Washington Football Team Reality Checks: Week 10 vs. Detroit Lions
By Tim Payne
No. 3 – The Reality Is, the defense needs to shuffle some players around
Deshazor Everett is more of a strong safety than free. Kam Curl is more instinctive from deep than up at the line of scrimmage. Jon Bostic looks increasingly lost this season. Cole Holcomb is the best linebacker on the team, and Kevin Pierre-Louis is second. Montez Sweat could make a major impact rushing from the inside. Jonathan Allen could make an impact setting the edge in the run game.
It’s time for Jack Del Rio to get creative with how he uses various players, and with who he’s got in the starting lineup. There’s too much talent for the team to play quite so vanilla. Moving guys around and maximizing individual players’ strengths would create some confusion and unique opportunities.
I’d love to see Holcomb and Kevin Pierre-Louis starting at LB. I’d love to see Everett and Curl switch roles. I’d love to see more creative shuffling of the defensive line to get advantageous matchups for Chase Young and Montez Sweat.
My Prediction: Football coaches like Jack Del Rio don’t like things they consider “gimmicky”. He’ll dial up more aggressive play calls this week, but he won’t mix and match the way I’d like to see.