The Commanders defense is much improved over the last couple weeks, but come this Sunday, they’ll be facing a stiff test in the Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson, maybe the only signal-caller in the league more dynamic and more successful than Jayden Daniels right now.
But don’t sleep on the Commanders D, says safety Jeremy Chinn, especially if the offense keeps doing what they’re doing.
“The offense has done a great job protecting the football and going down and putting points on the board, so really as a defense, you try to just put extra time and extra work in, and I think the time that we have put in these past few weeks have really shown up on Sundays,” Chinn told Chris Russell & Lynnell Willingham Thursday.
The starting D didn’t get a lot of reps this preseason, which is extra difficult for a group with so many new faces and the old ones learning a new system, but the work in progress has come together quickly as of late.
“That’s the bulk of it, really; when you come from a long offseason and you get back in the groove of things, it may take a game or two, so good thing for us that that happened early on,” Chinn said. “We definitely have a good feel for the group that we have and we’re feeling really good about it. You saw the first couple weeks, and it is a transition, but once you do it a couple of times and you start to get that feel for it, it's back to ball.”
Chinn has taken on the role as kind of the hard-hitting enforcer of the unit, but how is that going to work against someone as shifty as Lamar, and as bruising as Derrick Henry?
“Henry is obviously one of the top backs in the league, has been for a long time, so we see it as an opportunity in front of us. As long as we do the things that we know what we're capable of doing, I have a lot of confidence. It’s gonna take all 11 guys being disciplined in our jobs, being disciplined in the run game, and then when we all get an opportunity, it’s getting to the ball and getting 11 hats to the ball. But it starts with just being disciplined in the run game for sure,” Chinn said. “With Lamar, as long as long as the guys up front are doing what they have been doing as far as applying pressure and making the quarterback get off the spot, the back end has to do their part too as far as making them pat the ball in the pocket and hold on to the rock. Sometimes, with a guy like Lamar who can scramble and make those extended plays, it just makes the back end part more important. We just gotta continue to cover longer than what a normal play may be.”
And as for that complementary football, Chinn said it sparks the D when the offense makes a big play or special teams rocks someone ahead of a defensive possession, but it gets them even more fired up when someone on D rocks an opposing player.
“We’ve created a standard for how we get to the ball and play in this defense, but when you see a little guy like Mikey (Sainristil) out there doing it, and the power and explosiveness when he is making contact, it turns everybody up and we love to see it,” Chinn said. “We love how he’s coming along with his defense and how it's starting to make sense to him, how offenses are starting to make sense to him, and it's really cool to see.”
Take a listen to Chinn’s entire visit above, which also touches on the Commanders’ lack of interceptions so far, tempering expectations amidst a hot start, and much more!