There’s an NFC East defense that ferociously pressures the quarterback, hardly allows passing offenses to get off the ground, and scoffs at the idea of the opposition efficiently running the football. And it’s emerged as such a stingy unit without a genuine household name.
The Commanders boast the NFL‘s best defense no one’s talked about this season. Be honest, you haven’t. Heck, it took me until the week of Thanksgiving to take the brawny essence of Washington’s defensive unit seriously. Oddly enough, it came after a dominant effort against the lowly Texans for this realization to take place in my thick skull.
OK, most serious football fans know Jonathan Allen. He’s been bringing the heat since his rookie season in 2017. For as annually disruptive as Allen is, he doesn’t have the same name recognition as some of the superstar defenders in his own division. He had calmly whistled his way through another routine day at the office in Week 11 against the Texans with six pressures and two sacks on 33 pass-rush opportunities. At defensive tackle, Allen’s season 11.2% pressure-generation rate is rather massive.
Then there’s the often unnoticed, former first-round pick Montez Sweat. In a 2019 draft class overflowing with defensive front talent — Nick Bosa, Jeffery Simmons, Quinnen Williams, Dexter Lawrence, Ed Oliver, and Christian Wilkins — Sweat has quietly hummed under the radar in Washington.
He’s having a season as monstrous as his combine workout, when he ran 4.41 with a 36-inch vertical and 7.00 three-cone time at 6-foot-5 and 260 pounds. To date, the former Mississippi State star has registered 45 pressures on 315 pass-rushing snaps. While that doesn’t equate to a ginormous pressure-creation rate (14.2%), the high-volume nature of that statistic makes it impressive.
Because of his supreme athletic gifts and imposing size, often when Sweat wins, those victories are worthy of going viral. Sweat was aligned at right defensive end here. Hold onto your butts.
Sweat and Allen may be the anchors on the line of scrimmage, but they’re hardly the sole reason Washington has morphed into one of the league’s least-fun-to-play defenses. The safety duo of Kamren Curl and Darrick Forrest have emerged as one of the best in the NFC, if not all of football. Seriously.
Curl’s the prototypical strong safety/linebacker hybrid at 6-1 and 200-ish pounds. He’s everywhere,…
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