Jason La Canfora overreacting to Heyer Experiment; how to possibly use an extra pick

[argentina_redskins]

Heyer might have allowed that hit on Campbell but if you guys watch the game tape again you will see that he held up pretty darn good against the Steelers starters. The sacks were not his fault by any means (one on Jansen, one on Collins) and even though he allowed that hit, it took the DE a long time to get to Campbell. Say what you want but I am comfortable with this kid as our #2 LT.

[CalSkinsFan]

With all of JLC's inside sources, one would think he could at least name a player that should take Heyer's place. Unfortunately he doesn't do that.

Exactly. JLC's comments have a "I told you so" tune to them, imo.

With Fabini looking like crap in camp, Heyer was probably the best option ... nobody else currently on the roster to fill the spot better.

That said, the replay looked as tho Heyer was expecting inside help on that play, essentially letting the DE go inside of him. Maybe it was Pucillo's missed assignment, and not Heyer's bad at all :whoknows: .

:2cents:

[Zen-like Todd]

Related to team blocking' date=' I have to say that I also thought Ladell Betts did an AWFUL job on Saturday. There were several successful blitzes that he went to block on the inside or opposite side of the apparent blitzer. It was puzzling(perhaps chematic) but he seemed to be the weakest part of our entire blocking game. Blaylock did a better job but I wasn't paying close enough attention when Mason was in to judge(hungover/sleepy/drunk/other), but he looked quick with the ball. Betts was a good blocker and excellent receiver, so hopefully his lapses are just early errors, but we need him to read things well if we are going to be successful on 3rd this year.[/quote']

I caught that too. Betts royally screwed up on a blatantly obvious blitz pickup assignment that almost killed the QB. CP's blocking prowess/recognition is what I miss far more than his running ability.

[TheLongshot]

That said, the replay looked as tho Heyer was expecting inside help on that play, essentially letting the DE go inside of him. Maybe it was Pucillo's missed assignment, and not Heyer's bad at all :whoknows: .

Heyer said in an ES interview the next day that he was expecting some inside help and didn't get it. Considering the flux out there, you have to expect the occasional communication issue. He sure wasn't beaten physically.

And let's face it: it doesn't matter who is out there right now, considering how little experience that side of the line has right now, those things are going to happen. There is no avoiding it. It is easy to sit in the press booth and say such things, but there are no magic solutions to just plain working together.

Jason

[jnhay]

I believe him. Heyer allowed the campbell hit.

So what? Heyer didn't force the guy to tackle low on Campbell. It wasn't his fault.

[TheLongshot]

I caught that too. Betts royally screwed up on a blatantly obvious blitz pickup assignment that almost killed the QB. CP's blocking prowess/recognition is what I miss far more than his running ability.

Well, the situation was obvious, but not where the blitzer was coming from. Betts chose to go inside, when he probably should have gone outside. (or, maybe Jansen should have gone outside) Course, that's why you play these preseason games.

Jason

[nightbird]

JLC is prone to getting hysterical, but he does have a point.

To me, Jason is so damn important, you can't run the risks they're running. Keep a TE next to Heyer on every damn pass play. EVERY ONE. Yeah, it limits you to 3 and 4 man routes, and that may hurt his development, but I don't give a damn. Getting pummeled hurts his development too.

That said, it's tough to hear this crap from LaCanfora. This is the guy who just ripped the franchise, and us fans, when the Skins gave up on Arch and traded him for a pick (Jordan Palmer, now).

And he was on the Amobi Okoye bandwagon all spring and was killing us for drafting Landry. Meanwhile, reports out of Houston are that Okoye looks like a bust so far, and benefited greatly from a big-time PR campaign leading up to the draft.

[The Lavarminator]

I've been wondering what the consensus was regarding Heyer v. Gaither (OT from MD as well playing for Ravens). Frankly I had never heard Heyer's name mentioned when watching MD games, while I had heard of Gaither.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

And let's face it: it doesn't matter who is out there right now, considering how little experience that side of the line has right now, those things are going to happen. There is no avoiding it. It is easy to sit in the press booth and say such things, but there are no magic solutions to just plain working together.

You know, it does not take a Constitutional Amendment to alter the play-calling.

As others have said, if the left side of the line is a disaster, move a freaking Tight End over there. Leave a back over there. If that means that we are only running three-man routes so be it.

Nothing is more important than protecting the QB's blindside. If your QB has been positively drilled from that direction in less than three quarters, you may want to make a few adjustments.

Keisel is a pretty talented pass rusher for a 3-4 end. He had 6 sacks last year, and that is a position that does not produce sacks. Leaving him alone with a rookie was simply begging for disaster.

