets be real here. Simms is destined for a long career hold a clip board and the Skins D made him look like a pro-bowler. With a good defense, not even a great defense, if your offense scores 35 freaking points you should win. Period.

Raiders - 16-13 loss at home. My stomach still turns when I think about this game. Offensive problems? Sure. Brunell sucked in this game - 14/32 with 155 yards? That is terrible. Portis - 92 yards but with 2 fumbles, definitely a below average performance. Moss had 4 catches, but only for 54 yards. Did the offense struggle? Yes indeedy-do (did I just say indeedy-do?) the struggled. BUT, they went into the 4th quarter with the lead, which they eventually gave up to a 25-yard Janikowski field goal from 25 yards out to tie the game with 8 minutes left. 8 minutes you say? Hell, tied in the 4th quarter with 8 minutes left at home against Norv choke-artist Turner? This is in the Bag!

Skins three and out - Punt (7:39 left)
Raiders three and out - Punt (6:30 left)
Skins three and out - Punt (5:48 left)
Raiders 4:33 yard drive - 19 yard field goal (1:12 left)
Skins fumble on ensuing drive - Game over, Norv Smiles, Danny tries to buy the NFL and have the score changed..

I am not really making my point about the defense sucking in this game as they did hold the raiders to 16 points. The only defensive problem was that they gave up a lead in the 4th quarter. Moving on...

Chargers - 23-17 loss at home. *Barf. I haven't completely gotten over this one yet. How can you look at anything BUT the defense for this loss. There have not been many losing efforts that involved a running back gaining 184 yards and scoring 3 TD's. That last run UP THE MIDDLE OF THE FRAKIN' FIELD in overtime looked like the skins just quit. I know LT is one of the best to ever play RB, but our defense is supposed to be one of the best against the run. Or is it? The numbers may not agree; we are currently ranked 18th against the run giving up 1271 yards or 115 yards/game. 115 yards? Isn't that what teams strive for? Isn't 100+ yards rushing what coaches want in order to win?

We have had some brilliant plays on D no doubt, Sean Taylor is a mean SOB that will kill you if you come across the middle (or on the sideline, or in the backfield for that matter). Lavar is back and playing better than he has in a while. That's great, BUT - we have ZERO pass rush, no ability to force turnovers, we give up WAAAAAY too many big plays and we are inconsistent as hell.
/End Venting.
//Hey! But we are only 2 games out and have and the worst of schedule is over.
///Begin Hopeless Optimism!