Quote:
Originally Posted by FRPLG
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?
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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.