Casey Rabach and the Center Position

In a recent post on his blog JLC concerning the interior portion of our O-Line, Rabach was praised as one of the few bright spots. In fact the actual portion refering to Rabach goes as follows:

"Rabach is still the linchpin, although for the first time there were a few cracks in his game. He committed more penalties and had some significant problems with big 3-4 nose tackles (most people do, especially those who are more athletic than bulky, as Casey is). He was getting little help from his teammates at times and being asked to do a lot. He plays through pretty much all pain and has been vital to Jason Campbell's growth reading defenses and making checks and adjustments. He is the glue to the line and should have two or three more strong seasons."

Redskins by Position: Interior Offensive Line - Redskins Insider (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/2009/01/l2008_positional_review_-_inte.html#more)

At the same time the general concensus around the fan base seems to indicate that Rabach should at the very least be demoted in favor of younger talent that could be acquired through the draft. So with that said whats the truth concerning Rabach. Do we need to replace him ASAP or can we bide our time and dedicate our resources to acquiring Tackles, Guards and DT's?

I think we would be well served to get Alex Mack and let Raback play out another season until Mack can play. I think he's a good player that has a future with the team because he knows the system and he can play other positions if need be. We should rebuild out O-line through the draft to get the best out of a player. He did comit some penalties this year and he's getting older. Is he still worth keeping on the team, absolutely.

He also had nothing to say about Kendall's stellar season except that he's old. (Which is true, obviously), and refered to Randy Thomas as our only "proven player at Guard" even though he's also old and was SIGNIFICANTLY worse than Kendall this season in the new scheme.

I mean, given that, I can only assume that he didn't actually know anything about the interior OL going into writing this.

There's generally going to be differing opinion when we discuss whether we should bring back a player or not, but La Canfora obviously just ignores the fact that there is absolutely no nose tackle in the league he can block one on one. Which is a big problem for the offense.

I'm not saying that we can't win 10 games next year without replacing Casey Rabach at Center. I'm saying that if we don't, we'll have the same interior OL problems as last year, and that no one should be surprised with the result.

I mean, given this review, you'd think that we had one of the five best interior lines in the league and ran between the guards with ease, when in fact, quite the opposite was true. There's seeing things in a different light, and then theres ignorance. This clearly appears to be the latter.

It just sucks we have so many needs with so little draft picks. I don't think the center position is our biggest need but its up there. I could see Rabach playing one or two more seasons at most. Tackles and Guards is #1.
Trading for more picks is the way to go at this point. You never know who will be a beast or a bust. A place kicker is a real concern as well.

I kept hearing praise about him.. one game one of the announcers said he was having a Pro Bowl contending season. I'll just trust that these people have been watching the film and him getting murdered by NT's and committing penalties stood out more due to camerawork following the ball.

I don't see how Rabach is anything above average. As the trained eyes have pointed out he gets destroyed by nose-tackles and generally does not seem to be an effective blocker. Then there's the intelligence factor. Center needs to be the smart guy on the line to make adjustments etc and as the line just looked pitiful as the season wore on how much of that rests on Rabach's shoulders? As well the penalties are just appalling. The f'ing "smart guy" on the line has two consecutive TDs called back.
R I D I C U L O U S.

I think what may save Rabach's bacon is Zorn's hesitancy to bring in another center in the middle of JC's development. That said, if Rabach gets to stay a la Zorn/Campbell it's that much more imperative we upgrade the line elsewhere: namely a franchise tackle to play right or left (depending on what Samuels can do) and an upgrade @ guard. My guess is either Kendell or Thomas gets replaced by Jansen or Rinehardt. At this point I'd bet a wad Jansen starts again next year... I'm just hoping it's inside somewhere because we've invested in a franchise tackle. Anyway, Jansen is a fighter and will compete like hell to start anywhere.

I don't see how Rabach is anything above average. As the trained eyes have pointed out he gets destroyed by nose-tackles and generally does not seem to be an effective blocker. Then there's the intelligence factor. Center needs to be the smart guy on the line to make adjustments etc and as the line just looked pitiful as the season wore on how much of that rests on Rabach's shoulders? As well the penalties are just appalling. The f'ing "smart guy" on the line has two consecutive TDs called back.
R I D I C U L O U S.


The job of calling adjustments was Campbell's this year.

Furthermore:

"We never changed protections at the line of scrimmage in years past," Rabach said. "Now that we're doing it, people are getting more comfortable with it, with Jason, and with the offense as a whole. It's working out well in a number of instances."

That was said after week 4 I believe.

source:

Redskins' Jason Campbell steps forward | Philadelphia Inquirer | 10/05/2008 (http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/20081005_Redskins__Jason_Campbell_steps_forward.ht ml)

I don't see how Rabach is anything above average. As the trained eyes have pointed out he gets destroyed by nose-tackles and generally does not seem to be an effective blocker. Then there's the intelligence factor. Center needs to be the smart guy on the line to make adjustments etc and as the line just looked pitiful as the season wore on how much of that rests on Rabach's shoulders? As well the penalties are just appalling. The f'ing "smart guy" on the line has two consecutive TDs called back.
R I D I C U L O U S.

I think what may save Rabach's bacon is Zorn's hesitancy to bring in another center in the middle of JC's development. That said, if Rabach gets to stay a la Zorn/Campbell it's that much more imperative we upgrade the line elsewhere: namely a franchise tackle to play right or left (depending on what Samuels can do) and an upgrade @ guard. My guess is either Kendell or Thomas gets replaced by Jansen or Rinehardt. At this point I'd bet a wad Jansen starts again next year... I'm just hoping it's inside somewhere because we've invested in a franchise tackle. Anyway, Jansen is a fighter and will compete like hell to start anywhere.

I had forgotten about the TDs being called back because of his penalties.

Like it or not we're not going to be able to overhaul the entire OL in one offseason. Samuels, Thomas, and Rabach are all pretty much locks to be back in their starting spots next year. It's LG and RT that will likely see changes.

I had forgotten about the TDs being called back because of his penalties.

Pretty sure it was Rabach in the Dallas game we won. Had we lost, as we well could have w/ two TDs called back, i'm sure the doubts surrounding Rabach would emerged much earlier and by now a lot of folks would be calling for his head.

Center for us is a real tough call IMO. Rabach is just average and we don't have someone waiting in the wings. Yet Zorn wants continuity and we've got just 4 picks this year. Again I just think if Rabach is retained we have to do some serious upgrading around him or we're gonna see the same bullshit next year: JC sacked close to 40 times and getting just one or two seconds to throw against better defenses.