Campbell Questions

[BleedBurgundy]

First off, let me preface my comments by saying that I thought Jason Campbell was pretty damn impressive yesterday. That said, I have questions concerning two key areas of his game:

1) Accuracy. It seems that when he leads a receiver across the field he is almost always throwing behind them. Do you think this is due to the inconsistency at the wideout position this year or is it mechanics? Is that something that will improve with time or is it basically how it's going to be?

2) Fumbling. It seems like he kind of holds the ball back and far away from his body while standing in the pocket, which makes it easy for an outside pass rusher to knock it out of his hands. I think Aikman mentioned during the broadcast that he is second in the NFL in fumbles. This I'm sure can be fixed with good coaching.

[MTK]

His accuracy on the season is up to 60% now. Just think of all the drops he's had too. I don't see his accuracy as being a major concern. He's continuing to improve and will keep doing so with experience and by working with his WRs more. The WRs have been beat up all year, if anything we should probably be even more impressed with what Campbell has done with a limited group of WRs.

He does need to shore up the fumbles, but I think yesterday was just a good play by the defender more than anything.

[chrisl4064]

i think your right about the fumbling being corrected through coaching. as far as throwing behind the recievers goes, ive noticed something, his arms are so long that his release takes a while to come around. If you notice he struggles throwing those screen passes to the outside reciever, i think it just takes more time, which could explain why in a crossing route its behind the reciever as well. he makes up for the long throwing motion with a rocket arm. Maybe its just something ive noticed, i just dont see that quick snap, and on crossing routes you almost have to have a quick release to your guy.

[SouperMeister]

Campbell had no chance on the Ware hit. You could see that fumble coming as soon as Ware got a great jump on the snap.

My biggest concern is Campbell missing game changing deep TDs with overthrows. He missed a wide-open Moss on a bomb to ice the first Philly game. He missed a wide open Lloyd to take the lead in the 4th quarter against GB. And he missed a wide open Moss for the lead against Dallas just after the 2 minute warning yesterday. I'm convinced that he will be an elite QB, but he MUST start hitting game changing plays when they're there for the taking. A defense might break down only a handful of times a game. I saw Romo hitting for TDs whenever our D broke down. Campbell has to start doing the same.

[chrisl4064]

Originally Posted by SouperMeister

Campbell had no chance on the Ware hit. You could see that fumble coming as soon as Ware got a great jump on the snap.

My biggest concern is Campbell missing game changing deep TDs with overthrows. He missed a wide-open Moss on a bomb to ice the first Philly game. He missed a wide open Lloyd to take the lead in the 4th quarter against GB. And he missed a wide open Moss for the lead against Dallas just after the 2 minute warning yesterday. I'm convinced that he will be an elite QB, but he MUST start hitting game changing plays when they're there for the taking. A defense might break down only a handful of times a game. I saw Romo hitting for TDs whenever our D broke down. Campbell has to start doing the same.

there was a huge difference in how open Owens was compared to our guys. I know Romo has a good arm, but i wouldnt say him hitting T.O. yesterday was impressive, nobody was ever near him. The throw to Santana would have had to have been perfect.

[BringBackJoeT]

Originally Posted by SouperMeister

Campbell had no chance on the Ware hit. You could see that fumble coming as soon as Ware got a great jump on the snap.

My biggest concern is Campbell missing game changing deep TDs with overthrows. He missed a wide-open Moss on a bomb to ice the first Philly game. He missed a wide open Lloyd to take the lead in the 4th quarter against GB. And he missed a wide open Moss for the lead against Dallas just after the 2 minute warning yesterday. I'm convinced that he will be an elite QB, but he MUST start hitting game changing plays when they're there for the taking. A defense might break down only a handful of times a game. I saw Romo hitting for TDs whenever our D broke down. Campbell has to start doing the same.

