Coming out of the New England Patriots' Super Bowl loss, the play of left tackle Will Campbell has been heavily critiqued. However, one Patriots legend wouldn't consider moving him from the blindside.
Dante Scarnecchia spent 34 years coaching with the Patriots, oftentimes working with the offensive line. He understands what it takes to succeed in the trenches, and especially in New England. While he acknowledged Campbell's struggles, Scarnecchia wouldn't plan on moving him from left tackle, via Karen Guregian of MassLive.
“I’ll tell you what. I’m not firing this guy,” Scarnecchia said, speaking with MassLive Wednesday. “I’m putting him right back where he was.”
“That’s an ongoing process with everyone. The one thing (the Patriots) are going to do, if they haven’t already done it, is go back and look at everything and say, ‘Why did we struggle so much here, when it wasn’t apparent earlier?’'’ Scarnecchia said with respect to Campbell’s issues. ”Is it the quality of the player? Is it the loss of technique? Is he injured? All of that is going to be studied ad nauseum.“
Selected with the fourth overall pick, the Patriots had high expectations for Campbell as a rookie. He ended the regular season ranked 32/89 tackles with a 72.6 grade from Pro Football Focus. However, his ranking dropped to 21 out of 21 tackles in the postseason with a grade of 48.7.
Only 22-years-old, Vrabel has committed to Campbell as the Patriots' starting left tackle. Scarnecchia believes that is the correct decision. Still, this will be a crucial offseason for Campbell after allowing 14 quarterback pressures during the Super Bowl.
