Why all the complaining?

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by mheisig

....At some point the offense has to contribute, and right now they just can't.

Exactly. They are not being held back by bad play calling or lacking execution because of intensity. They simply have a low skill level and are doing what should b expected of them. It can get better if we can get Rabach, Kendall and Wade healthy. A healthy line of Samuels, Kendall, Rabach, Fabini and Wade is good to ok from left to right and good enough to open our play book back up.

On top of everything most of starting line didn't even practice this week.

[4mrusmc]

Originally Posted by GiantsSuck703

You really have not seen any progress from Jason Campbell this year, it must only be you

Sure there has been some progress, but if you could remember back in training camp when all the buzz was about how JC was going to be vastly improved. I for one don't see it, especially when our defense gives you back the ball and our offense does nothing but 3 and out. But, I will acknowledge the fact that those droped passes have hurt as well. This team is not that good of a team to just give back the ball to the oposition.

[FRPLG]

This thread is driving me nuts. What does everyone expect our offense to do? Be reasonable here. Take into account our injuries and therefore our avaiable personell. Then apply that to our philosophy and add it all up. JC has been fine. He is the best thing we have on offense but he has little time to throw, few weapons and no run game to counter a pass defense. He is doing ok given those situations.

I like to think that esssentially it can't get worse in terms of situation. If it does then we're done and it won;t matter otherwise health will increase on the line and our offense will open back up. Until then hunker down for a stripped playbook and poor execution,

[4mrusmc]

[quote=dblanch66;367115]Sorry but this is kind of a dumb, uninformed, dare I say, ignorant statement.[/quote I don't know if you were able to watch the game from Cali or not, but we were damn lucky to NOT snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

[EternalEnigma21]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I'm just amazed that people seem to be shocked that the offense is sputtering with 3 starters out on the offensive line and two others banged up. Samuels is our only healthy starter right now.

Anyone recall the Green Bay game at the end when we couldn't even get a pass off??

Considering how poor the line play was last week I think Buges and company did as good of a job as he could have getting a patchwork line together today.

yeah I've been a little disappointed with the offensive showing, but considering the circumstances we looked allright... the cards do have a pretty good d line and they were spying campbell with the lolb, so that limited the effectiveness of rolling him out of the pocket to the right, and pushing him left makes it difficult for him to throw across his body...

I do wish we could run the ball more effectively, though. I really hope injuries don't completely ruin our season, though...

[4mrusmc]

Originally Posted by dgack

First of all, you don't need to be the Patriots and be dominant on both sides of the ball to make the playoffs and make noise in a weak NFC. Chicago Bears anyone?




Oh, I guess you missed the week where he posted the second-best QB rating in the league. Or the numerous third-and-forever plays where his back was against the wall due to penalties and mistakes, and yet he came through despite the defense bringing the house. And, I guess, you figure the 9 dropped passes last week were all his fault.




You lose 90% of your O-line, and then half of the backups, and what do you expect? Frankly, two rushing TD's ought to stop the bitching. I'd rather see Portis rush 90 times for one yard and 3 TD's than peel off 200 yards and get blanked trying to get the scores.

What about keeping drives alive and giving your defense a rest when it is time for you to do something when you have the ball. So far that detroit game is the exception.

[4mrusmc]

Originally Posted by Beemnseven

I'm probably in the minority here, but for some reason I think we'd still have most of the same offensive problems even if our offensive line was completely healthy.

Portis isn't hitting on all cylinders, Betts hasn't really picked up the slack the way he did last season, and Moss is in a funk. Overall, there just doesn't seem to be much intensity with the players, chemistry between teammates, and general disorganization with coaching.

And no, I never expected us to be on the level of the Patriots.

The nail has been hit squarely on the head.

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by SouperMeister

What is troubling is that watching this team is dare I say, like watching the Skins during the Norv Turner era try to give away a game. Let's count the ways:

1. Up 14-0 and having forced a change of possession on downs, Gibbs/Saunders dial up a screen pass on first down at mid-field that is intercepted, leading to a Cardinal score. Instead of seizing the game with a score before the half we let a team on the ropes back in the game - sound familiar?

2. Up 21-6 in the 3rd quarter, the D takes TWO personal fouls on 3rd down stops, all but handing the Cards another score to make it a one TD game again.

