The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

By Jim Corbett, USA TODAY

ASHBURN, Va. — Jason Campbell has spent so much of the last three months sharpening his footwork, rhythm and timing, it seems he's been prepping for an Emmitt Smith-like run on Dancing with the Stars rather than his first full season as the Washington Redskins' starting quarterback.

By speeding up his mechanics, Campbell has slowed down what he's seeing around him. Slow and grow.

From his decision to commit two vacation weeks this July — they'll be spent throwing to his receivers at wideout Santana Moss'Miami home — before training camp to his sharper reads and passes, Campbell has made impressive sacrifices and strides this offseason.

"He's been like my son," associate head coach Al Saunders says. "Every time I look over my shoulder, he is here."

The 6-4, 230-pound Campbell radiates a poised presence evidenced in those tight spirals zipped to all the right places during organized team activities at the team's training complex.

He exudes a leader's demeanor in every way.

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"We talk a lot more about character in this league. Jason Campbell is the epitome of character," says former Redskins quarterback Doug Williams, who gave his blessing to Campbell to wear his old No. 17. "He's going to represent the Redskins well."

The biggest positive during Washington's dismal 5-11 season was the invaluable starting experience Campbell gleaned. He went 2-5 after replacing veteran Mark Brunell.

The renewed hope for a Redskins postseason renaissance springs from Campbell's offseason growth spurt, which is exactly what coach Joe Gibbs and Saunders sought.

"He's there," Moss says of his quarterback. "His confidence level has risen. And his game, his arm, his decisions, his accuracy — all have risen with his confidence.

"This offense is about timing. You have to be at a spot, and his ball is there on time with good zip on it."

Moss said the results would be different if the improved Campbell could replay his seven 2006 starts. But the preseason and duress of the 2007 season will better indicate Campbell's progress.

"Joe Gibbs won Super Bowls with three quarterbacks," says Williams, now a Tampa Bay Buccaneers personnel executive. "He's been around enough quarterbacks to know what he wants in one. When Joe decides this is the guy, there isn't any doubt.

"But Jason is just like anybody else. Just give him time."

The Redskins liked Campbell enough to acquire Denver's first-round selection in the 2005 draft and grabbed him with the 25th pick.

But Campbell didn't play so much as a down before Gibbs promoted him to starter against Tampa Bay on Nov. 19.

"He has really paid the price this offseason," Gibbs says. "He is quicker, much more confident. He is just more comfortable."

Everything appears more effortless. It belies all of Campbell's hard work.

"I've been here since the beginning of March," he says.

"You have to sacrifice a lot of trips to stay here and put the time and effort in, watch film and go on the field, practicing drops and throwing. One day you'll be glad you did it."

Campbell is ever more fluent in Saunders' voluminous playbook and handles his attendant responsibilities as the new face of the franchise with unassuming ease.

"I couldn't have a better coach or a better teacher than coach Saunders," Campbell says. "He does it all and knows it all. He was in Kansas City and turned Trent Green into a Pro Bowl quarterback year in and year out."

It's remarkable that this is the first time in seven years the former Auburn star has been in the same offensive system.

"Jason's a very talented guy who's got all of the qualities you want in a quarterback in terms of intangibles," Saunders says. "He's a hard worker — very, very dedicated — and wants to be good.

"His character is impeccable. And he's really respected and admired by his teammates."

And the hard work seems to be paying off.

"One thing we've done with his mechanics is we've tried to quicken everything up for him," Saunders says. "That's from the waist down — the speed of footwork — and the neck up — the quickness of making his decisions.

"The thing Jason was able to demonstrate last year, that really gives him an opportunity to be successful as a quarterback in the NFL, is he has great poise under stressful situations," Saunders says.

If the Redskins are to reach the NFC Championship Game — something running back Clinton Portis guaranteed during a cable television appearance in which he unveiled his latest alter ego, "Broadway Joe Namath" Portis — Campbell is the key.

A healthy Portis, combined with the emergence of Ladell Betts, promises the potential of a top-flight backfield tandem to ease pressure on Campbell. Saunders' offense funneled through running backs Marshall Faulk in St. Louis and Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson in Kansas City.

"Our offense is built on the running back, and what and how much we can do is predicated on the quarterback," Saunders says. "Jason's growth is extremely important to how much we can do offensively.

"That remains to be seen, and that's why we're working in the offseason."

Year two under Saunders has historically signaled an offensive quantum leap.

The Chiefs registered a league-high 467 points in 2002, 143 more than 2001. And when he served as the Rams' associate head coach in 2000, St. Louis amassed a league-record 7,075 yards, 663 more than in 1999.

Williams urges Campbell to play his role and manage and maximize the talent around him.

"I saw him down at the Super Bowl, and we talked for three hours," Campbell says of Williams. "I got a chance to talk to him before my first start, and it was huge. Doug told me, 'Just play football. Don't put any pressure on yourself, and everything else will fall in place.' "

Mentored by the late Eddie Robinson at Grambling, Williams helped debunk stereotypes about black quarterbacks, throwing four touchdown passes in the Redskins' 42-10 Super Bowl XXII victory against the Denver Broncos, earning MVP honors. He now takes pride in seeing Campbell play the position.

"Let's be honest — no sense in me sugarcoating," Williams says. "We're talking about a young African-American quarterback, and we know they're still not judged the same way all the time.

"We've come a long way. But the media has got to let the kid grow up. He hasn't started a full year yet. If you're going to judge where Jason Campbell is headed, it has to be judged on this entire year, provided all his guys stay healthy."

