Jason Campbell gets his mind right for the season..

[BringBackJoeT]

Originally Posted by firstdown

Why does that matter? If you have 75% starting that means that the coaches do not look at color and pick the best player and why would it be any different for the QB position? What is JC saying that the coaches might be looking past his talent because he is black. His numbers right now do not support his arguement.

Oh, c'mon. Are you serious? While I'm not ready to say JC's comments are accurate, or that they were really at all relevant to a conversation he was having about the pressure he's facing in the upcoming year, to say that a certain percentage of African-American players in the league reflects overall colorblindness is ridiculous, especially as it relates to the quarterback position. There can be little doubt that African-American football players wanting to play the quarterback position were stymied for many years in the NFL on the basis of unfortunate beliefs about their level of intelligence, and this despite the healthly percentage of African-American players in the rest of the league during that time. Get real.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by BringBackJoeT

Oh, c'mon. Are you serious? While I'm not ready to say JC's comments are accurate, or that they were really at all relevant to a conversation he was having about the pressure he's facing in the upcoming year, to say that a certain percentage of African-American players in the league reflects overall colorblindness is ridiculous, especially as it relates to the quarterback position. There can be little doubt that African-American football players wanting to play the quarterback position were stymied for many years in the NFL on the basis of unfortunate beliefs about their level of intelligence, and this despite the healthly percentage of African-American players in the rest of the league during that time. Get real.

JC is talking about today and not years back which I do agree with you that they "were" (your choice of words not mine) at one time held back from the QB spot.

[dgack]

Anybody getting distracted by the comments regarding race are missing the bigger picture here, which is that JC is finally speaking up and speaking out about his role on the team. It's pretty clear that he feels like he is the leader of this team now, not Portis. I think that bodes well for his season and for the team this year, personally.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by dgack

Anybody getting distracted by the comments regarding race are missing the bigger picture here, which is that JC is finally speaking up and speaking out about his role on the team. It's pretty clear that he feels like he is the leader of this team now, not Portis. I think that bodes well for his season and for the team this year, personally.

I have always felt that JC look at himself as the leader of the O and I'm not sure why you think CP was the leader. As far as I know JC makes the calles in the huddle and directs the players and not CP. I think your confusing Portis off the field and the Portis on the field which are two different things.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by dgack

Anybody getting distracted by the comments regarding race are missing the bigger picture here, which is that JC is finally speaking up and speaking out about his role on the team. It's pretty clear that he feels like he is the leader of this team now, not Portis. I think that bodes well for his season and for the team this year, personally.

Yeah I can see that. He definitely seems ready to step up and take the reins this year. He's been more vocal in the OTAs as well. And with everything he's been through this offseason and the way he handled it all, I think his teammates are looking at him as more of a leader too.

[tryfuhl]

Good to hear some of those things from him. Seems like he changed his mind on what it's like being a black QB in the NFL compared to how he responded to McNabb's words a few years ago.

The article pretty much wrote Roydell Williams into being our 5th receiver. I wonder if that was based on info from Campbell and/or the organization, or just the writer's assumption.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Yeah I can see that. He definitely seems ready to step up and take the reins this year. He's been more vocal in the OTAs as well. And with everything he's been through this offseason and the way he handled it all, I think his teammates are looking at him as more of a leader too.

So from your post your saying he is NOW ready to step up and take the reins. If thats true he is just now doing so what has prevented him from taking the reins the past couple of years?

[redsk1]

Playing the race card at the QB position is stupid to me. Every QB white or black has a tremendous pressure to perform. If you don't perform you get dogged in the press. Philly doesn't count as an example b/c they boo everyone, AI, Barkley, McNabb, Mike Schmidt, Santa, etc.

[mlmpetert]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag359

You're right it isn't popular at least with me. Seriously why did he have to play the race card? It's a simple deal, you play like 6-2 you get love from the fan base you go 2-6 and you get the opposite. It has nothing to do with race.

Personally I could care less what color the QB is or any other player for that matter. I judge every player the same way. You play hard you get points, you conduct yourself as a decent human being you get points, you play well you get mucho points. If race was an issue with me I wouldn't watch football considering about 75% of the league consist of black players.

The time that Jason has gotten to develop is something that other QB's around the league can only dream of be it black, white, or latino. Personally I love the way he's handled himself this offseason but come on.



McNabb plays in Philly, the city that booed Santa Clause, it shouldn't be a surprise that he gets treated the way he does. If anything I'd say they're holding back.

Right on. I was a little put off by what JC was saying regarding race. It took away from all the other good things he said.