I completely agree. Yesterday's fumble can't be attributed to JC's problems with protecting the football, such as he had in the Patriots game. Sometimes your quarterback is going to get blindsided, and no quarterback is immune from a fumble when that happens. Secondly, I also think that putting the soft touch on the deep balls for receivers that have a step or two on the defender is the bigger problem for him. No doubt, he had receivers reaching behind them for his passes several times yesterday, but he did in fact make some nice leads on some down-field and sideline passes (by the way, how great was it to see us throwing over the middle! First time in three years!). However, he again, as Aikman pointed out, couldn't make a touch pass on the deep routes. That's what he really needs help with.

[Chief X_Phackter]

Originally Posted by SouperMeister

Campbell had no chance on the Ware hit. You could see that fumble coming as soon as Ware got a great jump on the snap.

My biggest concern is Campbell missing game changing deep TDs with overthrows. He missed a wide-open Moss on a bomb to ice the first Philly game. He missed a wide open Lloyd to take the lead in the 4th quarter against GB. And he missed a wide open Moss for the lead against Dallas just after the 2 minute warning yesterday. I'm convinced that he will be an elite QB, but he MUST start hitting game changing plays when they're there for the taking. A defense might break down only a handful of times a game. I saw Romo hitting for TDs whenever our D broke down. Campbell has to start doing the same.

Yes...he also missed a wide open Cooley for a sure touchdown yesterday too. He really needs to shore up that part of his game. One of the reasons he was drafted was his ability to throw the long ball with accuracy, but I haven't seen that materialize with any sort of consistency yet. Once he gets that down, he will be dangerous...Chances are next year will be his true breakout year providing we have any money to give him some weapons to work with. He's getting better every week.

[SouperMeister]

Originally Posted by Chief X_Phackter

Yes...he also missed a wide open Cooley for a sure touchdown yesterday too. He really needs to shore up that part of his game. One of the reasons he was drafted was his ability to throw the long ball with accuracy, but I haven't seen that materialize with any sort of consistency yet. Once he gets that down, he will be dangerous...Chances are next year will be his true breakout year providing we have any money to give him some weapons to work with. He's getting better every week.

With Moss, ARE, and Cooley, he has the weapons, he just has to be allowed to utilize them. These last two weeks, we've finally seen the reigns lifted. If we could add a tall WR for a modest price in free agency, that might be the only missing piece for the red zone passing game.

[Cowell]

Originally Posted by SouperMeister

With Moss, ARE, and Cooley, he has the weapons, he just has to be allowed to utilize them. These last two weeks, we've finally seen the reigns lifted. If we could add a tall WR for a modest price in free agency, that might be the only missing piece for the red zone passing game.

The Jaguars Reggie Williams. I was watching the Jacksonville / San Diego game yesterday and he had a pretty good game. I know, he really isn't consistent but he is big and probably won't ask for a lot considering he barely made the team this year.
I'm not sure if it's his contract year though...

[SC Skins Fan]

Originally Posted by Chief X_Phackter

Yes...he also missed a wide open Cooley for a sure touchdown yesterday too. He really needs to shore up that part of his game. One of the reasons he was drafted was his ability to throw the long ball with accuracy, but I haven't seen that materialize with any sort of consistency yet. Once he gets that down, he will be dangerous...Chances are next year will be his true breakout year providing we have any money to give him some weapons to work with. He's getting better every week.

Don't fall into the trap of listening to everything the announcers said (even if Aikman is usually on point). Watching the particular play you mentioned Jason put the ball right where it needed to be, low where Cooley could make a play but the defenders (who were around him) could not. Bottom line, Cooley dropped that one. The overthrow to Moss might also be excused somewhat since the DE (maybe Ware, can't remember) was right on him. The INT was the killer but he knows he was wrong, said he was wrong, and he'll learn from it.

The most encouraging thing about JC is that, from everything we heard this offseason, he is a worker and you can even see him improving week to week during the season. He has improved his release and footwork from last year and I think he has also improved his downfield throws just from the beginning of the year (he hasn't had another deep shot to Moss yet, but the last real deep one he put up a few weeks ago was not as flat as it was against Philadelphia). He's not like some of these guys (Grossman, Eli, Carr, Leftwich, et al.) who don't seem to really work at their craft. Those guys were all high picks (and admittedly I haven't watched them extensively) but every time I see them they make the same errors in mechanics whenever things get mildly tough (Eli's patented eyes closed back footed falling down throw, Grossman's similarly wretched mechanics, Leftwich's deliberate and looping release). They don't seem willing to take coaching and get better, so far Jason looks like a different animal.

