Countertrey wrote:BH said:
just because Casey made a mistake doesn't mean that you toss him to the wolves IMO.
Cover for him all you want, the situation was that all we needed was a field goal... and we were well within range. If Rabach's man slips him and makes a no gain tackle, we are still in range, with a couple of downs still left.
OOOOPS... Casey made a boo-boo.
There was really only one thing you would ask of an offensive lineman at that point... "Don't do anything stupid". Only one thing...
Cover for him? Huh? I agree that it's a terrible mistake and one that cost us dearly... I'm not trying to cover anything.
Casey Rabach made a costly mistake.... make you feel better?
But I think Casey has performed decently and considering it's only his second year at center, and that he is young, I think he should continue to develop into a solid o-line player. I'm not in any way taking away from his error, I just don't think that it justifies a finite decision on his relative worth as some people seem to do EVERY time ANY player makes a mistake out there. We're 11 games into the season and it's the first time there has really been much to say about Rabach.... which generally means that he's doing a decent job.
If it weren't for the offensive collapse in the 4th quarter, wouldn't we all likely just be talking about how much time Brunell had to throw all day? I thought the o-line was great in the first half and on the TD scoring drive in the third. They were giving Brunell great protection. Portis didn't have much success but that's likely due to the fact that the Chargers have an excellent run defense as well. The o-line played well for almost 3 quarters.
But we crawled into an offensive shell... and moved the ball like a turtle for the rest of the game after that great 3rd quarter drive... poor execution... poor play calling... BOTH contributed to giving the Chargers way too many kicks at the can. We were far too predictable, far too conservative, and FAR TOO EASY TO DEFEND.
Yes... we could have kicked the field goal there to win the game, but there is NO way that it should have come down to that. I think that any time you pin a loss on one particular play, that you are likely ignoring a half dozen others that could have just as easily reversed the outcome of the game.

Sean Taylor was one of a kind, may he rest in peace.