By Mark Maske Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, March 29, 2006; 12:00 PM
ORLANDO, March 29 -- Washington Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs said Wednesday that Jason Campbell, a first-round draft pick last year, will be given a chance in training camp and during the preseason to win the team's No. 2 quarterback job behind starter Mark Brunell.
Campbell was third on the depth chart last season behind Brunell and Patrick Ramsey. But with Ramsey having been traded to the New York Jets, Gibbs said Campbell will compete with free-agent newcomer Todd Collins for the job as next season's primary backup.
Gibbs said he and his assistant coaches will make the decision based on the play of Campbell and Collins during the exhibition games.
"He'll play a lot in the preseason," Gibbs said during the NFC coaches' breakfast on the final day of the annual league meeting. "You'll probably get a good feel for that coming out of the preseason. We'll see how they play, and everyone will have an opinion."
Collins previously was with Al Saunders, the Redskins' new offensive coordinator, in Kansas City, and Gibbs said that Campbell's preseason playing time can be increased because Collins doesn't have to learn the offense.
Gibbs also said he will try to limit Brunell's practice-field snaps, both during training camp and the season, in an effort to keep the veteran healthy. Gibbs acknowledged that Brunell's leg injuries during his two-year Redskins tenure make for an ongoing concern, and he's spoken to the quarterback about adding a flexibility program to his training regimen.
"He can probably take a little less work during the week, too. . . . Some guys want all the reps, but I think Mark is real comfortable," Gibbs said.
Gibbs said the Redskins continue to look for help at linebacker and are eagerly awaiting the outcome of safety Sean Taylor's trial on gun-related charges. "It would be a real struggle for us" to replace Taylor if he's not available, Gibbs said.
He indicated he's pleased with the Redskins' offseason additions but thinks every other team in the NFC East also will be improved. The Dallas Cowboys have done their best to match the Redskins, bold move for bold move, this offseason, signing wide receiver Terrell Owens to a three-year, $25 million contract following his release that ended his troubled stay with the Philadelphia Eagles.
"I think that makes good sense for them," Gibbs said. "If I had to say, I'd guess he'll play his guts out because he's kind of up against it. . . . I'd say he'll play great. . . . I don't think there's anyone in our division who hasn't improved themselves. That's going to be six tough [games] there."
Gibbs said he feels healthy two seasons into his five-year contract and the Redskins' success this past season--they went 10-6 and reached an NFC semifinal after going 6-10 when Gibbs returned to coaching in 2004-- has given a dose of confidence to everyone in the organization.
"We had a miserable first year," he said. "That's real hard on you. You go into the second year knowing you need to get something done to get some confidence in everyone. Last year was good for us because it builds some confidence. . . . It's where you think you're supposed to be. I signed a five-year deal and I plan on living up to it. . . . Health-wise and everything, I don't think there's a problem."
Mark hasn't done anything to lose the #1 spot so I dont see why there would be a competition. I like that Jason has to earn his way up the ranks. Mark is out best option to win a superbowl right now.
I wonder why Gibbs doesn't call Sean Taylor by his 1st name...?
Justice Hog wrote:Compete for #2? Man, I'm 100% he's worthy of #2. The only question, and I agree with Punu, is whether he should be our #1 sooner versus later!
Exactly! I was excited when I read the topic, but then when I saw "compete for #2", well . . .
Chris Luva Luva wrote:Mark hasn't done anything to lose the #1 spot so I dont see why there would be a competition. I like that Jason has to earn his way up the ranks.
If Jason has to earn his way up the ranks, Mark should have to earn the right to be the starter. Just saying he was #1 last year doesn't cut it, in my opinion. After all, Ramsey was clearly the better QB in '04, and look how quickly he was benched in '05. Being the incumbent then sure didn't win him any love.
Mark is out best option to win a superbowl right now.
Problem is, the Super Bowl isn't played right now - it's played after a long, hard season of at least 18 games, during which Brunell's going to take a hit or two which is going to severely compromise his effectiveness. All the veteran experience in the world isn't going to help once he's dinged up and unable to throw with strength and accuracy anymore. If the last two seasons have proven anything, it's that Brunell struggles more as the season progresses.
Mursilis wrote:If Jason has to earn his way up the ranks, Mark should have to earn the right to be the starter. Just saying he was #1 last year doesn't cut it, in my opinion. After all, Ramsey was clearly the better QB in '04, and look how quickly he was benched in '05. Being the incumbent then sure didn't win him any love.
He was given a chance during the preseason and look horrible. Who's fault is that?
