The Washington Football Team's pass rushing unit continues to take on shrapnel from all parts of the national sports media, the latest shot fired by NFL analyst Marcus Spears, who called Chase Young and Montez Sweat out for their "selfish" and "undisciplined" play against the Bills.
Spears — who had a nine-year NFL career as a defensive end for the Cowboys and Ravens (2005-13) — was asked on ESPN's 'NFL Live' this week why Washington's defense hasn't lived up to its lofty expectations through three games this season.
"Yeah, let's talk about some D-line play," Spears began. "I'm gonna say two words: selfish and undisciplined is what the Washington Football Team defensive line is. And when I talk about being a basketball team, this is what I'm seeing. You cover for the guy when he loses his guy. "
Spears dissected two plays to show how Young and Montez Sweat were playing undisciplined football, the first of which resulted in a seven-yard touchdown pass from Josh Allen to running back Zach Moss, which put the Bills up 14-0 early in the second quarter.
"This is Chase Young. Chase Young is so sack-hungry right now that he's losing rushes behind the quarterback," said Spears. "This is good interior pressure by Daron Payne. If Chase Young re-traces, this is a sack on Josh Allen. Instead, Chase Young wants to get to Josh Allen so bad, the undisciplined comes in, he gives him a lane, Moss has time to release and get a free way to the end zone."
This jibes with what Washington head coach Ron Rivera has said about Young's development. Rivera told The Sports Junkies that Young needs to work on recognizing when he's reached a certain level in the backfield that he needs to come back underneath.
"When I watch him and he does go flying by the quarterback, there's a couple things that go through my mind, is where's my inside push?" Rivera said on 106.7 The Fan. "And, young man, you have to counter. You have to understand I'm at the level, come back underneath."
The next play Spears highlighted was the first of a Bills drive midway through the second quarter, when Allen evaded pressure from Young and Sweat by moving up in the pocket to find Cole Beasley for an 18-yard dump-off.
"Now this is one of the examples of being greedy," said Spears. "You look at Chase Young and Montez Sweat, two really good defensive linemen. But you look at this pressure at the center of the pocket. But look at my two defensive ends, who are the stars on my defensive line, looking at the back of Josh Allen's head. Josh Allen escapes up, he drops it off to Cole Beasley."
"This is undisciplined. This is selfish D-line play," Spears added. "These defensive ends for the Washington Football Team are the catalysts. They are the guys that you expect to get to the quarterback. And when you have that type of pressure up the center of the pocket, that's supposed to be a sack on a re-trace from your defensive end. They've got to get back to fundamentals and basics. Easy enough to do, but they've got to start right now because this secondary is really hurting, because they are undisciplined [themselves]."
"Every level, you need guys in the same communication. That's defensive football," Spears went on to say. "And right now, the Washington Football Team defense is so disjointed, no one can make plays."
'NFL Live' host Laura Rutledge also pointed out Young's explosive sideline outburst that was captured by FOX cameras on Sunday, which Young would later describe as him asking defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio to let him know if he sees anyone "bullshitting" in practice.
"When we come back in the building, no bullshitting," Young recounted. "If somebody's bullshitting, you let me know. Cause I ain't having that."
"You also see on the sideline Chase Young just dialing into that team and yelling at everybody," Rutledge said. "Which is interesting because..."
"Yeah. He needs to yell at his damn self," Spears said.
"Right," Rutledge agreed. "It may be a little bit of time for some self-reflection."
