Skins/Falcons goat of the day

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Campbell struggled but that was a direct result of the crappy pass protection. Too often he had guys running at him totally unblocked. Not sure what anyone would expect him to do.

I don't know how anyone can blame JC when the D gave up 200+ on the ground. I guess it goes back to that blame Brunell for everything syndrome.

You are right, Matty. A lot of people assumed that even without seeing JC take a snap, that putting him in would be an improvement over Brunell. I hope the more objective of these fans are starting to see how that isn't the case.

Campbell has certainly brought an element with the deep ball that Brunell didn't have. But so far, he has struggled to complete passes underneath and move the chains. He has made up for it with running sometimes, but a lot of our drives are stalling because we either pick up 15 yards at a time, or we throw 3 incompletes in a row. Our offensive efficency has suffered.

To date, Campbell has done a good job taking care of the football, but he looked more like a rookie than a second year player today. THAT is why Brunell gives us the best chance to win.

Now I'll shift gears and reiterate why making the switch was a good decision. After the Philadelphia loss, we didn't have a realistic shot to win the division. We did however have a realistic shot to make the playoffs if we stayed with MB and the defense improved. But only as a wild card. And in my opinion, and I believe that of Joe Gibbs, getting lucky and getting the WC would not have accomplised our goals. So after the division got away, we made the switch, IRed Portis (as opposed to having him sit for 3 weeks, and play the rest of the year with a torn labrum), and moved toward the the future. So it was better to go about .500 with Campbell and miss the playoffs by 2 games than to stay with Brunell and and still have a good chance to miss. I'll buy that decision.

Back to the game, the defense did play the way it was playing all season. But I ask myself this: If they had given up only 17 defensive points (including the Campbell INT, giving them a short field), did the offense play well enough to win? I'm not so sure it did. Betts and the running game did it's part, but we've become predictable in our run pass playcalling based on personel packages, and protection issues aside, Campbell didn't even complete 50%. If he's not getting the football to his teammates (not even his backs), he can't be absolved of blame.

It's not his fault we lost...but I'm not sure he played well enough to win.