Zac Boyer will be entering his third season covering the Washington Redskins for The Free Lance-Star this fall. Make sure to follow Zac on Twitter (@ZacBoyer) for the latest updates or e-mail him with any questions at zboyer@freelancestar.com.
Evaluation Of Secondary Included One-On-One Meetings With Coaching Staff
By ZAC BOYER
ASHBURN – After Mike Shanahan said he would take time during the bye week to evaluate the Washington Redskins’ schemes and players, cornerback DeAngelo Hall said Wednesday that the defensive backs met one-on-one with their coaches to “kind of figure out what we need to get better at.”
Shanahan
The Redskins enter Sunday’s game against Philadelphia ranked 28th in total defense, allowing 397.9 yards per game, and 30th against the pass, giving up 301.7 yards a game.
They’ve also given up 32 passing plays that traveled more than 20 yards, with eight of those for more than 40 yards – the second-highest total in the league.
“I don’t know schematically what we would change, but we’ve got to finish games,” Hall said. “We’ve got to finish games and make plays. I’ve made the comment a couple times that we’ve had some great calls – just, we blew it. We blew it personally. A lot of that re-evaluating goes back to re-evaluating yourself, seeing how you get better, seeing what techniques you brush up on and work you can get a little bit better at.”
Washington (3-6) at least held a tie with its opponent in the fourth quarter of each of its first seven games. The New York Giants won 27-23 on Oct. 21 after Victor Cruz caught a 77-yard touchdown pass with just over a minute remaining, and an 82-yard reception by Armanti Edwards early in the fourth quarter led to Carolina scoring a touchdown three plays later and a 21-13 victory on Nov. 4.
“Usually, what you try to do in a bye week is things you’ve been doing poorly and figure out why and improving those areas,” Shanahan said. “Sometimes as a coaching staff, you’re looking at personnel, because you don’t get a chance to really hone in because a lot of times you’re getting a game plan ready.”
The head coach declined to talk about specifics, only to say that they covered “something we could talk about for an hour.” But as for whether the discussions were beneficial, Shanahan was optimistic.
“I hope so,” he said.
