UW defensive lineman frustrated by lack of pressure on QB

Published 11:35 pm Monday, September 17, 2007

SEATTLE — Apparently, there was some heated discussion Sunday when Washington’s defensive linemen watched film from the previous day’s loss to Ohio State.

“[Sunday] we watched the film and kind of got after each other a little bit,” said defensive tackle Jordan Reffett. “We made a lot of mistakes.”

Defensive end Greyson Gunheim said the sometimes-heated film session was about constructive criticism.

“We were holding each other accountable and getting on each other about making stupid mistakes and stuff like that,” he said. “It always comes down with wanting to win and trying to make each other better.”

The line’s frustration is to be expected after a game in which the Huskies had no sacks and rarely knocked down Ohio State’s inexperienced quarterback Todd Boeckman.

Not exactly a great day for a unit the Huskies expect to be a strength of the team. Washington opened the season with seven sacks against Syracuse, and added two more against Boise State. Seven, to two, to no sacks in three games is hardly a trend the defensive linemen want to see.

Gunheim felt like he was close to sacking Boeckman at times.

“I got to him like three or four times but he got rid of the ball about a second before I got there, so that’s really frustrating for me,” said Gunheim, who leads the team with 2&189; sacks. “Hopefully after this week, things will change.”

A lack of quarterback pressure hurt not only because of the lack of negative-yardage plays, but because of what it allowed the Ohio State passing game to do. Reffett said one of the game’s biggest plays — a third-quarter, 68-yard touchdown pass on which freshman cornerback Vonzell McDowell Jr. was burned deep — was as much the line’s fault as McDowell’s.

“As a defensive line, we didn’t put any pressure on the quarterback,” Reffett said. “Everybody wants to blame Vonzell, but if that quarterback’s got all day to throw, it’s nobody’s fault but the defensive lines’.”

The linemen said the lack of pressure was due in part to a lack of intensity, and in part because of lining up out of position or missing gaps. Whatever went wrong, they say, will be fixed this week.

“One of the things that killed us is that we didn’t have a single sack in the game,” said tackle Daniel Te’o-Nesheim. “That’s pretty embarrassing and we just need to play harder. Especially on the edges, me and Greyson need to get there. We know that that isn’t acceptable and it won’t happen again.”