Washington having problems with the left

By Darrell Laurant  |   Thursday, August 23, 2007  |  Comments( 2 )

Washington Redskins
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Because Washington is a town that loves its football and also loves to overanalyze things, it's no surprise that film of Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Brett Keisel sacking and injuring Washington Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell was shown over and over last week, as if it was the Grassy Knoll video.

Reporters grilled Redskins coach Joe Gibbs about the play, which resulted only in a bruised left knee for Campbell but could have been worse. Keisel burst through the left side of the line relatively unmolested ("Excuse me, guys, I've got a quarterback to sack.") and drilled Campbell just as he delivered a 29-yard completion to tight end Chris Cooley.

The hit was ruled illegal (hitting the quarterback low in the pocket), Keisel was flagged for a personal foul, and he later apologized to Campbell. But Washington fans weren't as mad at Keisel as they were at left tackle Stephon Heyer and left guard Mike Pucillo, who allowed this to happen.

Gibbs, stung by an unflattering critique of Heyer in the Washington Post, defended the undrafted free-agent rookie from Maryland, who is only starting because All-Pro tackle Chris Samuels is rehabbing a knee injury of his own.

"Stephon is a great story," Gibbs told Redskins.com. "He's a local guy who has started in place of a Pro Bowl player at left tackle and against some real good pass rushers. He has been outstanding."

Heyer himself told the Post after the Pittsburgh game, "I thought I did a pretty good job."

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

Of course, all linemen make mistakes, and Gibbs pointed out that Campbell was forced to take an inordinate amount of time finding a secondary receiver.

Nor is it all that surprising that Heyer, a rookie, and Pucillo, a backup center last season, missed connections on the Keisel play.

But just as the furor over the relatively unimportant Watergate burglary was really about the culture of the Nixon administration, so this one incident created concern not so much for itself, but because it pointed out what could be a serious team weakness.

Heyer, by all accounts, isn't ready to start yet. Pucillo (ironically, he's from the same Auburn program as Campbell) once started at guard for Buffalo, only to have his career inexplicably slide south (literally as well as figuratively). Moreover, an experiment to switch tackle Todd Wade from right to left isn't working out (maybe he's a Republican).

Saturday, the Redskins' shaky left side will face an array of hungry Baltimore Ravens pass rushers, led by Terrell Suggs.

Meanwhile, Samuels is expected to be out at least a couple of more weeks. When he was hurt in a July 31 practice session, Gibbs held a postgame prayer meeting.
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