New bengals.com article...

[skyline]

I wanted to point this out, because near the end, Lewis talks about why the Defensive Tackles aren't as key to stopping the run as they used to be. I thought it was pretty interesting...

WASHINGTON BACK: Call it Back to “The Future.” Kelley Washington called himself “The Future,” during his rookie season last year, but the future didn’t look so bright early in camp. Yet Washington has looked like his old self the past week with head coach Marvin Lewis optimistic about his depth and improved physical play of his receivers that includes their blocking in the running game.

The 6-3, 218-pound Washington has started to make some plays down the field after a tough opening week.

“I finally feel like my legs are right,” said Washington, who scored on four of his 22 catches last season. “It was tough early on. We had a lot of guys down and I was taking a lot of snaps and doing a lot of running. The coaches have been telling me the last couple of days that they’re seeing some plays out of me.”

Remember, last season Washington missed that first week of camp because of his holdout and didn’t report until after the intrasquad scrimmage and Mock Game.

“Last year, I had the week off and came right into the games,” Washington said. “This is almost like a rookie camp to me because I wasn’t here last year to get adjusted to the first week, which is the toughest week.”

Washington was supposed to push Peter Warrick for the starting job opposite Chad Johnson. But T.J. Houshmandzadeh has ended up pushing Washington. Washington knows. He also knows it comes down to the pre-season games and not practice.

“It’s going to be competitive, but it comes down to who is going to go out there and make the plays and do the right assignments,” Washington said.

The Bengals should be at, or close, to a full complement of receivers against the Bucs. Veteran Patrick Johnson and fifth-rounder Maurice Mann have battled leg injuries all camp, and Johnson has sat out of practice the last few days. Mann has returned to individual work this week, and may get a shot Saturday.

Besides the Warrick-Washington-Houshmandzadeh scrum, there is also the battle between second-year man Kevin Walter’s possession-type skills and the intoxicating big-play speed of rookie free-agent Jamall Broussard.

Lewis reminded people Thursday how important Walter is to the roster He is the same size as Washington, and gives them a rare receiver who can do other things on special teams besides return.

And while the 5-7, 175-pound Broussard may be small, it’s hard not to keep his speed, either. Lewis noted how Warrick’s off-and-on absence because of his knee has given Broussard a chance to shine in the slot.

“Over the last week, Kevin Walter has really improved as a wide receiver,” Lewis said. “He still has such a large chunk of what we do on special teams, he’s kind of picked up where he left it off (last year.)”

Lewis has also seen growth in Washington and Houshmandzadeh.

“Both guys are different guys than they were last year. That’s a big positive,” Lewis said. “They’re better players now. More confident players, they’re playing faster, they’re doing the little things better. They’re more conscientious.”

What has really pleased Lewis is that those little things include blocking. As a defensive guru, he’s adamant that play on the perimeter is the defining element for a scheme. He pointed to running back Rudi Johnson’s big play in last Friday night’s scrimmage, a 46-yard run after a missed tackle at the line, and how the physical play of his receivers made it happen.

Blocking by receivers also gives Lewis a chance to expound again on his theory that you can’t just blame tackles for poor run defense.

“A huge increase,” said Lewis of the wideouts’ physical play in this camp. “We needed it as a football team because that’s where we were the worst at on defense. The running yardage we gave up is due to our perimeter run defense and not guys being where they belong and missing tackles. Every time you look at a videotape, that’s where yardage is gained in the NFL.”

Lewis sat down to watch tape of the Denver—Washington game Thursday and is just more convinced than ever.

“The running in the NFL is not what it used to be. The public has not caught up to that,” Lewis said. “It’s got nothing to do with the defensive tackles. People are in one-back sets. There’s very little two-back running and very little of two-back running occurs within the tackles and when it does occur within the tackles, it occurs with somebody blocking in their own support. Everybody inside can do exactly what they’re supposed to do, and if the support safety doesn’t fit where he belongs, there’s a crevice that big and the back is in it and gone.”

[schweinhart]

No doubt that big run gains are sprung outside usually with WR blocking. Or in the big run by Suggs last year, the strong side LB and DBs are no where in the picture for the first 20 yards.

But DT penetration is crucial for blowing up runs. Case in point was the Bengals-Chiefs when Glen Steele took an angle between the guard and tackle and stuffed Priest Holmes behind the line on a 3rd and short that forced the Chiefs to kick a FG.

[HoosierCat]

But DT penetration is crucial for blowing up runs.

And having a big two-gap DT on the line remains useful for those times when the defense isn't in a 46 alignment, and that support safety has other duties. I will agree with Marvin that bringing that 8th guy up into the box has become widely popular; the Jets, for example, plan on using it a lot. But that's going to require our secondary to be able to cover man-to-man on a regular basis. Cross your fingers.

[Kirkendall]

I'm a fan of zones if you're going to bring the 8th man up. That way you can have both corners play the deep zone with the free safey covering the middle deep and linebackers taking up the middle zone. It definitely can be exposed, but it's the most conservative if we're having troubles stopping the run. Hopefully we'll take 'em all on on the ground!