Opportunities Knock

By Thomas Boswell
Monday, December 29, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO

Ineptitude can be the mother of invention.

To measure how much better Jason Campbell must become and to sense the vast distance that Coach Jim Zorn's offense must travel to become credible, consider this: The bright spark in the Washington Redskins' season-ending, 27-24 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on the last play Sunday afternoon was the scrambling of a quarterback who isn't supposed to run.

From the day he was drafted, the 6-foot-5 Campbell has been told to keep his feet still under pressure, scan the field, read defenses and hope that someday, with his elite arm, he will emerge as a classic statuesque NFL pocket passer.

So much for plans. As the season collapsed from a 6-2 start to an 8-8 finish, Campbell has been forced to discover a skill he never knew he had. Apparently, over four NFL years, he has picked up the knack, through osmosis or desperation, of knowing when and where to run. Nobody asked him. He just has it.

For months the Redskins have had trouble maintaining long drives. (Okay, short drives, too.) Against the 49ers, they had marches of 62, 78 and 55 yards for touchdowns that required 10, 16 and 10 plays -- exactly the kind of offense Zorn's West Coast attack has lacked. The common denominator of all three drives -- especially the final thrust on which Campbell improvised a two-yard, fourth-down score with 1 minute 15 seconds left to tie the score at 24 -- was the quarterback's opportunism.

After the scoring play, Zorn told him, "I'm glad you're 6-5 with long arms because we needed every inch of it."

With these Redskins, you look for progress where you can find it. Both offensive and defensive lines are showing their age. The whole team was constructed along win-now lines for Joe Gibbs. All season, one core question has been asked: Can Campbell become good enough, fast enough to take this team deep into the playoffs before it gets old?

Campbell needs an improved and younger offensive line. He needs a second deep threat besides Santana Moss. In fact, if any (or all) of the Redskins' second-round receivers from the '08 draft would like to step up and be impact NFL players, Campbell would appreciate it greatly. Right now, they're contributing next to nothing.

However, until such wondrous improvements are made around him, Campbell has simply improved himself.

"He dramatically improved himself in getting free, making a decision to run upfield," Zorn said. "In the beginning of the year, he didn't lack the talent, he just lacked the encouragement. He proved he has that dimension. It creates a tremendous weapon for us. Please don't ask me to design things to get him downfield as our star running back.

"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.