Another Nightmare Ending

"That's three heartbreaks three weeks in a row," conceded Gibbs. "It takes a toll on a team."

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Week after week, victory is just one fine play, or one less mistake, from the Redskins' grasp. To make the disappointment even worse, all around the NFC, almost every opponent that Washington wishes would lose seems to oblige them. On Sunday, the Giants were stomped at home by the mundane Vikings and Arizona spit the bit with overtime blunders to lose to the crummy 49ers. If the Redskins had won here, coupled with those defeats, many would have seen Washington as a sensible wild-card pick.

"So much potential and you keep coming up short," said Moss.

The most potential belongs to Campbell. A week ago in Dallas, his improvisational pass while scrambling was intercepted in the last two minutes to kill a potential winning drive. This time, he made two inexperienced mistakes. First, with 3:40 to play, cornerback Ronde Barber suckered the youngster with a veteran con job. "It was a [quick sideline] route [to Moss] we had been hitting all day," said Campbell. Of course, Barber knew it and, since the Buccaneers had led the whole game, could afford to wait until the game was on the line to gamble. Barber was yards inside Moss, but Campbell threw anyway, before looking.

On the final interception, Campbell said, "I should have gotten more air under it, thrown it to the back of the end zone so Santana could get it, but nobody else." He short-armed the pass, perhaps the first of his late-game failures that may've been nerves.

Even so, Campbell's teammates love what they see. "Jason's a gamer. He took some shots and came back," said Keenan McCardell, who caught six passes.

Far from losing confidence in Campbell, Gibbs seems to be gaining it. "He's playing his rear off," said the coach. "We have a real talented guy there."

With Campbell, this is one of those stand-up-and-be-counted moments. For a team that, for many years, has had enormous payrolls, flashy names and tons of galling close losses, is Campbell part of a continuing problem or a solution -- beyond the horizon? The feeling here, even on days like this, is that he's clearly the first franchise quarterback in town in many years.

"I'm getting worn down a little bit. But my mental state of mind is still there. We'll fight to the end," said Campbell.

Is the next part of his development learning to make exactly the kind of red-zone plays that he's mangled the last two weeks?

"Yeah, that's probably the next step," said Campbell.

Wait till next year?