Hmm. So reading the quotes from Campbell I dont see what he is saying as cryptic of confusing at all. In fact its kind of refreshing to me how specific and clear his comments are compared to what you will get from most coaches.
He specificaly states they were running outside zone runs and that they were expecting to get more explosive gains out of those runs than they did. He also says that he wanted to see Gibbs cut upfield sooner on some of those runs than he did.
He goes on to qualify that with his belief that Gibbs has the vision and ability to do these things and that he saw Gibbs doing exactly that on some of the runs in the 4th quarter.
So while the total execution of these plays is a team effort and as the head coach he is always looking at the big picture of every players job and execution on these plays, he is being specific about Gibbs execution here.
Its not really troubling to me when one considers this was Gibbs first game as the starting RB with Montgomery out, he is being called on to run all of the plays, not just plays specificaly for him here in a COP role. Some starting linemen out and Gibbs trying to get the timing of these plays down in live action against an unfamiliar defense, thats different than practice.
As far as the leaving meat on the bone I didnt see the coach say that in the quoted comments, although it would be easy to interpret what he said having a similar meaning. I read 2 linked articles quoting Campbell from the same interview but did not see him say that. If he did in another article being quoted here, then sorry I missed that.
I also found it interesting how the Falcons used a DE to jam Gibbs at the line and prevent him from getting out on some of his routes. That explains some of the reason why he didnt have more receptions in that game. Its something the Lions need to work on as well though if they want Gibbs to get more clean releases into his routes. Other teams will do that as well as long as its effective in disrupting his release, and it does not mess up their gap assignments. Which it might for plays where Montgomery and Gibbs are both on the field.
As far as leaving meat on the bone I think we saw that in the 4th game vs the Packers with the targets to Gibbs. To me the timing and ball placement of these throws could be better and that is on Gibbs and Goff to improve this. From what I saw defenders were able to tackle Gibbs who was facing the QB at the time if these throws which didnt give Gibbs the opportunity to try to make the defender miss and get upfield after the catch. This is something Gibbs, Goff and the coaches play design can all improve on to give Gibbs that opportunity.
Its still very early in Gibbs career and I would expect the timing of these things to improve over time. Gibbs needs to stop slipping and losing his balance on these plays. Thats all on him and Im not sure why that keeps happening. Im guessing he is trying to make a move before the ball gets there as a part of that. He needs to calm down, keep his feet and come back to the ball a bit on these throws to give himself space to make a move after the catch.
All of these small things are growing pains one should expect from a rookie player who needs more reps to get comfortable before they start executing everything with ptecision.
I think Gibbs will get there eventually and Campbells comments tell me he thinks Gibbs will get there eventually as well. Its these small things that make a big difference as far as the total execution of plays and they will keep coaching him on these details.