Hogs Haven
It’s Thursday, so coordinator Joe Whitt met with the Washington sports media today.
Whitt started out talking about the defensive performance in Weeks 1 & 2 before opening up for questions. He focused on the issue of “eye discipline” when talking about what went wrong vs the Packers, though he said that he felt that the hitting and running were okay.
In discussing the Raiders, Whitt was complimentary of QB Geno Smith and TE Brock Bowers before turning his attention to rookie RB Ashton Jeanty.
Whitt answered questions about the loss of Deatrich Wise for the season; he focused on the opportunity for other players to step up in his absence.
The DC was clearly unhappy about how his defense handled the vertical passing game on Thursday night.
Asked about Preston Smith, the newest member of the defense, Whitt talked about Smith getting up to speed and mentioned the value of being able to work with former players Darryl Tapp and Ryan Kerrigan.
Asked about Frankie Luvu, Joe Whitt smiled broadly and talked about how opposing offenses are treating him as a “big”, which makes it more challenging for the LB to get to the passer when he rushes.
Coach Whitt got a bit testy when asked about last year, and went back to his message about poor eye discipline in the most recent game.
Whitt said that the team communicated well, saying that there were not a lot of missed assignments in Green Bay, mentioning yet again that the problem was ‘eye discipline’.
Joe stressed that the big game from Green Bay’s tight end was a result of the team not playing the defense properly. At one point, Whitt said, “If I run [that route], and we play it the way that we played it, I’m gonna be open. We have to play it better.”
The coach said, “You can’t let one game beat you twice” as he talked about the discomfort of waiting 10 days to play again after taking a bad loss. He said that the team is “itching” to get out and play a good game to show what they can do.
