Santana Moss needs the damn ball

Joe Theismann went down for good on a flea-flicker......Leave that play alone.

I thought one of the newer issues with this offense was that JC had to take care of a lot more of the protection calls rather than Rabach?Well, either way, someone is screwing up. We were bad at picking up all the blitzers last year, and we were 16 kinds of awful picking them up against the Rams.

On plays where Campbell knows that he's not going to get the blitz picked up, he possesses an incredible ability to not only slide around the pocket to get the ball out, but turn the play into the positive by finding an open receiver before a free rusher can get to him. That's Manning/Brady type stuff.

However, on other plays, Campbell clearly expects a 5 man blitz (usually a right side overload to be picked up), and usually this involves either a one on one situation on Jansen or Cooley, or a free blitzer in a gap, and Rabach won't touch anyone the whole play.

I'm really not out to get Casey Rabach here, but no matter who is calling the protection, he blocks nobody FAR too often. The book on the Redskins is this: if you want to get pressure on Campbell, overload the right side, with no one rushing in either A gap. Rabach doesn't ever slide over to Thomas' side to free him up to pick up an unblocked rusher, he just stands in the middle shuffling his feet and waiting for someone to come so he doesn't have to move.

I'd estimate this happens 3-4 times every game. At the same time, what can you do? Replace the Center? There's no guarantee things will get any better. You just have to keep Cooley and Portis in pass pro more often to make up for those plays where Rabach is useless.

I understand the need to protect the gaps closest to the QB, and honestly, he does a good job at keeping teams from pressuring Campbell up the middle. It just changes the whole complection of the passing offense when you realize that some 5 man blitzes absolutely can not be handled by fewer than 7 blockers.

Now, if the opponent brings 6, Campbell's going to get the ball out hot. But the 5 man rush is the bane of our passing offense right now.

I think the key is pass protection. JC was not able to exploit any DB mismatches b/c the line wasn't protecting him (and the Rams were thin at DB).

Moss did have a bad drop that killed the promising opening drive, and another on a tougher play later on the right sideline, so he got more than two balls. To Moss's credit, he doesn't cry for the ball like the litany of WR divas throughout the league. If anything, he seems to be blocking better than I ever recall, which certainly helps Portis turn an 8 yard run into a 25 yard run.