3. Ultra-conservative offensive playcalling when it's clear that the Cards are selling out to stop the run. I counted ONE Campbell pass attempt over 20 yards (to Thrash). That is not enough to get Adrian Wilson and gang to respect the pass. We are four years into Gibbs 2.0 and this offense still only scores 3 or more TDs less than one third of the time.

4. At one point, I believe that the Skins had about 10 consecutive runs on 1st down. Is that the kind of predictability that we're paying Saunders $2M to dial up?

Until Gibbs takes the handcuffs off of Campbell and trusts him to make plays downfield, the Skins will remain mired in mediocrity.

After the Giants game you said the offense was too conversative, after the Packers game you complained about Saunders running a reverse to Moss, and wondered why all the need for the trickery. Why not just run the bal straight ahead. And now you're back to wondering why we're running and not more unpredictable

Am I missing something here?

[dgack]

Originally Posted by 4mrusmc

Sure there has been some progress, but if you could remember back in training camp when all the buzz was about how JC was going to be vastly improved. I for one don't see it, especially when our defense gives you back the ball and our offense does nothing but 3 and out. But, I will acknowledge the fact that those droped passes have hurt as well. This team is not that good of a team to just give back the ball to the oposition.

You're just insane. Were it not for 8 dropped passes against GB and several long passes to receivers stopped on the 1, Jason would probably be sporting numbers similar to this:

Record: 5-1
Yds: 1200
TD's: 8
INT: 4

Even taking the *real* numbers, he's improved from last year in completion percentage and yards per attempt already, despite clearly being asked to do more in the offense (he's taken 2 more sacks already than he did last year, in one fewer game). Our running game is far less effective than it was last year, so offenses can key on Jason, yet he's still making smart plays (today's game notwithstanding) in most cases, and often he's putting the team on his back. All from a guy who hasn't started an entire season yet.

Say, how are those other young, highly touted QB's doing:

-- Vince Young
-- Philip Rivers
-- Alex Smith
-- Matt Leinart
-- Jay Cutler

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Guys need to remember that this kid is TWENTY FIVE freaking years old. At 13 games into his professional career, his numbers look like this:

Cmp: 210
Att:375
Pct: 56.0
Yd: 2,478
Avg: 6.6
TD: 15
INT: 11
Sck: 16
SckYd: 97
Rate: 77.4
RushAtt: 44
RushYd: 200
RushAvg: 4.5
RushTD: 1
Fum: 6
Lost: 1

Thirteen games into his career, Carson Palmer's numbers:
Cmp: 263
Att: 432
Pct: 60.9
Yd: 2,897
Avg: 6.7
TD: 18
INT: 18
Sck:25
SckYd: 178
Rate: 77.3
RushAtt: 18
RushYd: 47
RushAvg: 2.6
RushTD: 1
Fum: 2
Lost: 2

And just for comparison, here's Peyton Manning's first 16 games:
Cmp: 326
Att: 575
Pct: 56.7
Yd: 3,739
Avg: 6.5
TD: 26
INT: 28
Sck: 22
SckYd: 109
Rate: 71.2
RushAtt: 15
RushYd: 62
RushAvg: 4.1
RushTD: 0
Fum: 3
Lost: 1

So before you go all flipping out about Campbell, recognize that he's exactly where he needs to be. And in most measurable statistics, he's farther along than two of today's best QB's were at similar points in *their* NFL careers.

[Paintrain]

Originally Posted by dgack

Not sure why this is so shocking. As we saw in the GB game, put the ball on the ground just once and you very well could be done for the day. With the defense playing the way it's been playing, getting up early then riding it out seems like a perfectly reasonable philosophy.

The trick is that we don't have an earth-moving front line anymore, so we can't run it down opposing teams' throats and control the clock in the second half. But turning to the air exclusively is way too risky.

The mentality of playing not to lose and being scared is why we've lost games where we held a 2nd half lead since 2004 than anyone else in the league.. You can't 'ride it out' in the NFL anymore.. Did you hear Belichick today? He put his starters back in because the Dolphins(!) were 1 possession away from a 14 point game.. When you have the lead, that's when you put the foot on the other team's throat and crush it not just hope to 'ride it out'..

[SFREDSKIN]

Why don't we just compare young QB's and their teams:

Young + Titans 4-2
Smith + Forty Niners 2-4
Cutler + Denver 3-3
Leinart + Arizona 3-4

You can also include Rivers and Manning if you like

Rivers + Chargers 3-3
Manning + Giants 5-2
Romo + Cowboys 6-1

All this QB's were drafted ahead of Campbell except for Romo and their records are no better except for Romo and Manning who've been in the league one year longer.

