Catching Up With Pete Kendall; Could He Be Back?

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by 70Chip

My point is that becuse our offensive line was so dominant in the 1980s, fans (of a certain age I suppose) think the only path to success is to have an offensive line that pitches shutouts. It's an unrealistic expectation. The QB has to pick his teammates up. The Cardinals are one example. I think Roethlisberger does a nice job of buying time. Ditto Romo, though he lacks consistency. It's the only thing McNabb does really well, IMO. As for the Pats, their offensive line is good but you can't tell me that Brady and the receivers aren't the straaw that really stirs that drink.

As for Zorn, his devotion to the outmoded WCO will be his downfall. Campbell can't run it the way Hasselback did and if he wants to survive he needs to get over the notion that you can run the Redskins offense exactly like they did in Seattle.

On the bright side, our defense may be good enough to carry us while they figure out how to score more than ten points.

Well, the point is that no team last year started a line as poor as this:

lt-heyer, lg-kendall, c-rabach, rg-thomas, rt-fabini

You can't win in the NFL with that. But, if you start with this:

lt-samuels, lg-dockery, c-rabach, rg-thomas, rt-heyer

Then you still have to be able to win with this:

lt-samuels, lg-rinehart, c-rabach, rg-bridges, rt-heyer

Everything is relative. Last year the Giants started the same five lineman for 16 games each. The Redskins, on the other hand, lost 9 games due to injury on the OL. That's really not a lot, but the effect was exaggerated by three things: 1) all 9 games were lost at the same postion (OT), 2) when Heyer returned from injury the team opted not to place him back in the starting lineup which makes the practical games lost more like 13 or 14, and 3) the Redskins don't employ a replacement level left tackle other than Samuels, and to this day, still do not.

Currently, the Redskins have only two guys on the roster who can handle the tackle position for an extended length of time, so more injuries at that position would be devistating. I think they can deal with another 9 adjusted games lost if they get 16 start seasons from Heyer and Samuels. But that's not necessarily in their control.