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Breakdown: The Hit on Jason Campbell
By Dillweed | August 21, 2007
I’ve been reading around a couple of sites and noticed some people were arguing as to what happened on the dirty hit by Keisel and how did the protection break down. I thought I’d share what I saw on the play:
Protection
Above is a 3-4 formation with #26 (Deshea Townsend) and #43 (Polamalu) playing the 8th and 9th guys in the box. The numbering is as follows:
1-3: The 3 D-lineman
4-7: The 4 LB’s (#7 is hard to see, it’s right below the WR’s foot)
8-9: 2 DB’s in the box
It’s important to understand that Steelers D-Coordinator Dick LeBeau was sending anyone, everyone and no one with his blitz packages all game long and all from essentially the same formation: the 3-4 (with some variations such as extra guys in the box as shown here.)
Pre-snap shows both OLB’s showing blitz with Townsend backing off the line of scrimmage. Similar pre-snap motions earlier in the game played out such that the man backing off actually ended up being the blitzer while the 2 showing blitz backed off. However this case is different as we will see. Numbering:
4: OLB #92 James Harrison
7: OLB #53 Clark Haggans (not Polamalu)
8: CB #26 DeShea Townsend
Here 3 blitzers come (4: Harrison, 7: Haggans, and 9: Polamalu.) The important one to watch is “4″ (Harrison) as he is already drawing Heyer’s attention. Heyer backs out of his stance prepared to take him on.
Heyer’s stance is completely open here and he has fully committed to the “4″ guy. However, “4″ backs out of his blitz and begins to fall back into coverage. Oops…
As Pucillo helps out Rabach to double Hampton (like a Guard and Center are supposed to do against a NT Hampton’s size) a gap opens up between Heyer and Pucillo and Heyer finds himself too far out wide to close it and that gap is exploited by Keisel (3). Meanwhile, the OLB Heyer was worried about blitzing (and LeBeau sent the OLB at Heyer a few times before) drops back into coverage. The following two pictures show Keisel schooling the rookie with an inside move followed by a free path to the QB.
The Hit
Accident or Dirty?
Now that we’ve established how the protection broke down…onto opinions of whether it was dirty or just an accident. It was dirty. Done, argument over. No need to show pics of something that I’m sure everyone has seen over and over again. Why go low during pre-season? Cause Keisel is an ass, plain and simple. I’ll find pics of him stealing a purse from and old lady and post the breakdown next week.
Topics: NFL, Redskins, Sports, Steelers | 36 Comments »
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:17 am
You just knocked the cover off the ball.
I’m without words.
August 22nd, 2007 at 1:23 am
Even Ron Jaworski would say Dillweed needs to step back and get some fresh air.
Ron Jaworski can fuck off.
August 22nd, 2007 at 1:26 am
LOL.
August 22nd, 2007 at 2:04 am
*speechless*
August 22nd, 2007 at 4:18 am
As always, “You da Man.”
August 22nd, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Can you send this to Gibbs and Bugle!!!!
August 22nd, 2007 at 1:06 pm
You would think that Rothlisburger would have a word with Keisel before somebody takes out Big Ben for this cheap shit. I am suprised the Skins did nothing to that effect.
August 22nd, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Ravens hit Ben in the knee last year I believe. Knocked him out of action for a bit. Bengals fans were quite pleased as you can imagine.
Having said that, as a Steeler fan, I don’t think Keisel did this on purpose.
August 22nd, 2007 at 1:32 pm
The hit was well above the knee. The only thing dirty about that play was JC’s jersey. You don’t think Samuel’s wouldnt have bit on that play? You’re kidding. Harrison invokes FEAR!
August 22nd, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Another excellent breakdown, Dillweed. I may stop watching the games altogether and just read about them here.
As a ‘Skins fan though, and despite that play having ruined my entire Saturday night, I’m with Dagger on this one. I think there’s an important distinction to be made between being fully upright and intentionally diving down at someone’s legs, and being off-balance/already falling down and diving forward toward someone’s legs. Keisel did the latter. By rule, I suppose that’s a penalty, but other than just falling down and quitting on the play, I don’t know what he was supposed to do differently.
August 22nd, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Excellent work. I can only imagine what you could do if you actually had the iso tapes from each of the cameras. I’m impressed.
August 22nd, 2007 at 2:08 pm
I would say the fact that Keisel was staying down low and got even lower on his tackle shows that he was trying to take out Campbell. The fact that he went over to talk to Campbell was a good move on his part. If Keisel did not do that than I think the NFL would have thought that he did it purposfully and he likely would have been suspended.
August 23rd, 2007 at 12:11 am
I’m skeptical that Dillweed’s analysis here is correct, that Heyer missed his assignment, which also would mean that Gibbs was lying today when he said Heyer didn’t.
Watching the play unfold on my Tivo’d version, in particular the view of it from behind the O-line, it shows that Pucillo begins the play positioned toward Keisel and then in the split second as Keisel makes his inside move, Pucillo turns and doubles up on the middle defensive lineman.
It appears, then, from that angle that Pucillo may have missed his assignment — to deny Keisel the inside at the very least — and that Heyer’s assignment most likely was 1) to pick up the blitzing linebacker (who cleverly feigned blitzing for nearly a second after the play had begun) or otherwise to b) help Pucillo with Keisel by denying him the outside.
However, I concede that we can’t know for sure who was at fault without knowing exactly who was assigned what for the play. That’s why I find it so amazing that reporters (who also claim to be insiders!?) would opine blame for a failed play without apparently knowing exactly who was responsible for what.