Mursilis wrote:Problem is, the Super Bowl isn't played right now - it's played after a long, hard season of at least 18 games, during which Brunell's going to take a hit or two which is going to severely compromise his effectiveness. All the veteran experience in the world isn't going to help once he's dinged up and unable to throw with strength and accuracy anymore. If the last two seasons have proven anything, it's that Brunell struggles more as the season progresses.
Brunell didn't struggle one bit until a 300+ man hit his knee.
Can you guarantee that Campbell or Ramsey would not have been hobbled by that also?
Did our lack of a #2 WR not also effect our postseason play?
If we draft a safety via the draft should Sean Taylor fight for his spot?
What about Portis?
ey?
Would you have made that comment if it was any of them? I doubt it.
Chris Luva Luva wrote:I wonder why Gibbs doesn't call Sean Taylor by his 1st name...?
Re-read that line, Chris. You'll see that the direct quote ends in mid-sentence. It was the journalist who addressed Sean by his last name, not Gibbs.
As for Mark being #1....
I already knew that.
It's good to see that Jason is moving up. Should Brunell go down to injury, Campbell will definitely be ready. I can't wait to see them both in preseason.
wait, so campbell actually has to COMPETE for the #2?? i mean isnt todd collins our other QB? campbell should basically get the #2 by default and compete for #1
The lack of a #2 certainly hurt them in the postseason. Special Teams was also a killer. Field position was awful, especially against Seattle. Starting your first six or seven drives inside your own 15 yardline is never good. This is why I'm particularly excited about signing Randle El.
Mursilis wrote:If Jason has to earn his way up the ranks, Mark should have to earn the right to be the starter. Just saying he was #1 last year doesn't cut it, in my opinion. After all, Ramsey was clearly the better QB in '04, and look how quickly he was benched in '05. Being the incumbent then sure didn't win him any love.
He was given a chance during the preseason and look horrible. Who's fault is that?
Mursilis wrote:Problem is, the Super Bowl isn't played right now - it's played after a long, hard season of at least 18 games, during which Brunell's going to take a hit or two which is going to severely compromise his effectiveness. All the veteran experience in the world isn't going to help once he's dinged up and unable to throw with strength and accuracy anymore. If the last two seasons have proven anything, it's that Brunell struggles more as the season progresses.
Brunell didn't struggle one bit until a 300+ man hit his knee.
Can you guarantee that Campbell or Ramsey would not have been hobbled by that also?
Did our lack of a #2 WR not also effect our postseason play?
If we draft a safety via the draft should Sean Taylor fight for his spot? What about Portis? ey? Would you have made that comment if it was any of them? I doubt it.
If Brunell was hurt, he should've sat. If he wasn't, then no excuse-making. And enough about the rest of the personnel - in '04, when they both played more than a half a game, Ramsey and Brunell had the same receivers, and Ramsey's numbers were clearly better. Finally, I'd hope that every player earns his spot every year. Williams certainly wasn't afraid to keep Lavar on the bench the past two years, even if he was a prior starter his first several years.
Who's going to be the trigger man for all this offense?
Is it just me, or do the Redskins seem like they're in a major transition at quarterback? Mark Brunell will turn 36 at the start of the season. Forget about a major injury; that can and does happen to 26-year-old QBs all the time.
If last season was an indicator, Brunell is good for peak performance in about, what, 11 games? It's probably time for the team to start making the transition to Jason Campbell, but that usually isn't an overnight process. There simply aren't that many Ben Roethlisbergers out there.
And for those of you screaming for Campbell to be The Guy from the first minicamp, let's consider what happened to kid quarterbacks in the 2006 NFL playoffs. Eli Manning, Rex Grossman, Byron Leftwich and Chris Simms all appear on their way to having pretty good careers and all of them were robbed of their lunch money in the playoffs. The Bengals' Carson Palmer might have been the exception, but he got hurt on his first pass against the Steelers and now he's trying to put his shattered leg back together. And Palmer, don't forget, started for a full year before getting to the playoffs. Even Roethlisberger, as great as he was his rookie year, got handled by the Patriots in the playoffs. Tom Brady won as a rookie, but how often are we talking about here?
Quarterbacks in their first season of really playing hardly ever take teams deep into the playoffs, and Campbell doesn't even enter the season as the starter. We don't know if Campbell will be worthy of being mentioned with the other young turks. This transition, from Brunell to Campbell, is a natural and necessary one, but it appears to come at the wrong time for the rest of the team, given the defense on hand and given the offensive firepower this shopping spree has added to the mix. And that little dilemma is something money won't fix, no matter how much of it the Redskins have to spend.