It also took away from the real point of this thread; JC maturating. Our fault for reading it, or his fault for saying it?

McNabb played his first complete season last year since 2003. That's why he sometimes gets blown off as not a top tier QB. It’s not because he's African American. Another comparison I think of is pitchers in baseball. There are a much higher percentage of white pitchers then comparable to the makeup of the other positions in baseball. How many white running backs are there? Just seems like certain skill sets suite certain races differently.

[Hog1]

I consider this a problem.
It would be hard to make a case that the NFL does not play the most qualified player at position regardless of color as has already been stated. Is it possible that there is a coach or owner that harbors enough racist emotion to lean toward a white QB? Sure. To apply that across the league seems foolish to me.
If an owner does not believe in equality, he DOES believe in profit. To play an inferior player because of color defeats that.
AND at some level JC appears to believe, this is why I am not considered good? It is not my results, it is my skin color? Does he not understand that the only reason he is not riding the pine now is because of the changing nature of his coaching and schemes to date?

AND jackin' up that BS in the locker room cannot be good as well.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by firstdown

So from your post your saying he is NOW ready to step up and take the reins. If thats true he is just now doing so what has prevented him from taking the reins the past couple of years?

Could be confidence in himself from being in the same system for 2 years in a row and his overall experience level in the league after 4 years.

Could be him growing a pair after having to put up with trade rumors all offseason long.

Or maybe he just knows it's put up or shut up time and if he wants to be the long term guy here, he needs to step up and take what's his.

[JLee9718]

Campbell won't ever have a good year until he gets a decent offensive line to block for him. Maybe the Redskins didn't improve drastically along the O-line because if they did, they wouldn't have an excuse for getting rid of him. Just a thought...

[MTK]

Originally Posted by JLee9718

Campbell won't ever have a good year until he gets a decent offensive line to block for him. Maybe the Redskins didn't improve drastically along the O-line because if they did, they wouldn't have an excuse for getting rid of him. Just a thought...

I guess if you're into crazy conspiracy theories.

Sabotaging the entire season to get rid of JC?

Why bother signing Dockery then? They could have just kept Kendall and his creaky knees and saved some loot in the process.

[Hog1]

Originally Posted by JLee9718

Campbell won't ever have a good year until he gets a decent offensive line to block for him. Maybe the Redskins didn't improve drastically along the O-line because if they did, they wouldn't have an excuse for getting rid of him. Just a thought...

The line (barring multiple injuries) should be preety good assuming we have a competent right tackle. JC is going to have to learn how to buy a little time in the pocket

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag359

You're right it isn't popular at least with me. Seriously why did he have to play the race card? It's a simple deal, you play like 6-2 you get love from the fan base you go 2-6 and you get the opposite. It has nothing to do with race.

Personally I could care less what color the QB is or any other player for that matter. I judge every player the same way. You play hard you get points, you conduct yourself as a decent human being you get points, you play well you get mucho points. If race was an issue with me I wouldn't watch football considering about 75% of the league consist of black players.

The time that Jason has gotten to develop is something that other QB's around the league can only dream of be it black, white, or latino. Personally I love the way he's handled himself this offseason but come on.

Is this serious? I don't remember the Seahawks trying to boot Hasselbeck after the 2003 playoff loss. He went to the pro bowl and super bowl two years later. Jake Delhomme has yet to win a playoff game since 2005 and he just got a 5 year extension. Alex Smith, whose career highlights include winning 7 games with the Niners three years ago, is still competiting for his teams starting position in 2009. Eli Manning, for all of his struggles in his development, won a ring in his fourth year as a starter, and might get the biggest deal in league history. Kyle Orton has been one of the worst QBs in the NFL over the last four years, and he's still a team's QB of the future. Hell, Drew Bledsoe's career lasted another 8 years after he stopped playing well.

You see, that's the big picture. The race card got played in the abscence of an actual logical reason for the team's actions. You look at all the names above, and you do have to wonder that if Campbell's plight is just the status quo for an NFL quarterback, what's different about the guy's listed above.

The team can be not sold on anybody they want to. There's nothing wrong with making a change to improve at a position in March. The problem, of course, with telling your guy tht you're not sold on him...and then not really having a solid foundation for the belief is that you come off like someone with preconceived biases.

Now, I'm not saying Campbell should have gone there, or that going there makes anything different, or that life is fair, or that he's even entitled to a fair shake at his profession. I am saying that the evidence seems to strengthen his assessment, though it's still a case of correllation not equalling causation.