‘Strong footballs’ from QB Jason Campbell are welcome news for coach Zorn, Redskins

Campbell’s strong passing boosts Redskins’ hopes

ASHBURN, Va. — It wasn’t a hard sell this week when Jim Zorn reviewed the positive strides made by his quarterback. All it took was a good supply of concrete evidence — points on the board and plenty of completions — to make the coach’s case sound more convincing.

Jason Campbell had his first promising outing of the preseason Friday night in the Washington Redskins’ 27-24 loss to the New England Patriots. Playing the first half and a little bit of the second, Campbell completed 13 of 22 passes for 209 yards and led three scoring drives.

“For the most part I thought he stood real strong in the pocket,” Zorn said Saturday. “I thought he made some moves in the pocket to get some plays off that may not have been there.”

A week ago, Zorn was breaking down Campbell’s 1-for-7 outing against the New England Patriots, explaining miscommunications, bad throws and screens that didn’t develop. This time, Zorn was able to describe what he called “strong footballs” delivered decisively downfield.

Yes, there were mistakes — Campbell missed a sure touchdown by overthrowing a wide open Santana Moss — but how about that 4-yard touchdown run in which the quarterback put a nice move on a defender?

“He made a heads-up play by moving out to the pocket, still looking down the field for an open guy. Did a real nice pump fake on the linebacker,” Zorn said. “It was pretty slick, really smooth by Jason. It was an excellent play. Definitely a big league play.”

One might think that the performance would quiet the Campbell critics, at least for a week or two, but the quarterback knows better.

“It’s never enough. It will be something. Next week it will be that he didn’t hit the big ball to Santana,” Campbell said after the game — and it sounded as if he were only half-joking.

Perhaps the most eye-opening statistic from the preseason is that Campbell, who has played the rough equivalent of four quarters over three games, hasn’t been sacked once. No one is about to compare the offensive linemen to the Hogs, but they’ve held their ground better than expected.

“They’ve really come along,” Zorn said.

The alarm bells from Friday’s game include 15 penalties for 113 yards, including a 15-yarder on cornerback DeAngelo Hall for the second straight week. A defense that had been looking so strong appeared mortal for a change, unable to control a Patriots machine led by Tom Brady and Randy Moss.

“We’re not hitting on all the things that we need to, but we’re on our way,” Zorn said. “I’m not discouraged; I’m encouraged in where we’re going, but we’re not there yet.”

NOTES: Zorn said he’s “very undecided” about the kicker competition between Shaun Suisham and Dave Rayner. Because there haven’t been sufficient opportunities during games to differentiate the two, the Redskins held a “kick-off” during practice last week. “Nobody missed a thing,” Zorn said. “I’m waiting for the last possible minute to have to make that choice because there’s no clear cut guy.” … Injury report: S Kareem Moore slightly pulled a hamstring and could miss the final preseason game. RBs Clinton Portis and Marcus Mason both have a bruised rib, and WR Antwaan Randle El has a slightly sprained ankle. None of the injuries is considered serious. … Zorn said CB Carlos Rogers, who recently had an MRI on his strained calf muscle, will return to practice this week. … As expected, Zorn said the backups will get the bulk of the playing time Thursday night in the preseason finale against Jacksonville.