(To be honest, I fully expected it to be a linebacker to get a free hit on Jason. LeBeau tends to create a free shot like that once a game against experienced lines).

[HateYanksDukeCowboys]

He is way overreacting, and too quick to point out that he foresaw this as a problem weeks ago. When you're negative about pretty much everything, occasionally circumstances will occur that seem to support your pessimism. That doesn't make you brilliant or prophetic. When will this guy get it out of his head that he knows more about football than our coaching staff?

A-F***ing-Men!!! so true.

i'm gonna predict that the Lions and Cardinals both miss the playoffs this year. When one out of those two teams fulfills my prophecy, I'll be back to tell everyone I was right.

[Leonard Washington]

we didn't have a choice. JC needs the work and there is no other LT or LG option on the team. cambell was hurt playing football, not in a drive-by. :doh:

[Soup]

I don't know what's more scary Heyer protecting Campbell or the coaching staff allowing heyer to protect campbell

[GoCommiesGo]

So how does everyone feel about the part of leaving Heyer 1 on 1 against Suggs this Saturday?

A blitzing Ravens defense against an over matched left side is a lot scarier to me than the Steelers. Suggs and Ngata have been a load so far I can see Ryan stacking the left side a whole lot this weekend...

[CapitalDefense]

I believe him. Heyer allowed the campbell hit.

Get off of Heyers back, he made one bad play, sure it could have been huge but it wasn't. Get over it, this guy was undrafted and was thrown into the fire when Samuels went down and has done more than expected. He will be a solid LT in this league in the years to come, he will make some mistakes but he needs to play, the more the better. Is Samuels invincible? He might get hurt again, and we need Heyer to get as many preseason reps as possible.

A kid makes one mistake and gets his QB hit and everyone wants to throw him to the wolves. Even the great Jansen and Samuels make mistakes on an occasion, and everyone wants them cut the next week to.

[CapitalDefense]

Jason La Canfora is a girl, really, I have never seen a man whine and cry so much and then say I told you so.

[SuperSmartQb#8]

The problem isn't with Heyer. It's not his fault that he has to start when he isn't ready to do so. The problem is with the front office/coaching staff. This is what happens when you constantly trade away draft picks and as result don't have the depth needed to withstand injuries to your starters. Instead of filling the hole that was left by Dockery's departure, the front office created an additional hole by moving Wade from his natural position instead of finding a replacement in the offseason. Not only has Wade struggled with the move to guard but the move has also hurt our depth on the oline.

[Siven]

Get off of Heyers back, he made one bad play, sure it could have been huge but it wasn't. Get over it, this guy was undrafted and was thrown into the fire when Samuels went down and has done more than expected. He will be a solid LT in this league in the years to come, he will make some mistakes but he needs to play, the more the better. Is Samuels invincible? He might get hurt again, and we need Heyer to get as many preseason reps as possible.

A kid makes one mistake and gets his QB hit and everyone wants to throw him to the wolves. Even the great Jansen and Samuels make mistakes on an occasion, and everyone wants them cut the next week to.

Exactly, Heyer needs this experience. Heyer has all the physical tools, PLUS the desire to get better. He is most likely our starting left tackle in a few years, all at the cost of NO DRAFT PICKS. FREE. Chill. He's a rookie left tackle, the hardest position on the line. He's not being matched up against sucky DE's. He's had Keisel and Van den Bosch. He's done pretty damn well.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Someone on JLC's blog made a great point, I thought. The move should have been take a guard in the fifth round and make it competition between 5th round guard and Wade. 5th Round guard probably would have won the job by now and Wade would be back to being the back-up tackle.

Right now, a left side of Wade and 5th Round guard is a lot more appealing than a left side of Hayer and Wade/Pucillo.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Exactly, Heyer needs this experience. Heyer has all the physical tools, PLUS the desire to get better.

You sure about this?

Anyway, he could learn on the practice squad.

[Siven]

The problem isn't with Heyer. It's not his fault that he has to start when he isn't ready to do so. The problem is with the front office/coaching staff. This is what happens when you constantly trade away draft picks and as result don't have the depth needed to withstand injuries to your starters. Instead of filling the hole that was left by Dockery's departure, the front office created an additional hole by moving Wade from his natural position instead of finding a replacement in the offseason. Not only has Wade struggled with the move to guard but the move has also hurt our depth on the oline.

