Jason Campbell's Deep Ball

[Thinking Skins]

This is a thread which I hope to re-open a discussion from last season, namely Jason Campbell's deep ball. Here's a thread where this topic was discussed at length last year.
http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?t=220127

I'm not trying to criticize him, but its not hard to notice that the deep ball isn't a large part of our playbook right now. Whether it'll become more of a part of it over the coming weeks remains to be seen. I'm a big supporter of Campbell but I'm disappointed in the number of big plays by our offense and in particular, the lack of attempts at deep balls.

Last season this was a problem as well. It seemed that Gibbs was ultra conservative with Campbell and didn't want Campbell to just throw it up for grabs. Add to that the fact that his WRs were so often injured last year that it could have been hard for the WRs and QB to develop chemistry and I could somewhat understand both sides of the argument.

But this season, we have Moss putting up good numbers. We have a rookie WR in Thomas who may not know his routes to perfection, but has gotten open on many deep routes in his limited time playing. Then we have the ball to Fred Davis which was a moderately deep ball and I think Campbell was stumbling a bit when he threw it, but that shoulda been 7 points and he missed it.

I bring this up because I'm wondering how many of the same problems from last year are present this year?

- Is there still a problem with the chemistry with the WRs on the deep ball? This doesn't seem to be true because Moss has been our sole deep threat in most games (and Campbell has made some nice plays connecting to him), but what about the other WRs? Is the reason that we're not trying more stuff to Thomas because Campbell just doesn't have the chemistry yet?

- Are our WRs still injured? I know ARE had a broken hand and Thrash had a sprained ankle. I don't know if those are the same level of banged up as last year, but it may be limiting our play calling.

- Is Zorn trying to "protect" Campbell in a similar way that Saunders/Gibbs tried to? I think that the most telling stat about this may be the fact that Campbell hasn't thrown a pic yet. We as fans see it as a blessing and Zorn praises it as a good thing, but could it also be a curse in that he's still trying to build Campbell and the offense's confidense in this system? Or does he feel that we're not good enough to make the mistake of a pic on a deep ball and overcome it?

[Heisenberg]

Zorn seems pleased with his decision making and seems to get irritated whenever this subject is brought up.

I'm not sure what to make of that but it's been discussed with him the past few weeks.

[LadySkinsFan]

I think Jason can throw the deep ball, however, the West Coast offense is not about the deep ball.

[Oldfan]

I think Jason can throw the deep ball, however, the West Coast offense is not about the deep ball.

That's right. The Coryell offense, with more seven step drops, wants to go deep more often than Walsh's system built on using quick, short tosses in combination with runs to maintain ball control.

[Thinking Skins]

That's right. The Coryell offense, with more seven step drops, wants to go deep more often than Walsh's system built on using quick, short tosses in combination with runs to maintain ball control.

true, but it seems that other teams that have a QB who can throw deep should utilize that talent. The same way that the WCO isn't built around a power running game, but we're making it work. Or the way that the WCO isn't built around shotgun formations but we added those.

[skindogger47]

It will come more and more as teams stack the box against Portis.

[TheRedfishCo]

I think Jason can throw the deep ball, however, the West Coast offense is not about the deep ball.

Don't know what you're talking about..Seahawks and Eagles both run the west coast and Matt and Donavan both throw the deep ball all the time.

[NinjaGaiden]

I wish and hope to see more deep balls especially to either Moss or El. There are pretty good chances that we can catch it or get the pass interference

[Thinking Skins]

Oh, I forgot to mention that another reason that Thomas may not be getting deep balls is because of the pass interference calls that he got early on. They may feel that he needs to mature more before they can trust him, and the talking smack (after a good special teams play) against Cleveland probably won't help us in that regard.

[cyfar]

Oh, I forgot to mention that another reason that Thomas may not be getting deep balls is because of the pass interference calls that he got early on. They may feel that he needs to mature more before they can trust him, and the talking smack (after a good special teams play) against Cleveland probably won't help us in that regard.

I've felt the same way regarding Thomas. People forget that Thomas should be a college senior this year and on top of that, he only spent one year at Michigan State. That dude is very imature right now. They are probably trying to temper(can't think of a better word at the moment) him before they start to make him a big part of the O.

[corrupt3d]

Last week he definately tried to throw it down there, but anytime he'd try and set up, there'd be pressure in his face. Up until the STL game, I didnt have a problem with the amount of deep balls we were attempting, or the lack of them.

We'll see what we do against Detroit.

[Thinking Skins]

Last week he definately tried to throw it down there, but anytime he'd try and set up, there'd be pressure in his face. Up until the STL game, I didnt have a problem with the amount of deep balls we were attempting, or the lack of them.

We'll see what we do against Detroit.

Maybe this is tied to teams doubling on Moss. I remember Riggo saying that Moss is known for his double move. Maybe teams are planning against that which is causing us to look more conservative.

[Ray Brown]

Maybe this is tied to teams doubling on Moss. I remember Riggo saying that Moss is known for his double move. Maybe teams are planning against that which is causing us to look more conservative.

its definitely due to teams doubling santana. everyone realizes that he is our only true deep threat and by taking that away with a double or a safety over the top, you take away the deep ball. Randel El is no where near a deep threat. until a third receiver steps up to take away the double team on Santana don't expect many deep bombs

[Thinking Skins]

its definitely due to teams doubling santana. everyone realizes that he is our only true deep threat and by taking that away with a double or a safety over the top, you take away the deep ball. Randel El is no where near a deep threat. until a third receiver steps up to take away the double team on Santana don't expect many deep bombs

Yeah, but its just that I think I'd like to see him actually test that double coverage more. It might lead to some more picks, but it might also lead to some more big plays.

I remember when teams were doubling Clark game after game and Rypen was insistent on throwing him the deep ball and it worked more often than not.

[Ray Brown]

Yeah, but its just that I think I'd like to see him actually test that double coverage more. It might lead to some more picks, but it might also lead to some more big plays.

I remember when teams were doubling Clark game after game and Rypen was insistent on throwing him the deep ball and it worked more often than not.

i would like to see more shots downfield as well, but i don't want them forced downfield into coverage just for the hell of it. campbell is a game manager right now, not a gunslinger. we don't need him to win games for us right now by taking those types of chances. if its there go for it.