Published: November 06, 2009 12:04 am      

Skins defense needs more takeaways, victories

ASHBURN, Va. — After signing his $100 million contract in February, Albert Haynesworth readily discussed how his presence might make the Washington Redskins defense better.

“What I should have said,” Haynesworth said this week, “is we’ll get some more wins. That’s the thing I failed to mention.”

For the most past, the Redskins’ expectations for Haynesworth and the rest of the defense have come to pass. He has made the players around him better. Andre Carter already has 6 1/2 sacks. Brian Orakpo leads all rookies with 3 1/2. Overall, the defense is tied for fourth in the league in yards allowed (283.4) and is fifth in points allowed (17.6). The Redskins have gone 30 games without giving up 30 points, the longest such streak in the NFL.

But it’s hard to express much pride when the team isn’t winning.

“You’ve just got to look at what you are as a team,” said middle linebacker London Fletcher, who leads the league in tackles. “We’re 2-5, so what else is there to say?”

For the sake of unity, the defensive players have done a good job biting their tongues about the offense’s failure to pull its weight. The Redskins have yet to score more than 17 points in a game, rendering many of those defensive stats meaningless in the win-loss column. They talk about the defense holding down the fort until quarterback Jason Campbell and the banged-up offensive line can get their act together.

Yet there’s also more the defense can do. For all the increased pressure the Redskins are putting on quarterbacks, for all the solid play against the run, they still haven’t cured their years-long takeaway problem. Washington only has seven, last in the league again.

“We have the numbers, but we don’t have numbers in areas that change games,” secondary coach Jerry Gray said Thursday. “We don’t have the interceptions, the turnovers, stuff like that. I think if we did, we’d be a lot better off.”

DeAngelo Hall has three interceptions; the rest of the team has combined for zero. The defense has forced 11 fumbles — that’s pretty good, tied for fifth in the NFL — but it has recovered only four.

“The big thing is when the ball’s in our hands, we’ve got to intercept it,” Gray said. “When the ball’s on the ground, we’ve got to pick it up. We know we’re doing the blue collar work of causing fumbles; now we’ve got to do the blue collar work of picking them up. ... It hasn’t bounced our way.”

If that quote sounds familiar, it is. Versions of it have been uttered at Redskins Park for much of this decade. Last year, the defense ranked 28th in takeaways. It was 25th the year before and at the very bottom of the league the year before that.

Gray contends that if the pass rush keeps getting to the quarterback, the turnovers will finally start to happen over the second half of this year.

“If we keep hitting them, either they’ll keep getting hit or they’ll throw the ball sooner,” Gray said.

Even a defense that’s playing well can succumb to frustration. Whether it comes from more points by the offense or more takeaways by the defense, the Redskins need a formula that generates a win or two to keep the morale up on both sides of the ball.

“We’ve got to do something here,” Haynesworth said. “Our losses are starting to pile up, and if we get a few more we can count ourselves out of the playoffs.”