In four NFL seasons spanning 54 games, Washington Redskins safety Matt Bowen had never sacked a quarterback. The drought was so extreme that Bowen could not recall its exact origins, knowing he had thumped a quarterback or two in his senior season at Iowa in 1999, but unsure of the time and place.
"It was in a Big Ten game, I know that much," he said with a mild degree of assurance.
Matt Bowen sacked Tampa Bay's Brad Johnson twice last Sunday. It was the Redskins safety's first sacks since 1999, his senior year at Iowa.
(Jonathan Newton -- The Washington Post)
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Yet last Sunday, with the Redskins' defense stifling Tampa Bay for a 16-10 victory in its first game under Gregg Williams, the assistant head coach-defense, Bowen was a pass-rushing dynamo. He sacked Buccaneers quarterback Brad Johnson twice, coming from the outside in the first quarter to force a fumble that led to a Washington field goal and blazing up the middle in the fourth quarter to stop a critical drive with the Redskins clinging to a three-point lead.
Bowen was the defensive star of the afternoon at FedEx Field, providing an immediate example of the unpredictably disruptive defensive tactics that Williams plans to unveil on a weekly basis this season.
"Every week a new hero" is the mantra of the Redskins' defense, which plans to apply the same principles that allowed Bowen to break free into the backfield game after game: putting defenders in one-on-one matchups designed to allow anyone -- lineman, linebacker or defensive back -- the chance to be that Sunday's most valuable player. Undoubtedly, Bowen will not be such a defensive fulcrum today when Washington faces the Giants at the Meadowlands -- New York's more diverse offense will prompt Washington to adopt different defensive schemes than last week. But the Redskins are committed to forcing opposing offenses to prepare for pressure from anywhere on the field in passing situations.
"If a defense has something like that on their side -- the unexpected -- then that gives us the advantage," linebacker LaVar Arrington said. "And to know that somebody who hasn't had sacks in that long can go out and get two and force a fumble and be the leading tackler, now we've got to focus on Matt Bowen? We've got to stop Matt Bowen? . . .
"So this week, who will step up? And it'll be somebody you guys least expect to step up and now it's like, 'Okay, now we have to account for him too? Geez, what's next?' And that's how a defense becomes very dominant -- everybody doing what they're supposed to do, everybody making plays and the focus has to be on the whole 11 players on that team."
The safety blitz is a staple of Williams's repertoire, which he honed in his years as a defensive assistant in Tennessee and head coach the last three years in Buffalo. But the degree to which the high-risk call is made depends on such things as the tendencies of the offense, the score, the down and distance to go for a first down and the personnel on the field. A safety must be smart, strong and swift to execute the play and get to the quarterback in three or four seconds before he releases the ball.
Bowen, 27, said he tries to block out the rush of adrenaline that comes once the play is called and focus on his mental cues. He has an instant to study the exchange between the center and quarterback and make sure it will be a passing play. He must read the offensive line to see is anyone is shifting toward him. In his first sack Sunday, the 6-foot-1, 207-pound safety detected fullback Mike Alstott midstride and picked his plan of attack, taking an outside route and pushing Alstott aside.
"You've got to think," Bowen said. "Gregg Williams always says, 'Slow your heartbeat down and make a decision, because it's going to be there.' You've got to know what you're going to do; you can't just run in there out of control or you're not going to do anything. Then you might as well just stop at the line of scrimmage and watch the play."
Blitzing a safety is better suited to a short-to-medium range passing offense like Tampa Bay's. The Giants have more deep weapons at receiver, a game-breaking tight end, Jeremy Shockey, and a former NFL most valuable player, Kurt Warner, at quarterback. But for Williams the goal always is to get to the passer, a strong contrast to the team's defensive philosophy last season.
Washington was poor defending the run and the pass in 2003, ranking 25th overall in defense and finishing with a 5-11 record, and rarely unleashed anyone from the secondary after the quarterback. Bowen said he spent almost all of last season, during which he started every game, hanging back in pass coverage. On most running plays he was a non-factor and blitzing was not part of his job description.
"I played center field a lot last year," Bowen said. "And when you do that you have the opportunity to make some plays in the passing game, but a lot of the time you're not involved as much in the running game as you want, and I think in this defense Gregg has given me the opportunity to be in the mix, and whatever happens from that now is up to me. . . . They put you in a position to make those plays and then it comes down to a one-on-one matchup. I think NFL football is all about one-on-one matchups."
Williams could not agree more. He said he strives to get his players lined up in a gap or against a blocker that puts them in the best position to reach the quarterback. He deploys multiple blitzers in many cases and it is incumbent on the players to beat the man blocking them. "That's what we've tried to sell from the time we got here," Williams said. "There's no excuse for not winning in a one-on-one situation in the pass rush."
