Thomas Boswell Is Fail, Jason Campbell Isn’t The Answer

9:32 am EST December 1st, 2009 | Sports | 10 Comments

I generally like Washington Post sports columnist Thomas Boswell, but he goes too far in this defense of Jason Campbell.

It’s time for the town and the franchise itself to appreciate the 27-year-old, who is a restricted free agent after this season, for what he is — a competent, gritty, middle-of-the-pack quarterback — and not damn him for what he’ll probably never become — a top-shelf star.

As a read of my archives can easily prove, I’ve been a Jason Campbell booster for years now, but let us not kid ourselves. Campbell was drafted in the first round of the draft at #25. At the time people thought it was a stretch, and in retrospect it was clearly so. Even so, you don’t get drafted in the first round to be middle of the pack. And Boswell is being enormously generous when he says Campbell is competent.

While Campbell is better than most of the ball-slingers the Redskins have had post-Rypien, he is deficient in several key skills. He holds on the ball way too long, he simply has never been able to consistently read defenses. He is not accurate – while he has a strong arm, his passes have a tendency to miss safely open receivers. And while he’s not a scrambler by design, he often refuses to run a yard or two even when its an open lane with the best chance of success.

Jason Campbell has had multiple opportunities to step it up, and he plainly cannot. He would be among the better backups in the league, but Campbell has clearly proven that he can’t start. I hate to say it, because I genuinely like the guy (and of course I want every Redskins QB to be successful), but he hasn’t worked out. It isn’t his fault, but the team he leads is a dismal 3-8.

The Redskins need to move on at QB, and for me at least that doesn’t mean the college guys likely to go in the first round (no doubt Dan Snyder is having dreams about guys like Tim Tebow, Jimmy Clausen or Colt McCoy). They need to get some serious draft guys around and look for the late second round/third round guy that turns out to be a Tom Brady or even someone half as good.

I also want a pony.

Oliver’s List Of Post-Rypien QBs In Order Of Skill*

1. Brad Johnson
2. Trent Green
3. Gus Frerotte
4. Jason Campbell
5. Patrick Ramsey
6. Todd Collins
7. Jeff George
8. Tony Banks
9. Shane Matthews
10. Danny Wuerffel
11. Mark Brunell
12. Heath Shuler

* Skill is defined as how they played for the Redskins. While his overall NFL career is good and Brunell made the playoffs, overall he showed some of the worst skill I’ve ever seen at QB in his time in DC. And longtime readers know how I also romanticize what coulda been with Patrick Ramsey :)

Of the whole batch my two favorites are Trent Green and Gus Frerotte. Green because I think had Snyder put up the cash, he would have been a Pro Bowl QB. And Gus because he’s a goofy head-butter who made the pro bowl.

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10 Responses to “Thomas Boswell Is Fail, Jason Campbell Isn’t The Answer”

  1. Something Polish says:
    December 1, 2009 at 10:08 am

    Boswell is an excellent sports columnist who quite often gets stuff wrong. He’s easily excitable and overly optimistic. But he’s right here. While you are correct that Campbell hasn’t lived up to his first round pick, that’s in the past. And is sucks that we can sit here and see that J-Cam is quite likely about as good as he’s gonna get (and yes, he should scramble a bit more, even though he’s not exactly Michael Vick 1.0), but he’s a decent QB, even though Johnny Unitas isn’t walking through that tunnel. It’s worth questioning if he’s a Winner, but I think that goes higher up (see below).

    That pony we all seek has to do with the Organization and not with J-Cam. There are three ginormous, intertwined issues to tackle:
    1. Culture of Losing (The Norv Problem). Getting rid of Norv Zorn is the first step.
    2. Culture of Getting Paid. Somewhere along the line, the Redskins became synonymous with free agents arriving to cash a paycheck. The Bruce Smith Situation. This really must stop.
    3. Culture of Teh Danny. Meddling, charging for practice, suing season ticket owners, but mostly meddling. The JeffGeorge Situation is a prime example. Not sure how to fix that one short of Jack Kent Cooke’s corpse returning a la Dutch Reagan’s did for the Republicans (that was funny).

