Former Patriot David Andrews Believes Lomu Will Push Campbell For Starting Role

[Hugepatsfan]

Gotta love people making s**T up.

Campbell did NOT have a "historically bad performance" in the play-offs. Only people who have ZERO understanding of what knee injuries do to your abilities to balance, knee bend, side step, and explosion ability believe he was "historically bad".

Seriously. Even people who used to be sensible are regurgitating the garbage of the negative nancies as if it's gospel.

Understanding what knee injuries did to him wouldn't have anything to do with how well or bad he played. It would be a reason/explanation for the poor play, but his play is his play.

I'm not well-researched on all the other pitiful performances by LTs to say where he ranks historically. But he was absolute ****ing garbage in the playoffs. That's just what it is. I do think the injury was a big factor, based on his level of play being better before it and then immediately worse when he came back (including regular season). But the fact I think it was due to injury has ZERO to do with how well he played or not if we're just assessing it. The why doesn't matter if we're just looking at his play and judging if it was good or bad. That's separate.

 

[DaBruinz]

Understanding what knee injuries did to him wouldn't have anything to do with how well or bad he played. It would be a reason/explanation for the poor play, but his play is his play.

I'm not well-researched on all the other pitiful performances by LTs to say where he ranks historically. But he was absolute ****ing garbage in the playoffs. That's just what it is. I do think the injury was a big factor, based on his level of play being better before it and then immediately worse when he came back (including regular season). But the fact I think it was due to injury has ZERO to do with how well he played or not if we're just assessing it. The why doesn't matter if we're just looking at his play and judging if it was good or bad. That's separate.

If you don't believe that understanding how a knee injury impacts a players footwork, ability to brace against a bull rush or how they do in rub blocking, then you have no business even attempting to evaluate a player.

Claiming "his play is his play" is complete and utter garbage and shows a lack of understanding of the basic fundamentals of the game.

You'd have done better not responding at all than posting what you just did.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

If you don't believe that understanding how a knee injury impacts a players footwork, ability to brace against a bull rush or how they do in rub blocking, then you have no business even attempting to evaluate a player.

Claiming "his play is his play" is complete and utter garbage and shows a lack of understanding of the basic fundamentals of the game.

You'd have done better not responding at all than posting what you just did.

I think you just aren't reading out what you write or what you respond do. He was awful when he was out there post-injury. The fact it was post-injury is a reason to believe that his awful play isn't indicative of who he will be moving forward. But that doesn't change that his play was awful when he was out there. That's just what those words mean and there isn't a point in discussing further.

I've already said here and in previous posts that it seems like his level of play was impacted by injury based on the before/after split and that I want to keep him at LT where I believe he can be ok. But I just can't in good conscious pretend that his play wasn't dreadful post injury. it clearly was.

 

[AQPE]

I think you just aren't reading out what you write or what you respond do. He was awful when he was out there post-injury. The fact it was post-injury is a reason to believe that his awful play isn't indicative of who he will be moving forward. But that doesn't change that his play was awful when he was out there. That's just what those words mean and there isn't a point in discussing further.

I've already said here and in previous posts that it seems like his level of play was impacted by injury based on the before/after split and that I want to keep him at LT where I believe he can be ok. But I just can't in good conscious pretend that his play wasn't dreadful post injury. it clearly was.

So with all respect, what is the point you were trying to make by pointing out what everyone saw with his terrible performances in the playoffs? Personally, I would have been OK to send Lowe out there to see if things could have improved, but I remember how Lowe played in 2024 and wouldn't be too optimistic. There's a reason that didn't happen and I don't think for one second it was that nobody in the Pats organization thought it was OK to blow the Super Bowl to be nice to the kid.

 

[Kasmir]

Vrabel is the person who said it, Wolf reinforced it, yet the fans and media who didn't want Campbell pretend they have never heard it and just keep banging the drum like it hasn't been said.

Vrabel approved the Campbell pick so he's accountable for it, too. And he's not exactly a paragon of honesty. But he's directly accountable for winning games so I'm confident he'll pull the plug on Campbell if he doesn't work out.

 

[Kasmir]

If you don't believe that understanding how a knee injury impacts a players footwork, ability to brace against a bull rush or how they do in rub blocking, then you have no business even attempting to evaluate a player.

Claiming "his play is his play" is complete and utter garbage and shows a lack of understanding of the basic fundamentals of the game.

You'd have done better not responding at all than posting what you just did.

Gah: are you claiming no other OT's have played with injuries? No doubt bad OT play in the playoffs is highly correlated with injuries. Maybe he played with the worst injury of any playoff OT in the past ten years. Maybe not. What is certain was his play was truly awful for whatever reason.

 

[captain stone]

About dam time Stumpy got some competition; he was gift-wrapped the starting LT gig here before he was ever even drafted. Worst-kept secret for 3 months around these parts until AJB to NE showed-up...

 

[BennyBledsoe]

Of course the WHY matters. That's how you figure out if it's something that's correctible. If the why didn't matter, why bother having coaches or a training staff? C'mon, think things through.

 

[Triumph]

It's too late for that and the Pats are trying to get away from the musical chairs late BB and Mayo were doing with the OL. The line needs continuity and they made their decision to keep Owenu. Cutting him now would be idiotic.

A cut post 6/1 and the Pats save $17.5 mil back on the cap minus his dead money of $7.5 mil.

AB Brown and his $29 mil salary needs to fit in and Gonzo too if they agree on a deal. Owenus $10 mil may come in real handy. The NEP OL is totally revamped in 2027 anyway with Moses likely moving on.

 

[Triumph]

Nothing is made up. "Historical" is a bit of an exaggeration based on the limited history of NextGen stats:



But these numbers are extraordinarily bad by any proxy:



It's certainly possible that Campbell's terrible performance was a "perfect storm", but he had about as bad as postseason as you can have as an LT. It could very well be a fluke; it could also be he's playing the wrong position for his talents. But he did nothing to address nagging physical concerns about his playing LT: "A 7th percentile [wingspan] among tackles measured at the combine over the prior 20 years and gave him the shortest wingspan of any tackle at that event since 2011."

Here's the best case for hope that it was a fluke:

Campbell struggled in the Houston game too. You are correct.



The Texans DL was constantly pushing Campbell into Maye and the Houston DL was able to get a hand on the ball knocking it out. That's 2 games where WC was shaky and not what you want to see from a starting LT. The Broncos game wasn't a real barometer to judge Campbell by since half the game was played in the snow giving the defense poor footing.

Will Campbell’s playoff struggles hit new low to start AFC Championship Game vs. Broncos

The first quarter hadn't even ended, and Will Campbell was already seen struggling once again on the offensive line.

sports.yahoo.com

Post AFCC, Will Campbell fans were whistling all the way to Santa Clara. Then reality paid a visit. The Pats obviously have concerns because to don't draft a OT with the first pick for the following season when the left side of your OL was destroyed in the Super Bowl.

 

[ScottishPatriots]

If Will Campbell goes in to Seattle and plays like he did in the Super Bowl all of the rookie and injury excuses will be out of the window.

Yeah it's a good defense on the road but your LT needs to block good players that's why he was picked in the top 5 and why they get paid so much.

If he wants people to flush the playoff performance he needs to show everyone that he can play well against Seattles and Denvers of the world this regular season.