I think that Wilbon makes some very good points int his column. While we have all the other pieces on offense our qb situation is in a state of flux. This is likely Brunel's last season as a Skin so if we don't win the Super Bowl this season and Campbell takes over in 2007 then realistically our next chance to win will come in 2008. It seems to me that it would make the most sense to start Campbell this season and let him start learning and progressing in Saunders' offense with the rest of the team. More likely than not we are going to struggle a little bit on offense this season with the new system and with some new starters. It doesn't make any sense to me to start an aging and injury prone Brunell and hope that you win it all this year, when you can start Campbell and start his grooming process earlier rather than later. Just look at the success that recent young qb's have had in their second seasons as starters....Big Ben won the Super Bowl and Palmer earned a Pro Bowl spot and led the Bengals to the playoffs. The only way a young qb can progress is by playing in meaningful regular season games. Keeping Campbell on the bench until atleast his third season in the NFL is a big mistake.
Chris Luva Luva wrote:Mark hasn't done anything to lose the #1 spot so I dont see why there would be a competition. I like that Jason has to earn his way up the ranks.
If Jason has to earn his way up the ranks, Mark should have to earn the right to be the starter. Just saying he was #1 last year doesn't cut it, in my opinion. After all, Ramsey was clearly the better QB in '04, and look how quickly he was benched in '05. Being the incumbent then sure didn't win him any love.
Mark is out best option to win a superbowl right now.
Problem is, the Super Bowl isn't played right now - it's played after a long, hard season of at least 18 games, during which Brunell's going to take a hit or two which is going to severely compromise his effectiveness. All the veteran experience in the world isn't going to help once he's dinged up and unable to throw with strength and accuracy anymore. If the last two seasons have proven anything, it's that Brunell struggles more as the season progresses.
Mark Brunell turned in the best performance of any NFC Quarterback against the Seahawks this year in the playoffs.
Delhomme and Rothlisberger both struggled against the Seahawks, and Brunell did it with a depleted line and only one receiver. Brunell got dinged up, but he still played as well as we can expect him to.
The Tampa game was vs the #1 defense, any body think that had something to do with the offensive struggle?
Chris Luva Luva wrote:Mark hasn't done anything to lose the #1 spot so I dont see why there would be a competition. I like that Jason has to earn his way up the ranks.
If Jason has to earn his way up the ranks, Mark should have to earn the right to be the starter. Just saying he was #1 last year doesn't cut it, in my opinion. After all, Ramsey was clearly the better QB in '04, and look how quickly he was benched in '05. Being the incumbent then sure didn't win him any love.
Mark is out best option to win a superbowl right now.
Problem is, the Super Bowl isn't played right now - it's played after a long, hard season of at least 18 games, during which Brunell's going to take a hit or two which is going to severely compromise his effectiveness. All the veteran experience in the world isn't going to help once he's dinged up and unable to throw with strength and accuracy anymore. If the last two seasons have proven anything, it's that Brunell struggles more as the season progresses.
Mark Brunell turned in the best performance of any NFC Quarterback against the Seahawks this year in the playoffs.
Delhomme and Rothlisberger both struggled against the Seahawks, and Brunell did it with a depleted line and only one receiver. Brunell got dinged up, but he still played as well as we can expect him to.
The Tampa game was vs the #1 defense, any body think that had something to do with the offensive struggle?
All good points, but the regular season stats also suggest Brunell declined in the second half of the season. In the first 8 games, he only had 2 games with a passer rating below 80; in the second half, he had 4 such games. In the first 8 games, he passed for over 200 yds. 6 times (including 5 games in a row); in the second half, he only passed for over 200 yards once. TD's went down, INT's went up, etc. - it all points to a decline.
It's not like a hate Brunell or anything - overall, he was very good last year, and I hope he's great this year. But he's going to be 36, and he's played 14 seasons so far. When was the last time a QB that old led his team to the Super Bowl?
Mursilis wrote:All good points, but the regular season stats also suggest Brunell declined in the second half of the season. In the first 8 games, he only had 2 games with a passer rating below 80; in the second half, he had 4 such games. In the first 8 games, he passed for over 200 yds. 6 times (including 5 games in a row); in the second half, he only passed for over 200 yards once. TD's went down, INT's went up, etc. - it all points to a decline.
It's not like a hate Brunell or anything - overall, he was very good last year, and I hope he's great this year. But he's going to be 36, and he's played 14 seasons so far. When was the last time a QB that old led his team to the Super Bowl?
Answer me this. Who do he have to throw two after Thanksgiving?
He ONLY had one WR. His degredation in stats are not 100% his fault. 6 game winning streak anyone?
Answer me this. Who do he have to throw two after Thanksgiving?
He ONLY had one WR. His degredation in stats are not 100% his fault. 6 game winning streak anyone?