    Your list needs some tweaking. I think you forget how horrible Heisman Trophy Laureate Danny Wuerffel was. Brunell wasn’t so bad. Wow, the ‘Skins have had some bad QB’s as I return to the list. By the way, JeffGeorge threw the best damn ball in the storied history of throwing a football. Better than Sonny [Jurgensen], better than Warren Moon, better than Norman Esiason. But he too often threw it to the wrong team, wouldn’t go after fumbles, and undermined his coaches and teammates. He was not a winner. Threw fucking darts though.

    Oh, and Colt McCoy’s not walking throught that tunnel either. He’ll play for Houston (or possibly Dallas, but I think the Texans). It’s God’s will.

  2. Pryme says:
    December 1, 2009 at 10:48 am

    Yeah, this o-line would defend the Bradys, Mannings, and Farves of the League. It’s totally about the QB.

    Seriously: Campbell’s problems have less to do with him than the environment he’s been in. If anything, the experience has made him damaged goods. Knowing that the guys “protecting” you are as sturdy as tissue paper doesn’t help one’s confidence. Using a system that doesn’t play to your strengths makes you look like Rainman on the field.

    Unless they get a decent vet, they’re better off staying with Campbell. Otherwise, stamp “REBUILDING” on this franchise and tell the fans to come back in three years.

    And Wuerffel as #10? Really?

  3. Oliver Willis says:
    December 1, 2009 at 11:37 am

    Campbell has played behind decent O-lines. This year’s sucks but he’s played behind decent ones.

  4. SFC B says:
    December 1, 2009 at 12:20 pm

    Sadly the Redskins are a disaster area. Dan Snyder won’t be the worst owner in the league until someone destroys Al Davis’ phylactery, but he’s in the conversation.

  5. jr says:
    December 1, 2009 at 1:00 pm

    2010 free agent qb’s http://www.kffl.com/static/nfl/features/freeagents/fa.php?y=2010

  6. kth says:
    December 1, 2009 at 7:11 pm

    The Texans probably regretted picking David Carr #1 overall, who turned out to be a semi-bust (partly because he was getting sacked 5 times a game). They passed on Vince Young when they had the chance, so they aren’t blinded by the burnt orange. Finally, they already have one of the better QBs in the league with Matt Schaub (acquired from the Atlanta Falcons when they thought Michael Vick was their franchise QB; how funny/sad is that?).

    Since Dallas is probably happy with Tony Romo as well, at least enough to stick with him, they probably won’t trade up to pick McCoy either.

  7. SFC B says:
    December 1, 2009 at 10:34 pm

    Didn’t Eli Manning sign a huge contract this year?

  8. Matthew G. Saroff says:
    December 2, 2009 at 10:49 am

    Interesting how Jeff George was someone who could have been great, he made some amazing passes, but was a head case, and kept trying to force the ball to receivers who were not open.

    I’d place Frerotte ahead of Green, because I think that he really inspired the team.

    Johnson excelled at one stat, the only one that matters for football, winning games.

    As for the rest, except for Mr. Head of Clay QB, now Mr. Head of Clay Representative, Heath Shuler, I barely remember them.

  9. Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle says:
    December 2, 2009 at 3:01 pm

    Funny thing about the Falcons, I’d rather take Matt Ryan than Schaub. So it worked out for the Falcons in a weird way.

  10. Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle says:
    December 2, 2009 at 3:04 pm

    Has Campbell had the same Offensive Coordinator for more than one year? IIRC, the announcer on Sunday said that Campbell faced the same situation at Auburn, too. I don’t get the thing with NFL coaches trying to fit round pegs into square holes. Not everyone is a West Coast offense QB. My bet is that a guy like Al Davis must wish he had the chance to draft McNabb, since McNabb can throw a deep ball as well as anyone. But Campbell is not a West Coast QB either.