Smoke Signals: ‘Zornado rolls the dice’ edition

| September 26, 2008

Jason Campbell led several 4th quarter comebacks last year that fell short — in Tampa Bay and Dallas. So far this year, though, Campbell has taken the Redskins from 9 points down in the 4th quarter to the New Orleans Saints to a 5-point victory and a tied game in the 4th quarter against the Arizona Cardinals to a 7-point win. 

Campbell has completed 71.9 percent of his passes for 331 yards with a 125.9 passer rating in the fourth quarter — by far his best statistics in any quarter. He has six completions of more than 20 yards in the fourth quarter but only two in the first three quarters combined.

Overall, Campbell has completed 65.6 percent of his passes for 647 yards, with four touchdowns and no interceptions. He has not committed a turnover and ranks ninth in the league with a 100.1 rating.

In fact, here is a comparison of Campbell’s performance in the 4th quarter through the first 3 games of last season and the first 3 games of this season.

                             2007                  2008 Passing Yards 204 331 Comp-Att 14-25 25-32 Interceptions 1 0 Fumbles 2 0 Sacks 2 2 Touchdowns 0 2

Rather than crediting his own maturing understanding of the game, Campbell thinks the difference is Jim Zorn and his willingness to trust his quarterback and take chances in the 4th quarter.

Facing a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit against New Orleans on Sept. 14 at FedEx Field, Campbell led Washington to two touchdowns and a 29-24 victory. On the first touchdown drive, Campbell completed all five of his attempts — including one for a 23-yard gain and a first down to tight end Chris Cooley after Campbell had been sacked for a 12-yard loss on the previous play — for 82 yards, and running back Clinton Portis scored on an eight-yard run.

With 3 minutes 29 seconds remaining, Campbell teamed with wide receiver Santana Mosson a 67-yard go-ahead touchdown pass. On the game’s final possession, Campbell completed an eight-yard pass to Moss for a first down that helped the Redskins run out the clock.

“The quarterback has to make plays in every quarter, and certainly the fourth quarter, no matter if we’re up or down,” wide receiver Antwaan Randle El said. “He’s been making plays in the fourth quarter.”

Again against the Cardinals, Campbell and Moss combined on the go-ahead score, Campbell throwing a short screen pass to Moss that resulted in a 17-yard touchdown reception and a 24-17 lead for Washington with 12:18 to play. Arizona ran only seven more plays and gained 21 yards against the Redskins’ defense, which has shut out its three opponents in the fourth quarter under new defensive coordinator Greg Blache, and Campbell and Cooley finished things.

After the Cardinals punted, the Redskins took possession on their 16-yard line with 2:33 to go. Portis rushed twice for a first down. After the two-minute warning, Washington, on second down, needed seven yards for a first down. With Arizona out of timeouts, a first down would enable Washington to run out the clock. Zorn called for a bootleg pass to Cooley that resulted in a 26-yard gain. Game over.

“Most teams would try to sit on the ball in those situations, run the ball and just hope your defense can stop ‘em, whereas we’re playing to win the game,” Campbell said. “Last year, we probably would have run the ball in those situations, but it’s a totally different mind-set now. Our mind-set now is, ‘Attack, attack, attack.’ Really, no matter what time of the game it is, that’s what Coach Zorn does.”

While Campbell went out of his way to praise former Head Coach Joe Gibbs, it is clear he prefers the less conservative approach taken by his successor, Jim Zorn. It is an interesting observation, particularly for those of us who recognized that Gibbs was almost always a conservative play-caller, but believed he had crawled into a cocoon during his second tenure in Washington. Although it is often thought that Gibbs trusted Mark Brunell, but not Jason Campbell, the truth is that Gibbs didn’t really trust any of his quarterbacks. Gibbs trusted Clinton Portis and the defense. Sometimes that worked [2 playoff appearances], but most of the time it did not [an overall losing record and 2 last place finishes in the division]. The NFL is a quarterback’s league and to win consistently, teams are going to have to throw the ball and have a quarterback they can trust. So far this year, the Redskins have a coach willing to trust his quarterback to throw the ball in high-risk situations and a quarterback who hasn’t betrayed that trust. At least, not yet. 

Typically, coaches become more conservative as they take over a team. A risk-taking, take-no-prisoners offensive coordinator [like Joe Gibbs in San Diego] becomes a conservative, take-no-chances head coach [like Joe Gibbs in Washington]. The exception to this was Mike Martz, who never changed his approach one bit when he was promoted to the top job in St. Louis. Perhaps the key for Zorn is that he skipped that coordinator step and went straight from being a position coach to a head coach. I don’t really know, but I’m just throwing that out as a possibility. 

In a Washington Post chat, Redskins beat reporter Jason LaCanfora gave us some interesting tidbits about seldom-seen rookie TE Fred Davis:

He’s still finding his way, and the biggest issue is the position he plays. Cooley is a Pro Bowler and Yoder is very good as a second option. Todd knows the offense, has good hands and is a more powerful blocker than Davis right now.

He’s too valuable not to have in the 2 TE sets and yes they run a few plays to try to get Davis downfield a bit, but his role is limited for now. Last week in the goal line situations Zorn went with Lorenzo Alexander as a tackle eligible instead of some 3 TE stuff.

He’s got a climb but has a lot of natural talent and spends a lot of extra time working with Rennie Simmons after practice, which can only help.

and about blitzing Tony Romo:

This is a bend-don’t-break D. They want to take away the big play above all else. Even under Williams, who was much more of a blitz advocate than Blache, they didn’t blitz Romo much as all last year. His quick release can really burn you, and a guy like Felix Jones can kill you as a safety valve on screens.

I don’t see them being super aggressive on the blitz to be honest. They faced two high powered passing teams the past two weeks and didn’t blitz much.

and about who the Redskins will use to try to stop Dallas Pro Bowl TE Jason Witten:

I think Rocky may say a fair bit of him, and in zone Horton may be the guy to pick him up down field.

No doubt it’s going to be one of the 2-3 biggest match-ups in the game.

and about how the Redskins will try to stop Terrell Owens, who burned them for 4 TDs in a game last year:

I think Springs will man up on him with Landry shaded that way over the top. They can’t go crazy trying to truly double him, because they Whitten eats you alive and screens to Barber and Jones as well.

The Washington Times gives us a story about how rookie TE Fred Davis is part of a growing NFL trend in favor of 2 receiving tight ends. True enough, though right now it seems the second pass-catching tight end on the Redskins is Todd Yoder, who caught a 2-yard TD from Jason Campbell last week.

The Redskins are 11-point underdogs in a game they will have to contend with a Dallas offense that is scoring 32 points per game and racking up 440 yards per game. But Tom Knott prefers to write about Jessica Simpson. To each his own.

Jim Zorn comes up with a new noun — the slows. I like it. You never know which way the Zornado is going.

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