Brunell wasn't throwing to Patten when he was healthy so not having Patten in the lineup isn't a very good excuse for Brunell's declining stats last year. And even when Patten played he was dropping balls all the time so it's not like defenses were keying on him anymore than they were on our other receivers.
Mursilis wrote:But he's going to be 36, and he's played 14 seasons so far. When was the last time a QB that old led his team to the Super Bowl?
Didn't Rich Gannon do it with Oakland? Sure, he didn't win the game, but he led the team there. As a matter of fact, Gannon excelled that year. Not bad for an old guy.
Punu wrote:yeah but the odds of an old guy doing that are just less likely
True dat, but this is the same guy who defied the odds and led his team back from 13-0 to beat our hated rivals in the final minutes of a game in Texas.
Don't count him out just yet...
Unless you'd like another helping of crow next year.
I think we have to read between the lines on this one to see how Coach Joe is really setting up the grooming process for Jason Campbell on this one:
1. He's going to let him compete for the #2 spot, when articles quoting Todd Collins after his signing showed he was under the assumption he will be the #2 QB.
2. While letting Jason compete for the #2 spot, he's going to be getting the majority of reps because "Collins already knows the offense".
3. At the same time, Brunell will be getting fewer reps in order to "keep him healthy".
All this leads me to believe Gibbs is streamlining the transition now. Barring injury (or catastrophically abysmal play during the preseason), Brunell will start. But he's giving Campbell every opportunity to stake his claim and move up the depth chart short of throwing him directly into the fire. We will see a lot of him during the preseason, and the coaches will have plenty of time to evaluate his readiness. The reality being that a team's starting QB rarely makes it through an entire NFL season unscathed.
I think it's important to remember who the coach was on the sidelines when one of the most devastating injuries occured to a starting QB that I personally have ever seen (Theismann), and the importance of having a quality back-up. Stating Campbell has a chance at the #2 spot is a big step for an old school coach like Joe. While the expectation in today's NFL is that you throw the #1 pick in there and hope for the best, Joe is just not going to think that way. I'll take this for what it's worth and root for the young buck to show what he can do.
Two formation shifts, one man in motion, and a counter trey...those were the days...
Answer me this. Who do he have to throw two after Thanksgiving?
He ONLY had one WR. His degredation in stats are not 100% his fault. 6 game winning streak anyone?
Brunell wasn't throwing to Patten when he was healthy so not having Patten in the lineup isn't a very good excuse for Brunell's declining stats last year. And even when Patten played he was dropping balls all the time so it's not like defenses were keying on him anymore than they were on our other receivers.
I agree but defense could not afford to ignore him.
They ignored Thrash and Jacobs, as soon as Patten went out Santana was getting double and triple coverage.
I like how Coach Gibbs says, "[Campbell] will get a lot of playing this Pre-Season."
Last year I only remember seeing Patrick and Mark play, and then JC played one game where he led like a 60 yard drive to the point where Combs fumbled in the Endzone. Therefore I'm almost excited for the Pre-Season just as much as the regular season because we will get to see the future QB play.
joebagadonuts on IsaneBoost's signature:
-- "I laughed. I cried. Better than Cats"
Didn't Rich Gannon do it with Oakland? Sure, he didn't win the game, but he led the team there. As a matter of fact, Gannon excelled that year. Not bad for an old guy. twocents.gif
That is the exception rather than the rule. I don't like the idea of relying on a 36 year old qb to stay healthy for 5 months and 18 or 19 games. Brunell hasn't been able to do it for the past 2 seasons so why would he be able to stay healthy now. It's like banking on JD Drew or Kerry Wood staying healthy in baseball. Once guys start getting hurt on a yearly basis, very rarely do they manage to stay healthy for an entire season.
However, I'm much less concerned with Brunell's ability to lead us to the Super Bowl this year than I am with our qb situation past this year. With our new additions and new system on offense I think that we would take a step forward in terms of offensive production next season with Brunell at the helm. However, in 2007 we would be taking a step back once Campbell or someone else takes over. I simply don't like the idea of risking the future in order to make a run next season. Because with Brunell likely done after this season and a young qb poised to take over, anything less than a Super Bowl in 2006 becomes a dissapointment and that is a lot of pressure to put on a team, especially when you are implementing a new system with new players. I would much rather like to see Campbell start this year and take his lumps and hopefully progress the way that Carson Palmer has over the past 2 seasons. We have a very young nucleus on this team so I don't see the urgency in trying to win this season. Instead I think this season should be used as a building bloack to turn us into Super Bowl contenders for the forseeable future.
ey?
Heh.