[BleedBurgundy]

Originally Posted by SC Skins Fan

Don't fall into the trap of listening to everything the announcers said (even if Aikman is usually on point). Watching the particular play you mentioned Jason put the ball right where it needed to be, low where Cooley could make a play but the defenders (who were around him) could not. Bottom line, Cooley dropped that one. The overthrow to Moss might also be excused somewhat since the DE (maybe Ware, can't remember) was right on him. The INT was the killer but he knows he was wrong, said he was wrong, and he'll learn from it.

The most encouraging thing about JC is that, from everything we heard this offseason, he is a worker and you can even see him improving week to week during the season. He has improved his release and footwork from last year and I think he has also improved his downfield throws just from the beginning of the year (he hasn't had another deep shot to Moss yet, but the last real deep one he put up a few weeks ago was not as flat as it was against Philadelphia). He's not like some of these guys (Grossman, Eli, Carr, Leftwich, et al.) who don't seem to really work at their craft. Those guys were all high picks (and admittedly I haven't watched them extensively) but every time I see them they make the same errors in mechanics whenever things get mildly tough (Eli's patented eyes closed back footed falling down throw, Grossman's similarly wretched mechanics, Leftwich's deliberate and looping release). They don't seem willing to take coaching and get better, so far Jason looks like a different animal.

I thought the exact same thing when I watched that play.

[Chief X_Phackter]

Originally Posted by SC Skins Fan

Don't fall into the trap of listening to everything the announcers said (even if Aikman is usually on point). Watching the particular play you mentioned Jason put the ball right where it needed to be, low where Cooley could make a play but the defenders (who were around him) could not. Bottom line, Cooley dropped that one. The overthrow to Moss might also be excused somewhat since the DE (maybe Ware, can't remember) was right on him. The INT was the killer but he knows he was wrong, said he was wrong, and he'll learn from it.

The most encouraging thing about JC is that, from everything we heard this offseason, he is a worker and you can even see him improving week to week during the season. He has improved his release and footwork from last year and I think he has also improved his downfield throws just from the beginning of the year (he hasn't had another deep shot to Moss yet, but the last real deep one he put up a few weeks ago was not as flat as it was against Philadelphia). He's not like some of these guys (Grossman, Eli, Carr, Leftwich, et al.) who don't seem to really work at their craft. Those guys were all high picks (and admittedly I haven't watched them extensively) but every time I see them they make the same errors in mechanics whenever things get mildly tough (Eli's patented eyes closed back footed falling down throw, Grossman's similarly wretched mechanics, Leftwich's deliberate and looping release). They don't seem willing to take coaching and get better, so far Jason looks like a different animal.

I wasn't speaking of the low throw at the five yard line or whatever it was. I'm talking about the double move Cooley put on the corner/safety and ended up with inside position on both, and JC threw the ball too far and too inside out of reach...was a sure touchdown if it was an accurate throw.

[chrisl4064]

I have seen a major improvement though in Campbell. I am very happy with what im seeing so far out of his first full year starting.

[BleedBurgundy]

How do you improve a QB's accuracy though? Just reps? I didn't know if that was something it improves or not. I mean, McNabb has been in the league how long now and he still throws 4 or 5 bounce passes per game.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by BleedBurgundy

How do you improve a QB's accuracy though? Just reps? I didn't know if that was something it improves or not. I mean, McNabb has been in the league how long now and he still throws 4 or 5 bounce passes per game.

With a young QB I think a lot of it has to do with getting comfortable in the system and getting some chemistry going with the WRs.

Last year he was around 53%, this year he's up to 60%. That's a significant improvement and we still have 6 games to go.