Alex Smith spent three seasons in Washington, including his magical 2020 season, in which he had arguably the greatest comeback in sports history. Smith returned from a gruesome leg injury he suffered in Nov. 2018 to help lead Washington to an NFC East title.
Washington released Smith in the offseason, and he later retired. Smith is now an NFL analyst for ESPN and, as expected, a very good one.
In a recent episode of the “ESPN Daily Podcast,” Smith talked about Washington and its defensive struggles through five weeks. You can hear Smith discuss Washington around the 17-minute mark.
“They’ve been letting that defensive line try to work, rushing four, and they have not been getting home,” Smith said, via Bijan Todd of NBC Sports Washington. “On the backend, they’ve been vanilla and been getting exposed. And I really do think it comes back to the defensive line.”
Smith acknowledged some of Washington’s recent defensive issues were bad, specifically Jameis Winston’s Hail Mary at the end of the first half.
If that front four, if you’re going to play that way, can’t get home, it can be tough sledding. Because you really can’t leave the backend exposed. That’s really kinda what I see. I really feel like they’re trying to find their identity on defense, something they can hang their hat on.
The former Washington quarterback is correct. If Washington can’t get to opposing passers, it needs to be a little more creative in the secondary. Washington’s secondary was built with the defensive line in mind, and, thus far, the two units haven’t worked in concert together.
Smith did seem optimistic the front four could get going this season.
“I do think they’re searching. It’s a group that’s extremely talented,” Smith said. “They should be playing better. Still, a lot of football left ahead of them. I hope they can kind of find their way, find their footing.”
If Washington’s defensive line can play to its potential, the entire team will benefit. There are no miracle personnel changes that will suddenly improve the secondary, so Washington needs improvement from both groups, or things could look even worse several weeks from now.