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.

[70Chip]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

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

I think you give some of these other offensive lines too much credit. However, if you're saying that Cerratto hasn't done his job and should be fired then I agree completely with that.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by 70Chip

I think you give some of these other offensive lines too much credit. However, if you're saying that Cerratto hasn't done his job and should be fired then I agree completely with that.

Cerrato's biggest failure last year was the Jason Taylor trade without conferring with his defensive coordinator, whom he himself promoted, to see how Jason Taylor would fit.

The Devin Thomas selection was a close second.

Maybe we should lock his ability to touch his second round draft picks. Seems like with moves not involving a second rounder, he's done a pretty good job.

[The Goat]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

Cerrato's biggest failure last year was the Jason Taylor trade without conferring with his defensive coordinator, whom he himself promoted, to see how Jason Taylor would fit.

The Devin Thomas selection was a close second.

Maybe we should lock his ability to touch his second round draft picks. Seems like with moves not involving a second rounder, he's done a pretty good job.

I just don't get this. Devin has has evidently worked his tail off all year long and spent a ton of time w/ his QB developing chemistry/timing. He's a bit injury prone as it appears...however before we throw him into the pile of "wasted picks" lets see what the kid does over say the first 4 or 5 games this year.

...personally I xpect him to be a difference maker on offense this year.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by The Goat

I just don't get this. Devin has has evidently worked his tail off all year long and spent a ton of time w/ his QB developing chemistry/timing. He's a bit injury prone as it appears...however before we throw him into the pile of "wasted picks" lets see what the kid does over say the first 4 or 5 games this year.

...personally I xpect him to be a difference maker on offense this year.

Devin Thomas is less about Devin and more about Vinny.

He'll probably get way more than 4 or 5 games to prove himself. I don't want to make this an indictment of Devin Thomas the player, because that's not fair to him. If we had taken him in the fifth round instead of the second (hypothetically speaking, I know there's plenty wrong with that assumption), Devin would still be the same player. He'd still have worked just as hard with Jason Campbell to improve himself this offseason, given the team his all, looked like an explosive player at times, etc.

The fact that he was a glaringly obvious overdraft is not his fault, but it goes on Vinny's record. We still might get a player out of him yet, just like Marko Mitchell or Marques Hagans. Kelly too. They all might wind up being NFL receivers.

Right now, Thomas and Kelly are both horrifically bad draft picks, and the only thing that makes Thomas different in my mind is that it was obvious on draft day.

[Vinny's Dealer]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

Maybe we should lock his ability to touch his second round draft picks. Seems like with moves not involving a second rounder, he's done a pretty good job.

Whatever. Vin has the authority to touch his second round draft picks wherever he wants to.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by 70Chip

I think you give some of these other offensive lines too much credit. However, if you're saying that Cerratto hasn't done his job and should be fired then I agree completely with that.

Well we can test this. Starting with the assumption that the above Redskins line only had one player who could handle his position (assuming the Thomas injury disqualifies him from that designation).

The Bengals started this:

lt-anthony collins, lg-nate livings, c-eric ghiaciuc, rg-bobbie williams, rt-dennis roland

which is probably just as bad as our line above, but they only had that group for one start (compared to two starts for us).

The Seahaws had this:

lt-ray willis, lg-floyd womack, c-steve vallos, rg-mansfield wrotto, rt-kyle williams

which is also pretty bad, considering it's entirely backups. Wrotto is a Rinehart type, Willis = Heyer, and Kyle Williams was a UDFA. But Womack and Vallos are pretty good as far as backup lineman go.

Finally, when the Bills were at their worst, here's who they had to start:

lt-kirk chambers, lg-derrick dockery, c-melvin fowler, rg-jason whittle, rt-langston walker

I guess all of these lines were destined to fail, but I don't believe that just because a bunch of other bad teams had similar problems doesn't mean that we should pass the blame around.