CONTEXT ADDED BY ADMIN: END OF CONTEXT Vick to 'Skins is all the talk.
ASHBURN, Va. -- Now it's Jason Campbell's move, and, frankly, I can't wait.
For months, the poor guy has been the subject of a Washington filibuster, with the Redskins talking about acquiring other quarterbacks -- a sign that maybe they've had it with him -- and disgruntled fans demanding a change at the position.
Well, look around, people, and guess who's throwing darts to Santana Moss in training camp. Jason Campbell hasn't gone away, and now that he has the floor he has a chance to make a statement of his own.
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I, for one, hope he does, and here's why: Because he did what Jay Cutler could not, which is to suck it up and return to a club that, at one time, looked as if it didn't want him. Moreover, he vowed to deliver, proving to his critics that they're wrong and that Washington can, in fact, win with him.
I hope so because Jason Campbell is what a quarterback is supposed to be, a leader. He is tough, resilient and persistent. OK, so his record (16-20) is worse than Cutler's. He has a chance to change that, and the Redskins will give him that opportunity.
I don't care how reluctant they might be or that they offered two first-round draft picks for Cutler. Campbell is their guy, like it or not, and he can change a lot of perceptions about himself as a player and a person, and he can do it now.
"There isn't a kid who wants it more than he does," coach Jim Zorn said. "He's really improved himself, and we're all going to be better for it."
A friend of mine once said that when you look at Campbell there is nothing extraordinary about him, and that's fair ... except for one thing: He forgot about the guy's demeanor. He's the anti-Cutler, which means he didn't whine when the Redskins pursued the former Denver quarterback, and he didn't pout when they contemplated trading up in the draft for Mark Sanchez.
He simply promised to prove he's their man, and if I'm in a huddle that's what I want from my quarterback: someone who fights back, not curls up in a corner or runs away to Chicago.
"There are going to be times," said Campbell, "when you're in a game, and it gets tough. Are you going to be someone who gives up just because toughness hits you in the head? Or are you going to be willing to fight? You can be down 21-0, but you have to keep the same fight to come back.
"You want guys who are strong-willed, not guys who give up easily or who when toughness comes their way, they run or flee. You want to be someone who, through adversity, is the same kind of person. You have to keep your eyes directly ahead of you and not get sidetracked."
Don't expect Campbell to be sidetracked, not this time around. It's the first time in his career as a starter that he has had the same offensive system in successive seasons, so there is a confidence about what he's doing. There's also an understanding between him and Zorn after his head coach added pages to the playbook the second half of last season, overloading and frazzling the normally taciturn Campbell.
"We were learning as we were playing," said Campbell. "We were implementing plays during weeks of games. You try to take that from the practice field to the game field, and that's a little bit tougher than running all those plays during the offseason and having already seen them."
Ah, yes, last year. It was really two years. The Redskins were 6-2 the first half of the season, 2-6 the second half. Zorn took a lot of heat, but so did Campbell, who threw all his interceptions (six) in the final eight games. It didn't matter that the offensive line was depleted or that Clinton Portis was hurt or that receivers dropped 31 passes. Campbell had a target on his No. 17 jersey, and just about everyone took aim.
But look a little closer. Campbell didn't sabotage last season. The Redskins couldn't protect him with their line or their running game, and he suffered the consequences.
"I have a whole different respect for Jason when I see him get peeled up off the ground after every time he gets hit in the face," said Moss, one of Campbell's biggest fans. "Every quarterback can't get hit like that and get back up and go out there and do what he's doing. The guy's tough. That said, I'm not surprised the way he's handling the situation.
"It's all about your upbringing. You have to give thanks to Jason's family ... his father and his mom for raising him to be the guy he is. We're all not built that tough. We don't have that shield that we can put over us to fight off some of those things that are said about us or to fight off some of those critics.
"We all get talked about, and we all have critics who tell us what we can and cannot do. But I tell him all the time, 'What you're going through might not be the same thing as me because you're the team; you're the face of what we got going. So it's going to come out differently when they talk about you.'"
That's a big 10-4. Nobody talked about dumping Moss. Nobody talked about drafting a wide receiver to take his job. But the Redskins at least contemplated making a change at the position and positively salivated over Cutler when they thought they could get him. When they couldn't, they were stuck with Campbell ... and they just might discover that's a good thing.
