Preseason Week 2: QB Hopes Top Redskins Wish List

With one preseason “game” under our belts—last week’s 23-0 bummer against the Baltimore Ravens—I have pared the wish list down for week two:

I. All season, the single most crucial element in any real Redskins game will be the play of its young veteran quarterback, Jason Campbell. His performance in tonight’s preseason “game” against the Pittsburgh Steelers won’t have much bearing in terms of the final score, but it will carry significance in terms of confidence and progression for his teammates, his coaches, fans, and Campbell himself.

Last week Campbell was solid, if unspectacular. He chose safe underneath routes, seemingly the result of both his own instincts and the design of head coach Jim Zorn. Zorn stated after the game he went into it with legitimate concerns about his offensive line’s ability to protect Campbell against the Ravens’ aggressive pass rush, and called Campbell’s few plays accordingly.

Fair enough.

In week two I’ll be looking to see both Zorn and Campbell build on that and pull the trigger on at least 2-3 downfield looks. They don’t have to be 50-yard rainbows—I’ll settle for a couple of 25-yard seam routes or deep outs. Just call for the man to take a deep drop and cut it loose a couple of times.

What that will also do, of course, is test the starting offensive line.

Though the linemen protected Campbell well last week, they faced no jailbreak blitzes or sophisticated stunts from Baltimore. The Ravens didn’t start really coming after the Redskins passers until after Campbell was done for the night. I’m not expecting the same from the Steelers tonight.

I hope to see the Pittsburgh send the house at Campbell a couple of times, see the Redskins pick it up professionally and Campbell execute the right quick read to beat it.

The line and Campbell’s consistent inability to do that during over the second half of last season was a primary cause of their 2-6 slide. In all likelihood, their ability to reverse the trend in 2009 will be the primary factor in what kind of season the Redskins are going to have.


II. For all the focus on pass protection heading into last week’s opener, one thing that jumped out during the “game” was the starting offensive line’s inability to create even a whiff of running room.

Here are the running plays from the starting units’ two series, and the eleven total runs during the first half. I didn’t do the second half because, well … I was bummed.

First team:

1-10-WAS 27 (14:19) 46-L.Betts right tackle to WAS 27 for no gain
2-10-WAS 38 (13:03) 46-L.Betts right end to WAS 42 for 4 yards
1-10-WAS 39 (5:35) 46-L.Betts left tackle to WAS 39 for no gain
2-10-WAS 39 (5:02) 46-L.Betts right guard to WAS 42 for 3 yards

In four running plays over two drives, the Redskins starters managed seven yards (averaging 1.75 per carry). And it wasn’t against a Ravens defense putting eight men in the box to stuff the run, either. With the exception of the final play of the second possession, Baltimore came out in base 4-3-4 sets and simply ran to the ball.

Unfortunately, no Redskins broke through the line into the second level to take on a LB or the safeties. There was no movement up front at all.

The rest of the first half, with the second and third groups, didn’t go much better:

2-10-WAS 23 (12:17) 24-M.Mason right end to WAS 28 for 5 yards
1-10-WAS 22 (11:09) 24-M.Mason left tackle to WAS 23 for 1 yard
2-9-WAS 23 (10:29) 24-M.Mason up the middle to WAS 26 for 3 yards
1-10-WAS 11 (6:50) 24-M.Mason left end to WAS 11 for no gain
2-4-WAS 29 (5:18) 24-M.Mason left end to WAS 28 for -1 yards
1-10-BAL 34 (1:59) 31-R.Cartwright up the middle to BAL 30 for 4 yards
1-10-WAS 38 (:02) 31-R.Cartwright left tackle to WAS 43 for 5 yards

Rock Cartwright did pick up nine yards in two carries at the end of the half, but against a Baltimore defense playing "prevent" in the 2-minute drill.

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