The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

grampi wrote:The offensive line. They keep hem-hawing around about Campbell and whether or not he's good enough to be a starter on this team when the glaring problem is the offensive line. Give him time and he's as good as any QB. Put a REAL O-line on the field and Portis and Betts will run all over every team. Until we get a decent O-line it's just going to be more of the same ol' same ol' from this team.

The offensive line issues were a big concern last year but the lack of pressure from the defensive line and the play of the defensive line has been a concern here for more than a year.

I agree that we would all love to have been able to address both lines but that was not possible and, either though the draft or with free agency, IMO, the team did the best they could
although I have always maintained that they should have addressed these issues sooner

The good 'news' going forward is that we look like having a great defense and will have a much better idea of what needs to be done on the offensive side and those changes/upgrades may not just be to the offensive line

Crazy, of course any reply to you is biased against you and not necessarily what you say. Your posts have been nothing but negative since I first saw you on this board. And from what I have seen from grampi, he is much the same. That being said, I have been gone awhile, but your posts in this thread are amazingly insightful and dare I say it, much along the same lines as what I believe.

I also think grampis question was very legitimate. The thing is just that this has been gone over since cooke junior had the team. Most of us here IMO believe that the OLine and DLine are where you win superbowls. This is why the Giants are so good. Why hasn't our management figured this out? Who the heck knows?! We are all very sick of it, but at least this year, they seem to have gotten part of it right.

We have had a pretty good defense for the last 5 or so years WITHOUT a pass rush and WITHOUT a good ratio of turnovers. I believe we have solved that problem.

Pittsburgh won the superbowl last year with a worse OLine than we have IMO and an AMAZING defense.

The similarities to Pittsburgh are there. Can Campbell get it done with shorter fields and more opportunites?

I think we are about to find out, and that's why people are excited!

They have Big Ben...he's built like a LBer...he makes things happen. THAT'S why their offense is better than ours in recent past.

DEHog wrote:Surprised no one has mentioned the obvious…We already know Snyder wants a new QB and with the numerous big name coaches that are available he decided to not upgrade the OLine so that they will fail and he cam get rid of both

"Obvious" only to those who think Elvis is alive

CH said:

I haven't checked Grampi's post at all but all I think that the occuasional pessimistic or even contraian post that is posted is healthy for this board.

I would never dispute that (the operative word being "occasional").

I agree Vet, but I would just say that Big Ben really only made things happen in last years superbowl. Before that, their defense and their running game covered Bens poor play IMO. Last year, I believe Ben became great though. He really impressed me in that superbowl, and I thought he was crap before that. He is going to have a monstrous career I think...

JC and Ben are very similarly built, both have strong arms and if you go by averages per start, are very similar in stats as well.

I'm not saying that JC will turn the corner like Ben did, but I do think the possibility is there, and this defense gives him as good a chance as ben had to make that turn. I think hes got as good a chance as possible without having that great offensive line like Eli does.

Ben is really good at not going down to arm tackles, though. JC usually folds like a cheap umbrella.

Countertrey wrote:

... I think that the occasional pessimistic or even contraian post is healthy for this board.

I would never dispute that (the operative word being "occasional").

now, that's enough out of you! - I resemble that remark

Deadskins wrote:Ben is really good at not going down to arm tackles, though. JC usually folds like a cheap umbrella.

In JC's defense on this one, if you recall the problem he had with fumbles a couple of years back, I think the first thing he thinks when he feels pressure/contact in the backfield is "protect the ball".

When he has taken off before contact, it's clear that he is a load to tackle.

Ben has that comeback talent though. He can have a pathetic three quarters and then steps up to bring it back. JC hasn't made that stride yet. You may be able to compare them on paper, but they are not similar on film. Hines Ward doesn't hurt Ben's resume.

I thought this was the O-Line thread, why is everyone talking about Big Ben?

Anyway, I really think that if Orakpo had been snatched up that the Skins would have taken Michael Oher. I was pulling for him to be wearing B&G but when Orakpo fell to us it was a forgone conclusion (and it was probably the right choice.)

Later on in the draft the Redskins didn't see any o-linemen worthy of the draft position so they were kind of handcuffed.