If Campbell can consistently beat eight defenders in the box with darts to his receivers and keep his interception total below 15, the Redskins should have a shot at that postseason return.

"The one thing you can never teach is experience," Saunders says.

"We're excited about where he is right now and where we think he's going to be."

"We talk a lot more about character in this league. Jason Campbell is the epitome of character," says former Redskins quarterback Doug Williams....

(e) Reporters asked Williams things like "How long have you been a black quaterback?" Williams answered, "I've been a quaterback since I was about 12, but they tell me I've been black all my life".

Chris Luva Luva wrote:

(e) Reporters asked Williams things like "How long have you been a black quaterback?" Williams answered, "I've been a quaterback since I was about 12, but they tell me I've been black all my life".

I read somewhere that the reporter was misheard and that he really didn't say what has become legend.

welch wrote:Yes, outstanding article. And catch that quote, way up at the top:

"We talk a lot more about character in this league. Jason Campbell is the epitome of character," says former Redskins quarterback Doug Williams....

When Doug Williams calls Campbell "the epitome of character", then we can "take it to the bank".

Let's remember a few things:

(a) Williams took infernal heat from the bimbo fans at Tampa Bay because that team failed to go far in the playoffs leading to SB 17. Racist heat.

(b) Joe Gibbs, who had coached Williams as a rookie, prevailed on Jack Kent Cooke to sign Williams when the USFL folded. SF wanted Young, but no one except Joe Gibbs wanted Doug Williams. The Redskins paid about $450,000 a year, which was the highest any team paid any backup QB.

(c) The Redskins had a "golden boy" named Jay Schoeder (20 TD's) at QB. Schroeder was the same age as Elway, Young, Esiason...QB class of '83. Jay was tossed into a game against the Giants when Joe T had his leg broken...and stunned the Giants. Gibbs wanted a dependable backup, although Beathard had drafted a kid named Mark Rypien. Still, there was no reason to expect Schroeder, who had destroyed the SB champ Bears during the playoffs leading to SB 21, to expect that Schroeder would not lead the Redskins for another five years or more. If you liked young Ramsey, you'd have liked Jay.

(d) Gibbs pulled Schroeder during the '87 season, feeling that Schoeder was starting to crumble under the pressure. The sports radio shows -- just beginning in DC -- were filled with people abusing Jay, and crying that the sky was falling because the Redskins had "no one" to replace him. By the way, Schroeder had developed a habit of throwing harder as the game went on, and plowing the turf with 90 mph bullets thrown low to avoid interceptions. (In '86, he threw 20 TD's and had about 20 INT's).

(e) During the week before SB 22, the "media" kept asking Williams how he could even step on the same field as the great, the superb, the magnificent John Elway. The constant story was "John Elway is the greatest", "Elway's Three Amigos receivers are unstoppable", "Doug Wiliams will also play, but just because someone has to be thrown up against Elway".

(f) The media kept hinting that blacks could never play QB. Line and RB, sure, because, as "Jimmy the Greek" (who remembers Jimmy, and his influence???) had said, blacks were bred for field work...not quick thinking.

(e) Reporters asked Williams things like "How long have you been a black quaterback?" Williams answered, "I've been a quaterback since I was about 12, but they tell me I've been black all my life".

(f) No QB has had the pressure that was applied to Williams. The "media" insisted that Williams had no "touch", meaning that he got nervous and threw too hard under pressure. Then look at the TD pass to Clint Didier, and compare it to Elway's passing. As the MNF crew said after one Elway pass went through a receiver's hands, "That one left a vapor trail".

(g) Doug Williams showed as much character as any player I can remember...and my memory goes back to Choo-Choo Charlie Justice, when he played for the Redskins. Williams was and is "the epitome of character". And, by the way, Gibbs backed him every minute.

If Doug Williams says that Campbell has character, then I'm happy.

...If you liked young Ramsey, you'd have liked Jay.

HanburgerHelper wrote:...All this hype about [Campbell] needs to end.

REDEEMEDSKIN wrote:

HanburgerHelper wrote:...All this hype about [Campbell] needs to end.

So do the Ramsey "coulda-shoulda-woulda" sob stories, two years after his departure.

HanburgerHelper wrote:We should have kept Ramsey.

PulpExposure wrote:I disagree. But not because I don't like Ramsey. It's because I think playing in Spurrier's looney "Why block the middle blitz" system, and getting piledrived, ruined the kid.

welch wrote:Regarding Ramsey and Jay, I meant to compare their age, age-strength, and tendency to throw INT's. Potential.

Who knows? Maybe Ramsey would have turned into Rypien if he had been coached by Joe Gibbs from the beginning. That meant sitting out the SB 22 season with an "injury". Look at Joe on the sidelines, and you see Rypien in Redskin sweater holding the clip-board.

Who can roll back several years and predictt what would have happened to Ramsey if he had had a progessional coach. I'll add, to Ramsey's favor, that Schroeder had Monk, Clark, and Didier as receivers, with Ricky Sanders as a three-wide changeup. And Monk was a ferocious blocker, so the Redskins could run when they had "the Posse" set. Ramsey had a pitiful receiving crew (what happened to that Gardner guy????) and ran an offense that Richie Petibon had shown how to stop more than ten years earlier.

Still, Ramsey couldn't start for the Jets. Campbell is the QB now and in the future (fingers crossed against injury...anybody remember George Shaw, the brilliant young QB for the Colts who got hurt...allowing a nobody named Unitas to take over?).

Campbell is our QB, and Brunell is mentor/backup.

If Doug Williams praises him, and mentions that Joe Gibbs knows QB's, then that's enough for me.