Campbell's development curve

How many of you guys were screaming at the TV when the skins tried 5 or 6 screen plays to Widereicevers in the first half of the game on sunday? I know me and my fellow skins fans I was watching the game with were. Also on the Oline problems they are all centered around not having Jansen and Thomas. The other 3 guys Samuels, Kendall, and Rabach are getting the job done. The 3 fumbles on Sunday were all on Wade. He couldn't block Vrabel. Lord help us if the cowbays line up Ware on Wades side.Wade only got beaten for one of the sacks. The other two were on Mike Sellers, with help from Portis that arrived late. Obviously, the blocking schemes did not account for Vrabel very well.

As for the screens, I was bothered more by the fact that Gibbs never called a stop and go for Moss against Asante Samuel. In the first quarter, it was clear as day that Samuel was jumping the sideline hitch to Moss, yet we never took advantage of that. Sometimes I wonder if Gibbs is watching the same game that we are. God forbid we risk a turnover by throwing a deep sideline pattern to Moss against a CB overplaying the short stuff.

Wade only got beaten for one of the sacks. The other two were on Mike Sellers, with help from Portis that arrived late. Obviously, the blocking schemes did not account for Vrabel very well.

As for the screens, I was bothered more by the fact that Gibbs never called a stop and go for Moss against Asante Samuel. In the first quarter, it was clear as day that Samuel was jumping the sideline hitch to Moss, yet we never took advantage of that. Sometimes I wonder if Gibbs is watching the same game that we are. God forbid we risk a turnover by throwing a deep sideline pattern to Moss against a CB overplaying the short stuff.

Why would Gibbs call anything when Saunders is the one calling the plays?

Why would Gibbs call anything when Saunders is the one calling the plays?Saunders may be calling the plays, but you cannot convince me that Gibbs isn't heavily influencing the conservative nature of the passing game. An earlier poster hit the nail on the head with the ridiculous number of WR screens we threw - NE was jumping all over those by overplaying their CBs near the line. Moss had zero chance to break one of those, and what better way to loosen that aggressive CB coverage than to challenge them downfield?

Saunders may be calling the plays, but you cannot convince me that Gibbs isn't heavily influencing the conservative nature of the passing game. An earlier poster hit the nail on the head with the ridiculous number of WR screens we threw - NE was jumping all over those by overplaying their CBs near the line. Moss had zero chance to break one of those, and what better way to loosen that aggressive CB coverage than to challenge them downfield?

Of course Gibbs is involved with the game plan, but he's not calling the plays.

Our offense is do in large part because Joe doesn't want to RISK any turnovers. Its a high % offense with limited risk, which limits the down field throws and puts much more pressure on cambell to take those shots when they are called and much more pressure to complete them causing over throws or under throws. He is never really in any kind of rhythm in regards to throws of 20+ yards. Its hard to have an effective offense when the reigns are always pulled so tight. With the offensive talent we have we should be able to move the ball mathatically down the field. Eventually Joe must learn that lining up two TE for max protect and 2 WR for routes isnt' working. His big sets to run the ball is fairly predictable. I can think of very few plays this year where I said "wow, wasn't expecting that!" We are very predictable, which enables the defense to take risks knowing whats coming. This year seems to have reverted back to the 2004 antient offensive system. I can only pay coach Joe allows Al to get into a playcalling rythym with AL's plays.

we cant run the nohuddle JC might make a mistake and we cant take that chance. Al not calling the plays. It has to be Gibbs. Look at AL with the rams and KC his offense was more imaginative than this crap. Gibbs should let him call the game or fire AL.

Jason Campbell will struggle so long as we have no running game. And I don't see any reason for the run to improve unless we play a defense that Sucks in the trancendent, metaphysical sense of the word. If Randy Thomas comes back in week 13 or whatever, that would help. but I don't see any reason to suspect that we will be a contender by then unless something changes drastically. Right now, this is the worst Redskins offense I have seen since the 1993 Rod Dowhower group.

Also, people hate all the short passes. Me too, but that is an attempt to get yards on first down in the absence of any ground attack. They are runs for teams that can't run. Campbell is not demonstrating the ability to find the open receiver in the intermediate passing game. He holds the ball a lot like Brunell did. And when he doesn't, the throws are not always accurate. He still has a long, long ways to go. I think if we were a team that could run for 150 yards a game, his deep balls would be a serious problem for the oppossing defensive coaches. But we're not.

Jason Campbell will struggle so long as we have no running game. And I don't see any reason for the run to improve unless we play a defense that Sucks in the trancendent, metaphysical sense of the word. If Randy Thomas comes back in week 13 or whatever, that would help. but I don't see any reason to suspect that we will be a contender by then unless something changes drastically. Right now, this is the worst Redskins offense I have seen since the 1993 Rod Dowhower group.

Also, people hate all the short passes. Me too, but that is an attempt to get yards on first down in the absence of any ground attack. They are runs for teams that can't run. Campbell is not demonstrating the ability to find the open receiver in the intermediate passing game. He holds the ball a lot like Brunell did. And when he doesn't, the throws are not always accurate. He still has a long, long ways to go. I think if we were a team that could run for 150 yards a game, his deep balls would be a serious problem for the oppossing defensive coaches. But we're not.


Excellent post--couldn't agree more. I think, though, that Gibbs/Saunders/Buges will find something that works in the run game for this group. And Campbell will get better on those reads--the Pats are tough to read, famously: look at Peyton's trouble with them.

But if we can run it, the long game will open up, and then all this talk of "conservative" will go out the window.

Jason Campbell will struggle so long as we have no running game. And I don't see any reason for the run to improve unless we play a defense that Sucks in the trancendent, metaphysical sense of the word. If Randy Thomas comes back in week 13 or whatever, that would help. but I don't see any reason to suspect that we will be a contender by then unless something changes drastically. Right now, this is the worst Redskins offense I have seen since the 1993 Rod Dowhower group.

Also, people hate all the short passes. Me too, but that is an attempt to get yards on first down in the absence of any ground attack. They are runs for teams that can't run. Campbell is not demonstrating the ability to find the open receiver in the intermediate passing game. He holds the ball a lot like Brunell did. And when he doesn't, the throws are not always accurate. He still has a long, long ways to go. I think if we were a team that could run for 150 yards a game, his deep balls would be a serious problem for the oppossing defensive coaches. But we're not.More than the short passes, I hate where we're throwing them - we are still a horizontal offense, throwing the majority of the short stuff to the sidelines. We almost never attack the middle of the field, which would force LBs to cover our shifty receivers. Welker absolutely destroyed us in 10-12 yard chunks last Sunday.

More than the short passes, I hate where we're throwing them - we are still a horizontal offense, throwing the majority of the short stuff to the sidelines. We almost never attack the middle of the field, which would force LBs to cover our shifty receivers. Welker absolutely destroyed us in 10-12 yard chunks last Sunday.

I think we're running those routes, but Campbell is not delivering the ball. The Green Bay 4th and 2 is a perfect example. He had Betts in the flat short of the marker or McCardell on the slant wide open beyond the marker and he never took his eyes off Betts. McCardell started to throw his hands up in frustration but being a veteran team-oriented guy, he restrained himself. Bottom line is that just because something is not completed, doesn't mean the coaches are not calling those plays.

I want to be clear that I'm not saying Campbell won't get better, I just think there's a lot of variables to why we're not producing in the passing game right now. Certainly the WR screen is NOT a play where he would have other options. But, as I said before, those plays are glorified runs and should be thought of as such.