Of course, that is up to Campbell. He is in the final year of his contract, which means this is his chance to determine his future. If he plays well and the Redskins win, he can cash in with them or move on to the highest bidder. If he fizzles and the club fizzles, too, the Redskins can make the change they considered months ago.
Either way, the ball is in Campbell's hands, and after all he has been through it's hard not to root for the guy.
"I thought he responded well by not going in the tank and not making demands for a trade," said Zorn, who huddled with Campbell to explain what happened in the offseason. "Now it's 'go' time, and he just has to get ready to play. All that other stuff is past tense.
"When I sat down with Jason, I explained that this is real life; there is not a guarantee. That's the way life deals with situations and people. So what kind of person are you going to be and how will you respond to this?
"I didn't tell him, 'Now, don't get mad; don't get upset.' All I said is, 'Here is the reality of it. So you deal with that part and make sure you get past it and move on with it. Because the reality of it is that you're still here; you're still going to be here.'"
I don't know about that. If Campbell doesn't get things turned around now, I can't imagine him returning. And if he does succeed, I don't know that he chooses to return anyway. He might move on to a team where he is, well, appreciated more than he was a few months ago by Washington.
Campbell won't talk about the future, saying it would be a disservice to his teammates to think beyond the next game. The goal, of course, is to win, make the playoffs and then let business take care of itself, and that's where things could get interesting.
"I think he understands where we're coming from," said executive vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato. "Dan [Snyder, the team's owner] told him, 'I want to pay franchise quarterback money, and if it's you it's the easiest thing to do. So go do it.'"
Unfortunately for Campbell, doing it won't be the easiest thing. The Redskins play in a brutal division that annually seems to yield two playoff teams and that in two of the past three years produced three. The Giants should be better. Philadelphia looks loaded. Dallas got smart and subtracted Terrell Owens and Pacman Jones.
The expectation is that Washington falls in behind those clubs, but I'm not so sure because I'm not sure about Jason Campbell. If he responds as well as he responded to all the offseason speculation, the Redskins could surprise -- and then Campbell can determine what happens next.
"Do you expect him to be here next year?" I asked Moss.
"I do," he said. "I feel like, with our help, with the season he's going to have this year they can't say no to him."
Maybe, then, that question is better directed at those making the big decisions. So I approached Cerrato.
"I wouldn't be surprised [if he's back]," he said. "But I would be surprised if he didn't have a great season."
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December 12, '81 Mobile
Dear Ken, If you thought the air was bad in China, you should smell Mobile in the rain at four-thirty on a cold Saturday morning. I just got back from the Waffle House across the bay, where I spent about two hours eating steakburgers and reading your Beijing piece on Running...and drinking a hell of a lot of coffee, because a man with no hair and short pants can't just hang around a Waffle house on the edge of Mobile Bay at four o'clock in the morning without running up a tab, especially when he's laughing a lot and ducking outside in the rain every once in a while to hunker down in a big red Cadillac car for a drink of good whiskey and a few whacks of rotten ...
Risky business, all in all. You want to get down under the dashboard for that kind of action, and lock the electric doors. The parking lot of a Waffle house on Interstate 10 is a bad place to get weird, and it's even worse if you keep coming back inside and reading the same #badword# magazine and making the waitress jumpy by laughing out loud every few minutes and smacking the orange countertop and smoking Dunhill cigarettes in a holder...
Jesus Christ, that was a hell of a long article. I kept thinking I could finish it off with maybe just one more whack of Wild Turkey and two more quick snorts - but the #badword#er kept on going, like a thing I might have written myself, and when i finally finished the I tipped that fishhead bitch five dollars and drove like a across the bridge, eight miles in five minutes.
It was the most fun I've had in a while, and a really fine piece of writing. I'm going to have a word with perry about the unfortunate slip into damaging personal libel, with regard to my own persona and future earning power, but I figure that's something we can settle out of court. An ounce should cover it, I think....
Anyway, it's good to see that you're finally beginning to learn something from the fine example I've been trying to provide, for lo these many years. And never mind those jack-offs who keep saying you'll never make it as a sportswriter. #badword# those people. You keep at it, Ken, and someday you'll be like me.
Okay, see you next time I get up there into Country...and meanwhile, write just a little more often. I could use a few more good nights in the Waffle House. That was fun, man....
Hello to Babbs and the family. And tell Perry that I'm into serious training for London. by the time i get through with those dilettante limey s, they'll wish they were back in Dunkirk....
But until then, you've set a new standard, and it gives me real pleasure to salute it.
