Readers of DC Pro Sports Report know I’ve been a supporter of Jason Campbell, a position not altogether popular with many area sports fans. I’m still a supporter of Campbell [the fact that Snyderrato think they can do better only reinforces my belief] and it is nice to know that Campbell is not only a good football player, he’s a decent human being. Despite the shabby public treatment he’s endured during this offseason, he’s never behaved like anything but a true professional — unlike some Denver-to-Chicago quarterbacks I could name.
When the Skins lost out on Cutler to the Bears, Campbell was invited to a closed-door session with Snyder, Cerrato and Zorn. They supposedly cleared the air, but it wasn’t long before Snyder and Cerrato developed another crush — USC quarterback Mark Sanchez. Campbell learned about both situations the old-fashioned way — on local television.
Though he didn’t like it, he’d made peace with the Cutler scenario because at least the guy was a Pro Bowl quarterback. The thought of being replaced by a rookie was much more galling to him. And he couldn’t figure out why the Redskins chose to wine and dine Sanchez in such a public way.
“It was like they were putting it out there in public that I was not a good quarterback,” Campbell told ESPN.com on Wednesday. “I had my friends and family calling to ask what was going on, and I was like, ‘I have no earthly idea.’”
Though he was stung by the Skins’ pursuit of another quarterback, Campbell never missed a workout. He continued to show up at Redskins Park because he thought he owed that to his teammates. It served as quite a contrast to the “he said, he said” flap that had gone on between Cutler and new Broncos coach Josh McDaniels.
“No matter what people were saying, I was still a Washington Redskin,” Campbell said. “I couldn’t afford to let something distract me from what I knew would be a big season for me. No matter if it was here or somewhere else, I had to be ready. I just couldn’t let all that stuff bring me down.”
When the offseason program ended, Campbell took a trip to the Bahamas and St. Kitts to get away from all the drama. But a lot of his inspiration for this season came from a fishing trip he took to Brett Favre‘s farm in Hattiesburg, Miss. Campbell grew up a few miles down the road and has had access to Favre’s ponds (bass and perch) for a couple of years. Campbell and his father had been fishing for a couple of hours one day in late June when Favre showed up for a visit.
Campbell said he didn’t ask Favre a single question about his much-publicized comeback attempt because he “figured he could use a break from that.” Instead, Campbell listened as Favre gave him some encouraging advice on how to handle his situation with the Redskins.
Campbell listened as Favre gave him some advice that has helped him prepare for the 2009 season. I know I’ve written it before, but I hope Campbell has a stupendous year and takes Dan Snyder to the cleaners in contract negotiations — not just because that would be good for the Redskins, but because it would be good for Jason Campbell. He deserves it. Read it.
“I don’t talk to the rookies,” defensive coordinator Greg Blache said, when asked about Jeremy Jarmon’s personality. “I don’t talk to the new guys, I really don’t, until they make the football team. It’s hard enough when you have to cut guys that you’ve gotten to know and been around, so consequently I don’t get close to the new people until we make the final cut. When we make the final cut, then I’ll get into knowing some of the guys.”
“How can I explain this, it’s like sweet tea that’s not dark, that’s as good as I can explain it,” Daniels said. “It just looks like a little bloody-type liquid. It’s hard to explain it, but it’s like a little bloody type liquid, like a light brown color.”
“I think we got a couple key surprises,” Portis said, in his final training camp report. “Hey, I need y’all to pump this up on TV, Marko Mitchell iskilling Carlos Rogers in practice. I’m talking about, he can not stop him. So y’all make sure y’all pump Marko up on TV, because Carlos is in trouble. He in trouble. He ain’t stopped him yet this whole camp.”
“Portis just talki
ng,” Rogers told Comcast SportsNet’s Kelli Johnson. “We could be in cover 2 or something, he catches a ball in my area – he caught it on me? [Portis] just want to talk today.”
“Clinton Portis, I look up to him, he’s a well-known guy, good attitude and everything, so coming from him and some of the veteran guys, that means a lot to me,” Mitchell said. “I just go out there and play my position, catch the ball. I don’t look at who I caught more balls on, who I’m doing this and that to.”
At some point, Portis and Rogers apparently began betting on what would happen the next time Mitchell ran a route on Rogers. The corner claimed he broke it up.
“That’s my point exactly,” Rogers said.
“He killing him,” Portis disagreed. “They keep trying to fight him. He ain’t backing down. He done dogged Smoot, he dogged D Hall, now he making an example out of Carlos.”
“I’m really pleased,” Zorn said.”I think we’ve accomplished a lot more than we could’ve last year because everything was such a start-up, and this year, the core of everything has been the same. The players kind of knew what to expect. We pushed a lot offensively to try to increase the schemes of things — and we did. Our defense just became more seasoned, if you will. And I think our players appreciated a little more rest in a couple of situations. We gave them just a complete rest and a weight-lifting morning, which was different than last year. I think we did what we had to do. We worked really hard, but we kind of saved our guys. We had very little major injury situations come up. I think our guys are more ready for this football season.”
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