5 pleasant surprises for the Washington Redskins through Week 3
By Ian Cummings
No. 2 – The young defensive line is playing at an even higher level
A good secondary becomes a great secondary with an effective front seven, and we’d be brash to say the front seven hasn’t somewhat impacted the secondary’s quality of play.
Quarterbacks struggle under pressure. It’s an unavoidable truth of the NFL, and that’s why the Redskins have had so much success lately. Their interior pass rush could very well be one of the best units in the league.
Matt Ioannidis headlines the group; through three weeks, the electric defensive tackle has three sacks, and he isn’t even playing half of the Redskins’ defensive snaps. Per Pro Football Focus, on 54 pass rushing snaps, Ioannidis has 12 total pressures. That’s good for a 22.2 percent pass rush productivity rate, which safely eclipses players like Aaron Donald, Fletcher Cox, and Geno Atkins.
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Ioannidis is producing pressure at an absolutely insane rate. And he’s not alone. Jonathan Allen, per Pro Football Focus, has 10 pressures on 95 pass rushing snaps, good for just over a 10 percent pass rush productivity rate. He notched two sacks in last week’s game against Green Bay, with help from Preston Smith.
It may seem like the Redskins’ edge rushers have been less successful. Yes, they haven’t been able to finish. But their impact has been felt on the end of the line. Ryan Kerrigan and Ryan Anderson have been more disruptive than Preston Smith, but all have helped contribute to a truly stellar Redskins front. If both the defensive line and the secondary continue to produce as the season moves along, Washington could have a playoff-caliber defense a year early.