Let me add, I seriously doubt Gibbs would lie and deflect blame away from Heyer, and by doing so finger Pucillo. What kind of credibility would he have with the people who know the truth, the players? Three superbowl rings, the guy’s way smarter than that.
August 23rd, 2007 at 12:58 pm
You’re an idiot. The guy slipped and still hit JC above the knee.
August 23rd, 2007 at 2:16 pm
All this great analysis and yet you can’t figure out the simplest part of this play…it wasn’t dirty. What did you expect Keisel to do?
August 23rd, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Like i said before, I dont think it was dirty.
After this breakdown though, you cant blame the “new kid” entirely. Guard was supposed to help a bit, LeBeau is a genious and Keisel is a monster.
the perfect storm.
August 23rd, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Reminds me of the people incessantly whining about Carson Palmer’s injury in the 2005 playoffs. It’s football, get over it. At least he didn’t get by a car while driving his motorcycle, that’s almost certainly worse.
August 23rd, 2007 at 4:06 pm
What kind of idiot drives a motorcycle with a multi-million dollar contract on the line anyways? Athletes can be so stupid sometimes.
August 23rd, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Did you guys read that the guy who caught the Barry Bonds HR ball put it in a box at a SanFran bank…then flew to Austrailia with a friend for a quick trip…then came back to SanFran to retrieve the ball?
I’d be afraid that something bad was going to happen on my trip. Crash, shark attack, car accident, something.
If I win the lottery I’m never leaving my house.
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:11 pm
You never leave your house to begin with, so there’d be no change
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:02 pm
It’s very possible Pucillo was supposed to stay with Keisel….which means that Rabach was assigned to take on Hampton single handedly (since the right side had an overload blitz to pick up) which doubles Rabach’s stock IMO. Very few center’s are trusted to take on a Hampton or Jamal Williams single handedly like that.
And don’t misunderstand my point of view on Heyer…I’m not saying he sucks or anything, I’m just pointing out what I saw. I get that he’s a rookie going against arguably the best defensive scheme in the NFL.
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:22 pm
Dillweed. Thanks for addressing/considering. It’s what the back view is saying to me. Please keep your great analyses coming. Having read your one on the sack and now looked at this in detail, I can see why you call LeBeau a genius.
August 24th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Wow…but you don’t showw the frame of the actual hit. His rigth shoulder pad hits Campbell squarely on the left hip. Oh and the stumble on the way to him, but I suppose you conspiracy freaks think that was faked. Had he intended to hit him low and take him out Campbell would have been done for quite awhile and needed surgery. Get a life.
August 24th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
On this board most of us think it WAS NOT dirty.
Here’s a good pic from an earlier post…comparing Campbell hit to Palmer hit.
http://www.postgameheroes.com/?p=216
August 24th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
keisel is a stand-up guy and all class…you’re a douche.
August 24th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Last year Keisel went to a concert here in Baltimore with one of us here at PGH. We love the guy. He did try to steal one of our girlfriends though…that wasnt cool.
Look for that post/story to hit our site in the next week or so.
August 24th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
You’re kidding right — he was blocked down low AND the hit was clearly ABOVE the knee and should not have been flagged.
It was a legal, clean play by a tenacious defender.
Go cry somewhere else fanboy.
August 24th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
If Keisel wanted to hurt someone, why would he do it in a pre-season game against a team he’s not going to play again, against an unestablished QB? The only possible explanation I can think of is that Keisel tried to steal Campbell’s girlfriend, and Campbell stood up to him, which started a feud between the two.
August 24th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
I’ve been reading about this all over the net. Amazing how only Skins fans (it was their guy) and Ravens fans (they’d criticize the Steelers for helping homeless children) think it was a dirty hit. Kiesel’s a class guy and anyone who says differently hasn’t been paying attention to what he does on the field.
August 24th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
The Ravens have knocked Ben off the field more than any other team in the league…and last year they almost blew his knee out. Hit Ben right in his knee/shin and it bent the wrong way. Remember that?
Ravens fas have NO room to be pointing fingers at anyone.
August 24th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Wasn’t a deliberate dirty hit. May have ended that way but thats why they came up with that silly word “accident” oh well!!
I’ll take a shoulder to the upper thigh any day; hell and I would even expect one if I were on the football field.
I say put the “skins” in some pink frilly ballet uniforms to match their fans crying on here
August 25th, 2007 at 11:01 am
It was a clean hit. You can’t go high, and you can’t go low on a QB hit, so how are you supposed to tackle the QB? Hit him above the knees and below the chest….and that’s what Keisel did.
August 26th, 2007 at 1:33 am
The hit was clean, a unfortunate injury happened to a good person, and that may happen in 98% of all the games this year. You skins fans get over it, you stiller fans, ignore the redskin fans and everyone root for dallas this year. Its not to late to jump on the band wagon.
August 26th, 2007 at 7:51 am
Dallas CRYboys?? Are they still playing football?
August 30th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Clean hit. The original poster is just another crybaby fan who wants the game to be turned into flag football because he doesn’t want his QB hurt.
The D-Line’s job on passing downs is to collapse the pocket and get to the QB. Keisel got past his blocker, but was tripped up and about to fall to the ground. The only action he could have taken to get to the QB was to lunge for his legs before he hit the ground, and that’s what he did. It was a clean hit, period.
September 28th, 2007 at 9:22 am
he appealed the fine and won, after further review by the league not a dirty hit. THE END>