Jason Campbell, Todd Collins Named Ex-Redskins Of The Week

Ex-Redskins Of The Week: Jason Campbell, Quarterback, Oakland Raiders

Jason Campbell came off the bench in the second half to lead touchdown drives of 93 and 73 yards for the Raiders in the win against the San Diego Chargers. Campbell was benched in the second game of the season in favor of back-up Bruce Gradkowski. Gradkowski suffered a shoulder injury mid-way in the game. Campbell in relief competed 13 of 18 passes for 159 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. Oakland's win snapped a 13 game losing streak to the Chargers.

Ex-Redskins Of The Weak: Todd Collins, Quarterback, Chicago Bears

To see the rest of this story, go to Redskins Hog Heaven. 

Something to Cheer For: Redskins 17, Steelers 13

The Washington Redskins 17-13 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers was the perfect antidote to last weeks shutout against the Baltimore Ravens.

The Redskins opening drive was especially encouraging.

Rock Cartwright returned the opening kick-off 24 yards.

Jason Campbell's first pass was a deep strike to Malcolm Kelly, broken up by Troy Polamalu.

Campbell's next two passes were incomplete, but the Redskins gained first down on a trick play when the ball was snapped to Rock Cartwright instead of to the punter. Cartwright ran 15 yards to the Steelers 45 yard line.

Clinton Portis ran two plays for five yards. Jason Campbell's completed pass to Antwaan Randle El was nullified by a penalty on LT Chris Samuels.

On third and ten, Campbell completed a 10 yard pass to Chris Cooley for the first down.

Washington ran on the next seven plays but were stopped at Pittsburgh two yard line. They took the field goal.

I liked the coach's play calling. Deep passes, fake punts show a new level of comfort and confidence by Jim Zorn. Zorn's development as a head coach is as vital to the season as that of any player.

Jason Campbell did not silence his critics with his one for seven showing for 10 yards.

Campbell said after the game that he was not going for numbers. He and Zorn were calling high risk plays.

Those early deep passes probably made it easier for the Skins to run during the drive. Zorn did not call for Campbell to throw when near the end zone. That might not be the case in a real game.

Zorn designated Ladell Betts as the third down back. I hope it works. I am skeptical, however. After Clinton Portis' eight yard run to the three yard line, Betts could not score on the following two attempts.

One of those plays might have been a Campbell pass attempt if the game really counted.

While I would liked to have seen a three-for-seven performance out of Campbell and a touchdown run by Betts, a win is something to cheer for.

If I had a vote, I'd pick Marko Mitchell over D.J. Hackett for the fifth receiver spot.

Reactions:

Greg Trippiedi, Hog Heaven: Hog Hits: Redskins 17, Steelers 14

Benjamin F. Folsom, III, The Curly R: Jailbreak on Every Down

Jason Reid, Redskins Insider: Zorn Evaluates Campbell's Performance

David Elfin, Redskins 360: A Star is Born

Matt Mosley, ESPN.com: Thoughts on Skins Win Over Pittsburgh

Rich Tandler, Real Redskins: No reason to get wee-weed up

The NFL Network will re-air the Redskins-Steelers preseason game Monday, August 24, 4:00 p.m. Eastern. Check local listings.

How would you feel if you were Jason Campbell?

Frank over at dc.metblogs.com tries some analogies for how Jason Campbell must feel after being told that he was "the guy" at quarterback for the Washington Redskins.

Is he a guy who got fired only to have the company call him back and say whoops-we wanted to fire you, but we can’t?

Is he the guy who’s girlfriend tried to date a better guy only to come back and say “actually, you’re as good as I can do.” ?

I can't relate because none of these things ever happened to me!

Any sentient being or starting quarterback with a pulse must fight feelings of rejection after going through what Campbell did last week.

Our Jason was marginalized by three teams, the Redskins, the Denver Broncos and the Chicago Bears. Peter King wrote on SI.com that Daniel Snyder was not close to making this deal once Denver's new coach preferred Chicago's Kyle Orton for his system instead of Jason Campbell.

Kyle Orton? The Broncos turned down the Snyderskins offer because of a preference for Kyle Orton?

So how does it feel to be rejected in favor of Kyle Orton?

And more important, how does it make Daniel Snyder feel knowing that his second big deal of the off-season was torpedoed because Denver more or less confirmed his own low regard for his quarterback?

Don't think for a minute that The Danny is chastened by this episode.

Snyder's not thinking that he should have followed the plan and allowed Campbell to have his second season with Jim Zorn because that's the fastest way of getting a productive, winning quarterback.

No, he's thinking what could he have done to pull off the deal?

Like, oh maybe, offering Campbell to Chicago for Orton instead of a second round draft choice. Then he would have had the quarterback commodity Denver really wanted before the Bears had a clue of where they really stood with Denver.

Surely, Chicago wasn't the only team to turn down Snyder's offer to trade Campbell for a second round pick.

So, Campbell may be P-O'd, as he should be, and motivated, as he must be. But he's also forewarned that the real progress he showed last season was not enough. He hasn't closed the sale with his next employer, whoever that may be.

He must double his 2008 performance of 13 touchdowns and six interceptions. If Jay Cutler (and Eli Manning and Tony Romo) proved anything, it's that 18 INTs is acceptable when you throw 25 TD passes and have 7+ yards per attempt.