I think Campbell is doing just fine for his experience level, the sky is the limit on his potential. He's still in the learning process, it would help if Moss would get of his funk. I think the funk is due to a hamstring strain.

[dgack]

Originally Posted by Paintrain

The mentality of playing not to lose and being scared is why we've lost games where we held a 2nd half lead since 2004 than anyone else in the league.. You can't 'ride it out' in the NFL anymore.. Did you hear Belichick today? He put his starters back in because the Dolphins(!) were 1 possession away from a 14 point game.. When you have the lead, that's when you put the foot on the other team's throat and crush it not just hope to 'ride it out'..

I agree with you in principle, I'm just saying that we're clearly not playing sharp football right now, and it's much easier for Belichick to go out there and air it out than it is for Joe in terms of talent available, health, and so on. I personally think we'd be 1-5 if we'd been taking more risks with 2nd half leads, rather than 6-0.

Besides, Belichick's a flaming asshole. He was just running up the score, because he wants to stick that spygate draft pick fine up the entirety of the NFL's collective rectum.

Originally Posted by WillH

Im sorry....WE'RE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!!!

LOL...Yeah,why not dream big...Lets start with our divison and make the playoffs....Many of SB teams got there mostly on their strong defense, not offense as much. However, I'd like to see them both get a whole lot better in the coming weeks.

[Crazyhorse1]

Originally Posted by jdlea

Oh, so it must be the running backs who fell off, not the offensive line play. When a team loses one starter it's a problem, when you lose 2, that's a pretty big deal. Wade is getting starter money? SO WHAT!!!! (when you add exclamation points, apparently that makes you right) He's not a very good tackle and Fabini used to start, that doesn't mean anything either. It's a bad idea to add depth because you anticipate guys missing entire seasons. Neither one of them is very good, you can see that by watching them play the game.

Somehow, I think that the injured offensive linemen might be keeping the offense from producing the way they could.

Ok, kill me. But i don't think the replacement OL hurt us that much. We couldn't have run against the Cards anway, and Gibbs would have tried anyway. Maybe we could have improved from 2.9 a carry to 3.2 yd a carry, but so what? Our running game makes a difference only when we pass imaginatively and mix it up successfully. We suck at vanilla. Somebody in charge is denying that reality. Cooley-- one reception (Holy Stupidity, Batman.)

To get ahead in a game seems to cue the wizards with the clipboards to shut down the offense so the other teams can catch us. For that reason alone, I think we'll play better offense against the Pats-- it not being likely we'll take a lead.

[JWsleep]

Here's some thoughts on the offense. I actually feel it's a combination of things here, injuries, playcalling AND execution.

1. Injuries: we cannot run the ball. Both Gibbs and Saunders predicate much of their offensive philosophy on balance and running for a high average. Taking that aspect of the game away is a big blow. The big loss here is Thomas, IMO, but Rabach is a close second. And that's not to mention Jansen who, IMO, would have come on after a slow start and was always about the run game.

2. Reaction to the injuries leads to a modified game plan, no doubt. They still tried to establish the run, but failed. And they had lots of short drops, because Pucillo cannot make the line calls like Rabach (and can't block as well either). The D has been lights out, so a conservative game plan is not crazy. Plus, they aren't ready just to send JC back there like McNabb, if they ever will. First, he could get hurt with this line (did you see Wade on that sack? Wtf? Wake up!). Second, he could make the wrong read (as has been mentioned, he hasn't started a full season's worth of games yet!). So it's not nuts, again. My complaint is that I think JC is ready to step up, and I'd like to see that more. But I get the thinking here.

3. Execution: we were in 3rd and short a lot, and couldn't convert. It doesn't take a dang long bomb there. The lack of a run really hurts here. But my guess is that on most of those third and short "behind the line" throws were not the first reads. I could be wrong, but it seemed JC came off a longer route and threw underneath. That avoids the sack, and you HOPE someone can make a guy miss. We couldn't do that. So better reads, more time to throw, and a juke or two would help! And my guess is also that blocks are being missed--again, you can point to injury, but still. And finally, on the screen INT. JC is 6' 5" and failed to get it over the rusher. That screen was a nice call. We didn't execute.

The big stat for this O is 3rd down percentage. We do well when we convert--that opens the playbook, tires the D, and creates opportunities to take shots. We are having trouble with that, no doubt. All three factors are to blame.