For several decades, Dante Scarnecchia would have been the man charged with getting left tackle Will Campbell back on track after a rough end to the fourth overall pick's rookie season.
The legendary Patriots offensive line coach, retired since 2020, doesn't have to worry about that anymore, but Scarnecchia was still happy to share his thoughts on Campbell Wednesday morning when he called in to The Greg Hill Show.
"Basically I feel this way: The guy plays, what was it, 13 games, and no one says a whole lot about it," he said. "Hurts his knee, comes back for the last game of the regular season, does all right against Miami. Get in the playoffs, things don't go the way we'd all like them to go. I mean, clearly, it was rough, and rough for a lot of reasons.
"Played a lot of really good players on three really good defenses prior to the Super Bowl, and a fourth really good defense in the Super Bowl. A lot of good edge rushers, a lot of good players, and it was rough. There's no doubt about that. And I don't know what caused it all. I've heard this about his knee, he's got a torn ligament, all this. I don't know. But I think the guy has talent. The guy has a lot of the qualities everyone's looking for. I don't think this is someone you give up on as a result of what happened, and hopefully things will get better for him."
Jermaine Wiggins followed up by asking Scarnecchia where he would start in terms of coaching points for Campbell so he can fare better against elite pass rushers moving forward.
"Number one, you gotta get to the junction point before the defender gets there, which is that point that puts you between the defensive end and the launch point, always with inside-out leverage on the guy that you're blocking," he said. "You never set him nose to nose, because you give them three ways to go. You always set him inside-out, because you only want them to have two ways to go: either through you or around you.
"So, I think that's the most important thing. The tackles, they have to control the width in the pocket. They're responsible for the width in the pocket. The centers and guards are responsible for the depth in the pocket. That puts the quarterback in the most comfortable situation he can be in.
"That's all very easily-sounding, but when it gets measured against really good, talented players, it's always going to be stressed, so that's when you try to give him some help with the tight end presence or chipping with the back and all that other stuff. So, it's no easy deal, and they had four games in a row where they got a lot of really good players on the other side of the ball, and they won three out of the four."
On Tuesday, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel made it clear that he isn't giving up on Campbell either, as he told reporters that Campbell is staying at left tackle and will not be bumped inside to guard.