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Why Sunday's win over the Saints was BIGGER than most may realize


Titaw

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Yes, it was coach Zorns firs win as a HC and yes, the offense looked impressive, but there are two reasons why I personally believe that this win was the BIGGEST in the last 2 1/2 years.

You see Jason Campbell exorcised two demons on Sunday in one play. With 3:29 left in the game Jason Campbell hit Santana, pretty much in stride for the game winning touchdown. In his NFL career, Jason Campbell hasn't connected deep, not ONCE. Remember last year MNF, in Philly? Jason Campbell overthrew a WIDE open Santana Moss for a game clincher. What about week one where he hesitated and the defender proke up the pass? Not Sunday, he delivered an almost perfect ball to a wide open Santana Moss.

What's the second demon you ask? Well, Jason Campbell has also never had a fourth quarter, game winning performance. Last year three games come to mind, Green Bay, Tampa Bay and Dallas. In those three games Jason Campbell did just enough to keep us in the game, but couldn't seem to find a way to finish. Not on Sunday, not only did he finish, he finished in a big way.

For the past two and a half years Jason Campbell football has been, do just enough to keep us in the game and find a way to lose late. Not so anymore. You see, for young QB's that have made the mistakes Jason has in the fourth quarters of years past, they start to doubt if they are ever going to be able to do it Now when the situation arises again, Jason is going to believe that he can doi it because he already has done it.

Ladies and Gentlement, we may have just witnessed Jason Campbell turning the corner.

HTTR

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Not sure I agree(JC had a come from behind 4th quarter victory against Carolina in 06'), but good post! I just don't believe we can put all of those losses on JC. Alot of factors play a role: conservative coaching, poor defense, lack of playmakers making plays for him, etc...

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I must admit...I thought that maybe some point in the 4th quarter Donavan McNabb came in and switched jerseys with JC...

This is DEFINITELY something JC and the staff can build on.

I soooo love that Zorn put the ball in JC's hands on the 4th down play...when all is said and done this year, that might be the play that it all hinges on.

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Not sure I agree(JC had a come from behind 4th quarter victory against Carolina in 06'), but good post! I just don't believe we can put all of those losses on JC. Alot of factors play a role: conservative coaching, poor defense, lack of playmakers making plays for him, etc...

I don't know about that. In the Dallas and Tampa Bay games he threw interceptions because he forced things while the Redskins were in the redzone (Dallas) and in the opposing teams territory (Tampa Bay). I would pin some of those on him. I was worried it was going to happen again Sunday, but he finally learned how to make quick reads and protect the ball if only for a game. :cardsuck:

HTTR

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Jason Campbell has completed deep passes before and has led a game winning drive before. He also came really close to leading us to game winning drives last year against Dallas and Tampa, two playoff teams. I don't know whats your point. Campbell is a good NFL QB. People who hate on him are the ones who want a Brady/Manning type QB.

We could be doing a lot worse than JC and restarting with another one only sets this franchise back even farther.

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good point, but id say that this was his second clutch performance - the pass to Cooley against Carolina 2 years ago was his first. both, interestingly enough, came on JC audibles.

So would you say it's a 'double clutch'? :D

I don't know if we've seen JC turn the corner yet for this offense. That play to Moss showed me that Gibbs had the right idea when drafting him to run his style of offense,, big guy, stands in the pocket, delivers the ball long. (A very Rypien-esque play).

Whether he continues to improve in the WCO, I'll just have to wait and see. I know he had a nice game statistically, and he made the big play at the end, but overall I still think he showed that he's not comfortable yet in the new offense.

I'm pulling for him, but I don't think he's turned a corner in this offense yet.

~Bang

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For the past two and a half years Jason Campbell football has been, do just enough to keep us in the game and find a way to lose late. Not so anymore. You see, for young QB's that have made the mistakes Jason has in the fourth quarters of years past, they start to doubt if they are ever going to be able to do it Now when the situation arises again, Jason is going to believe that he can doi it because he already has done it.

You can blame Gibbs for that. He has never shown as much confidence as Zorn has in him. I think it is huge what Zorn is doign for JC's mindset.