Hopefully they can make due with some of the old men (their depth looks better this season too) and there's some young guys who look okay (Chad Rinehart is reportedly showing a lot of improvement, Edwin Williams, Heyer...) We'd be damn lucky if one of those 3 I mentioned became an NFL starter, but they're all showing something in camp. At the very least I think the O-Line IS improved over last season, there's more depth and the offense should be better from another year in the system... but you can bet if we falter again O-line is going to be a #1 priority.

VetSkinsFan wrote:Ben has that comeback talent though. He can have a pathetic three quarters and then steps up to bring it back. JC hasn't made that stride yet. You may be able to compare them on paper, but they are not similar on film. Hines Ward doesn't hurt Ben's resume.

I agree, the main thing Campbell is missing is the killer instinct. Our offensive line will be good enough this year that, if Campbell steps up, we could turn things around.

Irn-Bru wrote:

VetSkinsFan wrote:Ben has that comeback talent though. He can have a pathetic three quarters and then steps up to bring it back. JC hasn't made that stride yet. You may be able to compare them on paper, but they are not similar on film. Hines Ward doesn't hurt Ben's resume.

I agree, the main thing Campbell is missing is the killer instinct. Our offensive line will be good enough this year that, if Campbell steps up, we could turn things around.

I know it's super early in training camp Bru, but so far it looks like we just picked up where we left last season with the OL. I'm talking about strictly practices and tc of course so its mute until the season starts. Judging by how our defense has been trashing the OL this offseason, it means either our OL isn't better or our defense is just that much dag gone better. Either way though, game 1 will show us the truth.

There is no doubt that the offensive line is a serious problem but I think Campbell is part of the problem. He plays not to lose instead of playing to win in my eyes

cowboys-suck wrote:There is no doubt that the offensive line is a serious problem but I think Campbell is part of the problem. He plays not to lose instead of playing to win in my eyes

Thats y I think that, long term, Colt will be better. I think plays to win.

yupchagee wrote:

cowboys-suck wrote:There is no doubt that the offensive line is a serious problem but I think Campbell is part of the problem. He plays not to lose instead of playing to win in my eyes

Thats y I think that, long term, Colt will be better. I think plays to win.

I got a similar impression of him. That's one of his likeable qualities.

I really kind of hope that Colt Brennan can be a decent QB in the NFL but if he is starting games for us this year then that will mean we are not a very good team or doing very well at all.



That being said this thread is about the offensive line and the prospects of it being able to make a lot of difference for our team this year

SkinsJock* wrote:I really kind of hope that Colt Brennan can be a decent QB in the NFL but if he is starting games for us this year then that will mean we are not a very good team or doing very well at all. :shock

Or Campbell went down to injury.

Deadskins wrote:

SkinsJock* wrote:I really kind of hope that Colt Brennan can be a decent QB in the NFL but if he is starting games for us this year then that will mean we are not a very good team or doing very well at all. :shock

Or Campbell went down to injury.

agreed but the fact remains that if Cambell does go down we are not in very good shape back up wise as far as the QB is concerned and I have serious doubts about anybody other than Campbell having even a decent opportunity behind this offensive line.

i am not trying to be a wet blanket here but the fact remains we are hoping to find out where we stand as an offense and losing Campbell would be a huge blow to any continuity.

btw - as this thread is about the reasons why the offensive line issues were not addressed the QB playing behind this line is really going to be important to help us ascertain what we need offensively next year - I certainly hope we do not mortgage our future by giving up future players or picks to try and help this line

we are who we are and next year we can build around the players we have here

grampi wrote:The offensive line. They keep hem-hawing around about Campbell and whether or not he's good enough to be a starter on this team when the glaring problem is the offensive line. Give him time and he's as good as any QB. Put a REAL O-line on the field and Portis and Betts will run all over every team. Until we get a decent O-line it's just going to be more of the same ol' same ol' from this team.

We are going to find out both before and during this season where we stand with this offensive line and we will most likely address those issues when we better understand what our concerns are - I certainly hope that we don't mortgage our future by doing anything "stupid" in the hope of having a better team as we have been known to do in the past - this offensive line will be "fine" according to all reports from Bugel and others here

We need to ascertain our needs this year and go from there -