You're an idiot. Trading away draft picks is why we have a rookie lineman for depth playing right now? Seems to me that trading away draft picks has nothing to do with it. We would have never spent a 2nd, 3rd, 4th on a Left tackle. We couldn't afford a guard in free agency. I'm sorry, but you can't go into a new season with no question marks

Dockery left for perenial pro bowl money, there is zero chance we could have kept him. The thing is, he wasn't that good! Anyone worth a damn is already taken. Few teams have great depth on the oline. Besides QB, oline is the hardest place to plug someone new in. If we had those draft picks, I can tell you, one of them would have been spent on a guard, but not another rookie left tackle. We thought chris would be good to go. so why draft a replacement? We would have drafted a Defensive end perhaps, and a receiver. Even if we did draft a left tackle with the "picks we traded away" he still would be a rookie and would still be getting mauled. Heyer went up against Keisel and Van Den Bosch, two really good DE's, and he did alright.

[Siven]

You sure about this?

Anyway' date=' he could learn on the practice squad.[/quote']

I believe Heyer spent a lot of the summer working with Bugel to improve his technique. Unfortunately I can't provide the link. He goes on the practice squad, he'll get snapped up, he's performed well against starters as a rookie and someone is gonna say "I can make a starting left tackle out of that guy" and sign him.

[ucfSKINS]

Also, last week in the Titans game, when Jason failed to pick out the corner on the corner blitz (it was not Heyer's responsibility) the corner put a hard hit on him and could have separated his shoulder. Jason was fine, but would scouts and coaches be doubting Heyer and what a bonehead move it was to put him in there, or would they be questioning Jason Campbell's intelligence. I think he is overreacting to a dirty play and acting like it would have been the coaching staff's fault for letting something like that happen.

And that was Cooley that missed the block, btw.

[SuperSmartQb#8]

You're an idiot. Trading away draft picks is why we have a rookie lineman for depth playing right now? Seems to me that trading away draft picks has nothing to do with it. We would have never spent a 2nd, 3rd, 4th on a Left tackle. We couldn't afford a guard in free agency. I'm sorry, but you can't go into a new season with no question marks

Dockery left for perenial pro bowl money, there is zero chance we could have kept him. The thing is, he wasn't that good! Anyone worth a damn is already taken. Few teams have great depth on the oline. Besides QB, oline is the hardest place to plug someone new in. If we had those draft picks, I can tell you, one of them would have been spent on a guard, but not another rookie left tackle. We thought chris would be good to go. so why draft a replacement? We would have drafted a Defensive end perhaps, and a receiver. Even if we did draft a left tackle with the "picks we traded away" he still would be a rookie and would still be getting mauled. Heyer went up against Keisel and Van Den Bosch, two really good DE's, and he did alright.

Try thinking every once in a while moron. It might stop you from making retarded posts that completely miss the point. I never said that we should've drafted a guard or a tackle this season. My point is that if in the past few seasons we had kept more of our picks and drafted for depth then we likely would've had an experienced replacement for Dockery or a backup for Samuels.

You stated that we wouldn't have drafted a tackle in this year's draft if we had a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th rounder. However, if we had those picks left we might have drafted a guard as Dockery's replacement, so in that scenario we would've had Wade as a backup for Samuels. Instead the coaching staff stupidly decideds to move Wade to guard and we are left with Pucillo and Heyer as our backups. Well what happens if one of our linemen goes down during the season?

[Art]

Heyer has played well. He did miss his assignment on the Campbell injury, but, he's been very sound in pass protection and lively in the running game. He certainly appears to be a prospect worth building up over time and probably should have been drafted. Not sure how it would matter if he was a fifth rounder or an UFA.

The Redskins have leveraged a high number of former starters in reserve for the offensive line which is a good strategy to get the team through a few games if there's an injury that isn't season ending. We are light on future prospects along the offensive line. Those types are the kind who are less likely to be ready immediately but who have room to grow. Heyer appears to be that type right now, but, I imagine so did Whitaker at various times in the offseason.

Jason's evaluation of Heyer is skewed by bad information. No one actually thinks Heyer is an NFL left tackle right now. He's a work in progress. He's played generally well and is getting work because the guy who typically would start there is injured. Playing him against Suggs is a very good idea as it helps you evaluate where he is. Knowing Suggs is a better player than he is, you would presume, in the third preseason game, you would give him some aid in playcalling and game planning.

I haven't broken down each of his plays from the first two games because he won't see the field again once Samuels is healthy. But, he's been anything but spotty or weak. He's made one bad mental read and has handled himself physically very well.

[Vinnick]

If Campbell was hurt as bad as it looked. You'd all be saying the same things. Heyer MIGHT be a long term solution. But, if he's starting at LT next game, and gets that huge amount of playing time the starters do in the 3rd preseason game. Expect sacks. He's young, and needs time.

We could all go McMetal and cry on our keyboards about one guys blogs. Or we could admit to ourselves that this is a real concern.