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So would you say it's a 'double clutch'? :D

I don't know if we've seen JC turn the corner yet for this offense. That play to Moss showed me that Gibbs had the right idea when drafting him to run his style of offense,, big guy, stands in the pocket, delivers the ball long. (A very Rypien-esque play).

Whether he continues to improve in the WCO, I'll just have to wait and see. I know he had a nice game statistically, and he made the big play at the end, but overall I still think he showed that he's not comfortable yet in the new offense.

I'm pulling for him, but I don't think he's turned a corner in this offense yet.

~Bang

I thought generally speaking, even without the benefit of the long pass to Moss, Campbell looked better on Sunday. He was comfortable, went through his progressions and did a relatively good job of getting rid of the ball on time. He had a couple of missed opportunities, but for the most part, he seemed to play in rhythm and execute the offense well.

In a way, the bomb to Moss raises the bar for him. I would have been satisfied just to see him make the incremental improvement evident in the first three quarters of the game. Now, we may be expecting these comeback wins every week, which isn't realistic.

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I think, as fans, that we can take this as a building block in Jason Campbell's development.

But that game was HUGE for Campbell personally. He didn't light up the board with 5 TDs, but the one that he threw counted, and he had moved us down the field all day. For some reason, we bogged down in the red zone, but that might have been Zorn's insistence upon passing the first three times we were down there. Passing is hard to do in goal line situations with no PA fake because pass defenders have less ground to cover. Everyone's close to the ball.

But Campbell took the initiative in asking for the ball more. Looks like Campbell's finally started to get that big "C", and take initiative as the leader of that offense. (http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2008/09/15/jason-campbell-to-jim-zorn-trust-me-and-redskins-respond/)

That win was big for our whole team BECAUSE it may have been in terms of the makeup, the biggest win and the biggest single play of Campbell's career. How fitting that it came at home, where certain fans who are less patient and less intelligent about how the game works were willing to drop him after 22 Starts.

That's a season and a half worth of starts, people. The MAJORITY of starting quarterbacks get a lot longer than that to prove themselves, no matter what the circumstances.

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In his NFL career, Jason Campbell hasn't connected deep, not ONCE. Remember last year MNF, in Philly? Jason Campbell overthrew a WIDE open Santana Moss for a game clincher. What about week one where he hesitated and the defender proke up the pass? Not Sunday, he delivered an almost perfect ball to a wide open Santana Moss.
The deep balls against Philly & NYJ last year were, to my recollection, the ONLY deep balls that he has missed. There were some other incompletions due to the receiver simply not catching the ball, but he most certainly has completed numerous deep balls. He completed several deep ones against Miami, he completed one against NO in 2006, against Dallas last year (Santana's one-handed grab), the ones to Thrash at home against Philly last year, hell there was a completed one to Moss earlier in the Monday Night game where he missed him. He has connected with Cooley on several as well.
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I may have wanted to word the deep pass differently. Most of JC's deep passes have bee inaccurate. The one to Cooley against the Panthers wasn't a deep ball it was a short pass that Cooley took yard. The one against the Saints was something like a 20-30 yard strike, more intermediate than deep. Santana's one hander was a great adjustment by tana.

What was meant by it was that Campbell tends to miss the sure-fire 6, wide open deep ball.

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He needs to string a few of these together before we can say he's turned a corner or taken that next step. I do agree with you that it's pretty big for him. The Carolina game aside (had TONS of help), he's mostly choked in the 4th quarter.

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];5547254']By Deep Balls' date=' I think the OP is implying 60+ Yard TOUCHDOWN passes. It wasn't uncommon to throw for 30+ yards and get big chucks (hell, ARE did this 3 times on opening day last season), but to see him finally go the distance from inside his 40, its comforting.[/quote']

Thanks ghost. I'm glad somebody got the jist of what I was saying. I'd even go as far as saying 50+ yard TOUCHDOWNS.

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He needs to string a few of these together before we can say he's turned a corner or taken that next step. I do agree with you that it's pretty big for him. The Carolina game aside (had TONS of help), he's mostly choked in the 4th quarter.

Which is why I prefaced turning the corner with "may". I think he took 2 leaps and bounds forward Sunday. Now he needs to do like you said and string a few performances together.

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