CanesSkins26 wrote:He does not seem to trust his offensive line anymore.
Can you blame him? They suck right now.
exactly. folks, if you think campbell is the main problem with the passing game right now, you are kidding yourselves. the pass-protection over the past 2 games is only describable by a word i thought and hoped could never possibly be said again about a 'skins o-line:
SPURRIERAN
we all love jansen, but we can't deny it- he may be one of the single worst pass-blockers in the NFL at this point in his career ("this point" being "the end") and he must be benched IMMEDIATELY. heyer is far from a perfect replacement, but even his detractors couldn't possibly suggest he is nearly as terrible as jansen. and there is the possibility that he can actually improve as he gains experience, whereas there is no possible manner by which jansen can improve (in fact, he is rather apt to continue getting worse as his already crippled body continues to deteriorate).
people, the offensive line is exponentially the most important unit on offense. by that i mean:
*if your o-line is AVERAGE, you need STAND-OUT skill position players
---it takes a pretty good WR to get open in the average amount of time an o-line can protect for, a pretty good QB to find him and get him the ball, and a pretty good RB to find the quickly closing hole and break a tackle or two to make a good run.
*if your o-line is DOMINANT, you can have AVERAGE skill position players and still score points like it's a video game. there is not a WR in the NFL that can't get open if he has enough time to eventually shake the coverage. there is not a QB in the league that can't find that WR and get him the ball if he has a luxurious amount of time (well, except possibly tarvaris jackson or vince young, but they got benched). there isn't a RB in the league that can't run for a big gain through a hole that is 5 feet wide and lasts 3 or 4 seconds.
*if your o-line is BAD, it is not even enough to have STAND-OUT skill position players. it requires a LEGENDARY QB to dodge pass-rushers who are all over him the moment the ball is snapped on nearly EVERY PLAY, and still find a guy open down field and find a passing lane to throw him the ball, 20-30 times per game.
it requires a LEGENDARY RB (barry sanders) to spend 45 minutes evading and breaking through defenders in the backfield simply to avoid a LOSS, let alone somehow turn it into a 4 or 5 yard gain, 20-30 times per game.
shaun alexander set a TD record and was NFL MVP behind an incredible o-line, then they lost hutchinson and he has looked pedestrian ever since.
the national sports media continues their junior-high-style gushing/hype over eli manning, how much he's "improved" and how "efficient" he is. no, as a matter of fact he is still very much eli manning, which means that he still instictively responds to heavy pass pressure by blindly heaving the ball in the air and yelling "500!"
if eli manning played for the redskins, we would lose every game by 75 points, as he would throw approximately 10 to 20 interceptions per game. what factors do the giants posess that mitigate this liability?
#1: their o-line has become dominant. his "transformation" from horrible-interception-throwing-monster to alleged "model of efficiency" coincides entirely with the rise in power of their o-line. he is rarely under heavy pressure.
#2: Plastic-Ho is about 11 feet tall, and thus the majority of eli's crazy "up for grabs" lobs end up either being harmless knocked away as burress fights to keep the ball away from the defender, or, even result in completions and TV "analysts" calling eli a "play-maker".
i think instead, i am going to start calling him "wall street" and calling burress "congress".
anyways, campbell and the WRs definitely need to improve their performance-- especially ARE, who i have actually always been a big supporter of, but his constant drops this year (particularly on 3rd down conversions) have become unacceptable and he needs to improve or be demoted/replaced next year.
BUT, the bottom line for me is, none of that really even matters when the o-line is pass protecting so abysmally. 100% of the concentration and energy needs to go into finding a way to fix that.