But for Campbell, the good outweighs the bad
Jim Zorn marveled at the throw, watching Jason Campbell heave a 67-yard touchdown pass to Santana Moss. Off his back foot. One word came to Zorn’s mind: “Wow.”
Earlier in the game, Campbell had another throw, or two, that brought other words to mind. As Moss broke free, Campbell hesitated. Then he threw incomplete, botching an opportunity for a gain inside the New Orleans’ 5-yard line. Another time, Campbell missed an open Antwaan Randle El around the 10-yard line.
“Had he just drilled him,” Zorn said, “he would have scored a touchdown.”
So as much as Zorn was ecstatic about his quarterback’s play in the 29-24 win, he — and Campbell — both know there’s room for improvement.
“He’ll make you feel like there’s a lot of work to do,” Campbell said.
“We liked his improvement,” Zorn said. “That’s all I would say it is. Now we want to put these things back to back. I want to see better play in weeks to come. … We know he wasn’t perfect; he knows that too. He missed a couple big throws that would have dug a deeper divot into the ground.”
But Zorn knows that his first win as a Redskins coach came, in part, because of Campbell’s performance. Campbell had plenty of help: the offensive line kept him mostly clean against a decent front and the running game kept the offense moving all day.
The Redskins misfired inside the red zone, settling for two touchdowns and three field goals on six trips.
“The good thing about those plays is he made a decision and went with it,” Zorn said. “He’s made some decisions on throwaways that have been excellent. He hasn’t forced the ball into areas that he shouldn’t.”
Campbell also put the Redskins in a good situation on a second-and-22 play from his own 6-yard line. The Redskins had the wrong personnel in the game to run the play Zorn called.
“Jason got the protection right, he got the play run and he threw a strike,” Zorn said. “That was all Jason Campbell.”
It’s why he finished 24 of 36 for 321 yards and a 104.1 rating. But Zorn wants it to be the start of something.
“You want to get to the position where your quarterback may have three or four minuses in a game,” Zorn said. “He had a good game, he really did. But that’s the expectation we have to have. That’s where he has to leap to and stay at to be a very good quarterback in the NFL. We’re pushing him there.”
Redskins notes
» Redskins coach Jim Zorn will have a message for his players Wednesday: no more playbook-related material will be posted on the Internet.
This after tight end Chris Cooley posted a story on his blog about the playbook. There’s a picture of one page in the playbook where players are quizzed about the Saints — the first question was to rate their defensive ends.
But what set the Internet abuzz is that in the picture, the playbook is on Cooley’s lap and he accidentally exposed himself. The posting was taken down once it was realized and Cooley later apologized for the incident.
Zorn said, “The rule of thumb [is] that if you have your own blog, nothing should be put in that has, ‘Redskins Playbook.’ Chris used poor discretion. Chris is a common sense kind of guy; we just move on and have it not be an issue.”
» Zorn said the team will consider using Santana Moss more on punt returns, hoping he can provide a spark. Antwaan Randle El is averaging 4.2 yards on five punt returns after averaging only 6.1 yards per return in 2007.
“I don’t want to be the full-time guy,” Moss said. “I figure if you switch it up now and then, it keeps a team guessing. Both of us can be deadly with it.”
Randle El, who lost a fumble on a return Sunday, said, “I’ve got no problem with it. If I’m tired, go ahead and get one. I’ve always felt like that.”
