Aaron Schatz at Football Outsiders has done a statistical comparison between Donovan McNabb and Jason Campbell to see what the Redskins offense should expect from McNabb this season. The gist: McNabb really won’t add much more, if anything, to the offense.
When you look at their numbers, you wonder whether McNabb will give the Redskins that much more than they got from Jason Campbell,” writes Schatz. “Let’s imagine McNabb’s 2010 season will look like the average performance of those 10 similar players in the season following the three-year span listed above. Those players averaged 13 games, primarily because of injuries, but we prorated the average to 16 games. We then compared these expected numbers to Campbell’s stats in 2009.
The McNabb comparables ended up with a better touchdown-interception ratio (22-to-14, compared to Campbell’s 20-to-15); the yardage (3,411 for the McNabb comparables to 3,618 for Campbell) and completion percentage (60.8 for McNabb comparables, 64.5 for Campbell) don’t match what Campbell did this past season. Yes, McNabb averaged more than 8 yards per attempt this past season, but that was a yard more than what he averaged in 2007 or 2008, and he doesn’t get to bring DeSean Jackson with him to Washington.
My view, as readers of this website know, is that Jason Campbell has been vastly under-appreciated in Washington — by fans and management. Considering the poor coaching, horrible offensive line, adequate-at-most receiving corps and injury-prone running backs, I thought Campbell produced quite well for a team that was never nearly as good as Dan Snyder or many fans believed. I think if Campbell had been surrounded by better talent and coaching, he would have done quite well in D.C. If he goes to somewhere other than Oakland, I think he’ll have a reasonable chance to succeed in the NFL. My view hasn’t changed: The Redskins should have spent their money and draft picks upgrading the talent around Campbell rather than constantly trying to upgrade a quarterback position that was never the problem.
Tags: Donovan McNabb, Jason Campbell, Quarterbacks, Washington Redskins
Loading ...
FanSided
NFLMocks.com
Not all of the fans thought the primary problem with the offense was with Campbell, but with so many screaming about losing it's hard to be heard. In 2008, the Redskins started out 6-2 under Jim Zorn, including road wins at Dallas and Philadelphia. Campbell was being touted for MVP. Then the bottom fell out. The team finished 2-6. The coaches got together trying to figure out the source of the problem. (One coach thought the answer so obvious he thought the question was a joke.) The coaches and everyone around saw that it was an old offensive line who could not protect the QB, open holes for the running back, nor get any push on short yardage. They were old, prone to injury and there was no depth at any offensive line position if one got hurt. Vinny Cerrato was in charge of the 2009 draft. Despite the coaches, Vinny chose to ignore the OLine through all 7 rounds of the draft, similarly to what he had done for all the previous years. The pro-Campbell crowd sees this as a reason. The anti-Campbell crowd sees it as an excuse. But the proof came when Jay Cutler left the strong OLine he had in Denver and ended up on a team without the same advantages on OLine gives you. His numbers were not as good as Campbell's this year, yet the Skins were willing to give up two first round picks to get him. The Cutler trade, as with the Mcnabb deal is a part of the "Win now. We're one player away." mentality that has haunted the Redskins since Snyder bought the team. Mcnabb is a classy guy, as is Campbell, and for the first year or so, he will be showered with love. But only wins will quiet the fans. It doesn't matter if it's the QB's fault. He's the biggest target and the one that the television cameras watch.
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
Like