The Washington Redskins lost their second preseason game of the year last Thursday, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that, early in the first quarter, the Washington defense took a 6-0 lead after a 96-yard pick-six ended an impressive opening series from the starters.
While the entire unit looked great, the front-seven was special; in particular, Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne — the ‘Bama Boys.
The two interior linemen combined for a total of five tackles in the first series, which was primarily against the Bengals starting offense, minus wide receiver AJ Green. One video, in particular, has been circulating throughout the Redskins Twitter community, showing the two devour opposing running back Giovanni Bernard.
After the play, Allen was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty after throwing Bernard into the backfield. It was one of the first questionable calls in a long night of confusion from the officials.
What matters is that the Redskins front line looks like they are going to be a problem this season. Both Allen and Payne are a year older, and many expect them to finally break out this season. The addition on rookie Montez Sweat on the edge — not to mention Pro-Bowler Ryan Kerrigan on the other side — and Washington has a legitimate chance to be one of the best defenses in the league.
We first saw a glimpse of it on Thursday night in the preseason; here’s to hoping we see a lot more of it going forward.
