Opportunities Knock

Gallery

Week 17: 49ers 27, Redskins 24

The Redskins complete their second-half slide with a 27-24 loss to the 49ers, finishing the season with an 8-8 record.

» LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY

"It [just] happens naturally is what I'd say."

Many quarterbacks never achieve a balance between the disease of frisky "happy feet" and the equally debilitating condition of never taking flight at all. Campbell may have it.

In the first quarter, he salvaged a third and six with a nine-yard run to the San Francisco 20-yard line, setting up a short touchdown run by Clinton Portis. In the second quarter, on third and two, Campbell ignored a blast from a blitzing safety, then powered for five tough yards before getting blasted to the turf at the 6-yard line. On the next play, he flipped a touchdown pass to Antwaan Randle El.

Finally, late in the fourth quarter, with the Redskins trailing 24-17, Campbell made the two key plays of the march with his feet, not his arm. On a first and 15, he saw a hole up the middle and sprinted 23 yards to the 10-yard line. After three typically frustrating plays in the red zone failed to produce a score, Campbell dropped back on fourth and two, pump-faked then created what amounted to an uncalled quarterback draw play, diving full length and extending the ball inches over the goal.

"I'll always look to pass the ball first," Campbell said. "I have areas to improve. I'd like to spread the ball out further down the field next year. We have the [receivers] who can become guys who can do that.

"But, yeah, I'll run now. It adds another dimension. It can help separate me from other quarterbacks."

Did he ever dream he'd hear such words? It's still a team joke that he can't figure out how to slide at the end of runs to stay semi-safe. Instead, he looks like a statue collapsing in stages. "Today, I slid one time. That might be the first all season," he said, laughing. "It kind of shocked me."

Many will look at the Redskins' record and Campbell's numbers this season -- in which he has been battered by sacks but has stayed as healthy as NFL quarterback ever do -- and decide that he defines middle-of-the-pack mediocrity. To say his 18-for-30, 156-yard performance with one touchdown and no interceptions was typical would be an understatement. His passer rating for the day was 84.9; for the season, it was 84.3.

In all, Campbell completed 62.3 percent of his passes for a modest 6.4 yards per attempt, defining the Redskins' inability to make big plays through the air this season. His 13 touchdown passes, in a year in which the NFL saw historically high scoring, was disappointing. But his six interceptions was the single stat that allowed the Redskins to avoid a losing record and perhaps even a coach-endangering mark.

If Campbell, fumble-prone in '07, had not radically improved his ability to protect the ball, the Redskins and Zorn would be far more than "frustrated" by their bad second half. This would have been a franchise in turmoil.

But, in one season, Campbell has proved three things, despite learning a new offense. He can be durable. He can be among the least turnover-prone quarterbacks in the NFL. And, increasingly, he can consistently pick spots to run, moving up field fairly rapidly, surviving (or even delivering) a hit and, in the process, showing a bit of leadership. Quarterback charisma? Let's not get carried away. Yet. But, with more weapons around him next season and another year of learning Zorn, the Campbell scramble, gawky as it may look, could be a signature.

And Campbell's legs are a nice complementary piece.

Perhaps this season ended as it should have -- with a last-play-of-the-year trudge-off loss that produces intense annoyance and precludes any hint of complacency. If the Redskins had held their 17-7 first-half lead or if they'd come from behind in overtime to win, they'd have been tempted to spend their offseason with the perverse consolation of "what should have been."

The Redskins could have looked at losses to the Rams and the Bengals as flukes, minor areas for improvement on the road to a 10- or 11-win season in '09. That would have been tempting and delusional.

This is a team that was so bad on offense that it barely beat anybody by more than a few points, never scored 30 in any game, and was outscored overall by 31 points. As for impressive wins, those dwindled, too. The Redskins did not have a single win over a team with more than nine wins.

When this season began, the Redskins and their fans wondered if their young quarterback was good enough to lead the expensive talent on the Washington roster as far as its talent could take it. Now, that question has been reversed. Campbell is not yet a star. But he's reached the point where he's now a step better than the team that surrounds him. If they improve, he won't hold them back

Why, on some January day, strange words indeed, he might even lead them with his feet.