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Jason Campbell - NFL QB or 70s porn star?
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For this week's 5 questions I
sat down emailed with Will from over at
Hogs Haven to talk all things Redskins and stun him with my superior vocabulary ahead of yet another NFC East clash... Also be sure to check out
his site for my answers to his 5 queries.
BGN - After getting off to a torrid start, the Skins have hit a bit of a tough patch over the last few games. What would you attribute that to?
HH - Wow, I'm an idiot. I told a friend "Torrid start? I thought we got off to a great start." And my friend said "torrid can mean great" so I had to look it up at dictionary.com. In any event; tough patches have come against good competition. Playing the Patriots is a lot different than playing the Dolphins. I thought we played our best game against the Lions, though we certainly could've beaten the Packers as well. It's tough barely beating the Jets and the Cardinals, but I'll take barely a win over a loss any day. Were I to attribute our struggles to the team, purely, I'd say it is an injured offensive line combined with an anemic run game (only very recently showing signs of life) with a young quarterback.
Anyone that reads your site knows you're a big fan of Jason Campbell, and honestly I am as well. I got a lot of flak on a message board last season when I said that I'd take him over Eli Manning if I was starting a franchise and had those two to pick from. Where are you on his development at this point in his career?
I mean, he's shown a lot of good but some bad this year. I honestly felt like he'd be a bit further along than he is right now, but he is well within the normal range of growth of a potential star quarterback. His accuracy is much improved from last year even if his touchdown:int ratio is not, and I haven't even been that critical of his decision making thus far. He still throws one of the best long balls I've seen (long balls! Get it!). Through 15 starts he is 7-8. That's fine by me. He has pretty killer facial hair, too.
Is it really true that the last time a Redskins' WR caught a TD was December 30th, 2006? WTF is up with that? [editor's note, by BleedGreen] You don't get questions of that caliber from the mainstream media!
That is correct. None of our wide receivers have caught touchdown passes this year. I have no idea what is up with that. I'm just impressed that the Redskins have managed 19 points a game with zero (scoring) production out of their receivers. A lot of credit needs to go to Chris Cooley and the running backs for picking up the scoring portion of the passing game, although it has been pretty sparse. Obviously I'd like more production out of Moss, Randle El, and Thrash/Caldwell/McCardell (but not Brandon Lloyd!)
The Skins have been hit pretty hard by the injury bug so far this year. How have the backups stepped up and can you sustain any more injuries to starters?
The backups have done a fine job seeing as we're 5-3. Last year we suffered substantial injuries and had 5 wins all season. Can we sustain that with more injuries? Who knows? Is Rick DeMulling really that much worse than Jason Fabini? Is Kevin Sampson going to kill the offensive line any more or less than Todd Wade? I'd rather not find out.
Finally, the Redskins appeared to have put together an all star coaching staff after the hiring of Gibbs but lately I've been reading a lot of Skins fans that are less than impressed. Do you think you have the right staff in place to be a contender?
No, we don't. I think Al Saunders is an outstanding coach. I think Joe Gibbs is an outstanding coach. I don't know if the two are compatible with the offense; we're 20th in yards per game offensively and 26th (
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamoff.php) in offensive DVOA per FO. That is simply unacceptable with an innovative Hall of Fame Coach combined with Al Saunders, who has a proven history of success. Either they are not compatible or they've both lost their touch, and I simply cannot buy that coaches as talented as them have forgotten the game of football. I'm very against rocking the boat with coaching changes, but those guys need to either learn how to work together well enough to move the ball farther than 19 National Football League teams, or they need to go their separate ways.
Much thanks to Will as always for his candid and funny observations on his Washington Redskins. Be sure to check out Hogs Haven for all his thoughts on the upcoming game.
