Is Wade the problem? Thinking about the O-line

Wade has also been battling shoulder and groin problems all year so that has probably hurt his effectiveness.

Janson was a sure thing....in that he didnt let guys run through untouched and blind side our QB

Wade is still our best option.

I know some people out there have a hard-on for Heyer, but he's still a liability and needs help on his side way too often.

I say leave the lineup alone and hope they can pull it together. They need to keep fighting and find some consistency. Juggling the lineup again is not going to help us find that consistency.Wade can't be the best option. If Heyer can't outplay him, we might as well get someone off the street who can.

Heyer is still very raw, but we need him now I think, at least for the rest of this season.

Fabini has been pretty good in pass pro, but generally guys who move from tackle to guard aren't as good in the run game as guards traditionally are. This strikes me as his big issue.

Is Demulling converted tackle, or a natural guard? That might be something to think about in the run game. But my guess is that only one change should be made at a time. Still, given the Jets, this is not a bad test case. It is on the road, but still easier than against Philly's D or in Dallas. Was Heyer active yesterday?

Is Demulling converted tackle, or a natural guard? That might be something to think about in the run game. But my guess is that only one change should be made at a time. Still, given the Jets, this is not a bad test case. It is on the road, but still easier than against Philly's D or in Dallas. Was Heyer active yesterday?He's a natural guard.

He's also got a reputation that's closer to Pucillo than Wade or Fabini.

He's a natural guard.

He's also got a reputation that's closer to Pucillo than Wade or Fabini.

Does that mean he's good? I wasn't exactly blown away by Puccillo the other week...

Does that mean he's good? I wasn't exactly blown away by Puccillo the other week...I don't know if he's good or not, but I don't think Fabini is doing a particularly bad job. I'm not sure if DeMulling is an improvement.

I agree that Wade is the best option. Unfortunately he is the best of some pretty bad options at this point. I haven't gone back and watched the game again, and I do not plan to do so ever, but the one that sticks out to me is one of Vrabel's three sacks. Wade stepped out to pick up the blitz from Vrabel, Vrabel stutter stepped, then Wade saw pressure flashing from the inside linebacker and stepped down to pick him up. Unfortunately the inside backer was the back's responsibility and Portis stepped up to take him. When Wade stepped down to try to pick up a man that was not his responsibility that left the corner up to Vrabel who proceeded to hit Campbell and jar the ball loose (Jason really has to secure the ball back there, feel pressure and get rid of it, so part of the fumble is on him). Still, I can maybe understand a physical error given the fact that the Skins have been relegated to playing back-ups and because Wade has been playing hurt. However, on that play at least, the problem was a mental error on Wade's part and I just cannot excuse that.

Having said that, I don't think Heyer is the answer. His technique is poor, he plays WAY too tall and gets pushed around by stronger guys. He is also prone to more mental errors (you'd think) than a veteran like Wade. The Skins need to try despartely to find some consistancy on the line. I am not very optimistic at this point that they will find it, but putting Heyer in there is not the answer. In a similar vein, as bad as Fabini has been I don't know that you can expect DeMulling to do any better. We don't see this guy in practice, so what is it that gives you confidence that he has the talent to improve the line? I can only believe that there was a reason this guy was available so late in the season and a reason that he was cut from the Lions. Everything I read about him in Detroit was negative and indicated he was an overpaid bust up there who couldn't even crack the starting lineup in Detroit. Like I said, I don't see the practice tape so I can only trust the coaches. If he isn't in there I must believe it is because he does not make the team any better. If it is just a lateral move then you might as well keep Fabini and hope against hope that continuity will help make this line a little better in the coming weeks.

I was having this discussion w/ Freddy last week and he made a very good point... DeMulling was on the street 3 weeks into the season... not a starting caliber guy. Any of you who have been redskins fans for a long time and know the coaching staff (even if you dont like the coaching staff now) KNOW that Joe Bugel is going to put his best 5 guys out there every week. Fabini is a liability but if DeMulling was better Buges would have put him in by now, same w/ Wade and Heyer.

When Wade got nicked up in the pack game, Buges went to Heyer--wonder if he'd have stayed with him against zona if Heyer didn't get hurt?

I agree that DeMulling is not what we need, but I am curious. It's Wade that's been stinking up the joint, IMO.