Clinton Portis will be 30 this season, the age after which running backs begin to decline. The offensive line will face a major rebuild after 2009. There's no "next year" for these guys.

The Redskins must make a deep playoff run right now. Campbell must be the playmaker who wins by force of will. Thirteen touchdowns in 16 games won't cut it, no matter the quality of your receivers and blockers.

Either Campbell makes himself a franchised player for 2010, or he's looking at Patrick Ramsey's post-Redskins career path.

I believe Jason Campbell has it in him to do it.

But he has to do it.

Just do it.

Jay Cutler To The Redskins; Nevermind

"The Chicago Bears pulled the big upset Thursday afternoon by acquiring Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler." ~~ John Clayton, espn.com.

So the Broncos and Da Bears made April Fools of Snyder and Cerrato.

Of Jay Cutler and Jason Campbell

If you only read one analysis of the Jay Cutler to the Redskins storyline, go take a look at Jay Brinson's story Jay Cutler Is in Redskins' Wheelhouse on nfl.fanhouse.com.

Brinson doesn't stop with a head-to-head comparison of Jay Cutler's and Jason Campbell's stats. He turn's to Football Outsiders' stat analysis to show that Cutler is two and a-half times more effective than Campbell per play and yields more yardage.

This is hard for me to write since I am a Campbell fan who still believes in the kid. I also believe in Football Outsiders. Their numbers are hard to ignore.

Also hard to ignore is Cutler's three years in the same system under the same coach that allowed Cutler to run high up the learning curve.

Whether Cutler would have been as successful in Washington's turmoil of the past three years doesn't give pause to anyone at Redskin Park.

Brinson is one of the first to wonder out loud, if Jay Cutler comes to Washington, can Mike Shanahan be far behind?

Meanwhile, over on Hog Heaven, I ask why Denver coach Josh McDaniels hasn't been fired by now?

Jason Campbell should be glad to go to Denver if he gets the chance.

The controversy to come

The Redskins may get a happy ending to a sad season if the they can get past the damned Cowboys and into the playoffs.

If the Skins do that, then make it as far as a second playoff game, starting quarterback Jason Campbell could be available. But, should he start?

Despite that old football cliche, a starter can lose their position if their replacement plays better. [See Jay Schroeder - Doug Williams, 1987] Collins has looked very good leading the Redskins to three critical wins. So, I'll say right now that while Campbell is Mr. Right, Collins is Mr. Right Now. As long as Collins produces, he should start for however far the Redskins get.

The case is made far more eloquently by Scott Van Pelt on Collins or Campbell? The Great Debate.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. First the Skins have to beat the Cowboys.

Soooooo Close

The Washington Redskins have had their share of ugly wins and nasty losses. Today's game against the Cowboys was not one of them. It was a good loss.

A good loss is the kind where you played at your best, executing a good game plan, but lost to a better team playing a better game.

While the Redskins were not perfect, they were in the game until the last 90 seconds. That's better by far than I expected. Would Terrell Owens, that emotionally needy man-child [used to call them sissies], have made four touchdown passes over the middle if Sean Taylor was lurking in the secondary?

Taylor and Fletcher-Baker are the two defensive players who cannot be replaced. The team showed they could cope with other injuries.

Al Saunders showed that his offense can work here. Joe Gibbs showed that he could trust it to win games. Jason Campbell showed his growth as a quarterback running that offense. That's something to build on for the rest of this season and in the future.

Campbell has shown that he can run the offense. Now he has to learn how to win!

I feel good about that.

Oh yeah, you only get one "good loss" per season. No more moral victories, guys.

Jason Campbell is Country

OK, a bunch of Redskins bloggers got a chain letter with a link to a BogTV video on YouTube showing Jason, Santana and 'Twaan messing around before filming a car commercial.

It's a slow news day, so this is my cheap excuse for a daily post, and thank you "littlekeep."

About Jason Campbell

"Jason looks phenomenal." ~~ Mike Sellers

"You can tell the growth and maturity he's had." ~~ Clinton Portis

Both were speaking of the off-season development of Jason Campbell during an interview shown this morning on Comcast Sportsnet.

Joe Gibbs commented about Campbell in today's story at redskins.com.

"He's worked extremely hard, and I think it's made a difference. The players noticed it, and all of the coaches noticed it. Generally you don't do real hard things unless you've had great preparation. Based on the first three days [of OTAs], I'd say it [Campbell's level of preparation] shows."

Gibbs said he was "disappointed" that Shawn Springs and Sean Taylor are "no shows" at the Organized Team Activities. Veterans are not required to attend. "My focus is on the guys who are here," added Gibbs.

The OTAs run weekly Tuesday through Thursday in a run up the the full team mini-camp starting June 15. Several players are attending, but sat out the activities.

Defensive end Phillip Daniels had surgery on his wrist and ankle, linebacker Marcus Washington had hip surgery and quarterback Mark Brunell and running back Clinton Portis both had shoulder surgery.

Santana Moss sustained a strained groin injury during practice on Wednesday, so he was held out of Thursday's practice.

Fullback Nehemiah Broughton suffered a knee ligament injury during an OTA practice this week and could be placed on the injured reserve list.

Photo: Jonathan Newton, The Washington Post