Redskins at Packers: Efficient, Proficient, Sufficient

Washington Redskins (3-1) at Green Bay Packers (4-1)
1:00 p.m. Lambeau Field
As I’m sure you’ve read, I’ve said several times that Jason Campbell has done little, if anything, to prove to me that he is more than a average NFL quarterback. From time to time, he’s shown flashes of excellence. But he never had one of those “oh my goodness” games when everyone from the common fan to the former NFL player turned analyst in the booth finally see what all the fuss is about. That is, it hadn’t happened until this past weekend.

Let’s get the technicalities out of the way. It would be hypocritical of me to bash New England because they’ve played terrible defense after terrible defense and then praise Campbell without mentioning the fact that he beat up on Detroit, owners of the NFL’s fourth worst defensive unit. Most fans know that the Lions couldn’t stop a decent college team, let alone anyone in the NFL. They gave up 27 to a Bears team that can’t get out of its own way. A week after the Skins shut down the Eagles, Detroit surrendered 42 first half points, on way to a 56-21 loss at Philadelphia. The average fan would have a hard time naming four or five defenders on Detroit’s roster.

Still, Campbell went 23-29 (with two of the incompletions being drops) for an efficient 248 yards and two scores. That is more than sufficient, any way you slice it. As long as you are playing an NFL defense, 23-29 with no picks is a very, very good day. For the first time in his career, Campbell didn’t look nervous at all. He stepped up in the pocket, looked off defenders, led his receivers and rarely overthrew anyone. I don’t think he made a bad throw all day. I’m not talking about incompletions. Those happen to everyone. I’m talking about risky throws that have no business going to their intended destination. It always seemed like Campbell would have three or four of those per game, until last week. More so, he did all of this without his number one receiver for the entire game and his number two receiver for the second half. At the beginning of the third quarter, Campbell was throwing to James Thrash, Keenan McCardell and Reche Caldwell. And it didn’t seem to matter. Now, how much of that was Detroit’s crappy pass rush, or their loose zone coverage with a weak secondary? I don’t know. I’m sure it contributed to Campbell’s day. But for the first time since he began starting last season, I walked away from a game saying “Wow, we might have something here.”

As impressive as Campbell was, the defense was even better. It’s very easy for the casual fan to dismiss Campbell’s day because of the defense he was facing. And I understand that. It’s fair criticism. However, I don’t think anyone can take anything away from the job the Skins defense did. All the experts, all the news outlets, all the fans – heck, some opposing coaches – have been drooling over Detroit’s offense the past month. Do they run the ball well? No. Do they block well? No. But do the Lions typically put up a lot of yards and a lot of points. Yes on both counts. The Redskins defense held them to three points on 141 total yards. In other words, the Skins allowed Detroit to gain only about 35% of the yards they typically gain, and score about 10% of what they usually score. Impressive.

Some, in the days following the game, said that the Redskins defense didn’t do anything special. They blitzed once the entire game. They sat in a tight, basic cover 2 defense for the entire game. They didn’t stunt, they didn’t move before the snap, they didn’t give Jon Kitna and company a different look the entire game. So this must be proof that the Redskins didn’t really do anything. The Lions beat themselves. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Gregg Williams is basically one step below Brian Billick on the ego chart. He blitzes (most of the time…2006 excluded) like crazy. He has Rocky McIntosh, Sean Taylor and LaRon Landry on his roster. Three of the most aggressive defensive players in the league. For the Redskins to sit back in zone, and not blitz for the whole game, shows that Williams was able to shelve his ego (for one week at least) and the three young players were able to follow instructions and play within a non-aggressive system. That is a huge step for the Redskins defense. Taylor especially has been criticized in the past because he played with reckless abandon. He had a monster game. All of this came against one of the league’s best offenses.

It was a huge win for the Redskins, and the most impressive part about the win was the fact that the Skins didn’t fool around. It was an absolute beat down. I said before the game that the Redskins need to win two of their next three, and that was quite a way to get the first game. That doesn’t lessen the importance of this week’s game, but it takes a lot of pressure off the Redskins as they go on the road for only the second time this year.

Ok, so now it’s time for the Green Bay Packers. At 4-1, they are a bit of a surprise. Their meltdown last week against Chicago resembled the Green Bay that I expected to show up this season, but there’s still plenty of time. The Packers do own a win against the Giants (something the Redskins were unable to grab), but they’ve also beaten up on the powerhouse Vikings and Eagles in two unimpressive victories. And, as I just mentioned, an ugly home loss to a Bears team missing half of their starters.

When you talk about the Packers, you are required by law to talk about a certain player. Nick Barnett is having one heck of a season. That guy is great. I just hope he doesn’t go off against the Redskins.

What…not the right player? I guess you want me to talk about Brett Favre? YAWWWWNNNNNNN! I’m tired of talking about him. I’m tired of seeing him. I’m tired of hearing about him. I wish he would pop a few more painkillers and go crawl back to whatever hole-in-the-ground hick town he calls home and never be heard from again. Really, is that too much to ask?

As I write that, I’m sure the NFL offices in New York will force the IRS to start investigating my tax returns. How dare I, a common simpleton, say something bad about the greatest quarterback to ever play the game! Heck, maybe the greatest human being to ever walk the Earth! There must be something wrong with me if I don’t genuflect in Favre’s general direction every time I get out of bed in the morning.

I’ll readily admit that Favre is a great quarterback. No one can doubt that. No one can dispute that. But the amount of people – and these mostly genuine, smart people who know a lot about the game – that say Favre is the best quarterback of all time are nuts. Absolutely nuts. Here’s a few quarterbacks who are better: Joe Montana, John Elway, Dan Marino, Terry Bradshaw, Peyton Manning (yes, I would take Manning’s career right now over Favre’s), Johnny Unitas, Sammy Baugh, Phil Simms, etc… I could go on and on and on. These quarterbacks have a lot in common with Favre. But they differ in one particular factor. None of those above quarterbacks cost their teams more than a handful of games throughout their entire careers. You can’t say that about Favre. He may cost the Packers a handful of games each season. He plays completely reckless, and you never know when a bad game is going to turn up (like last week against Chicago). To put him on a pedestal with that other group is just ignorant and incorrect. Yes, he’s thrown more touchdown passes than anyone else. But, with one more interception (and he’ll get that INT this weekend), he will have thrown more picks than any other quarterback as well. Funny, you never Fat Ass Berman gushing about that number. Based on touchdown to interception ratio, which I believe is the best way to rate quarterbacks and their impact on each and every game, Favre isn’t even close to that above group. Favre is the Adam Dunn of the NFL. Sure he hits his fair share of home runs. But he strikesout more than anyone else. And no fan in their right mind would have Adam Dunn in the top pantheon of players. So why is it that we give that luxury to Favre?

As for Favre’s team, in my mind, they are not much better than Detroit. They are basically the same team. They both play in the crummy NFC North, which tends to inflate their records and statistics. The Packers running game is actually worse than the Lions. Their passing game is about on par (the Lions were statistically better until the Redskins shut them down last week). The Packers defense is somewhat better, but not so much so that I’m really worried about it. Their generic coach Mike McCarthy doesn’t scare anyone. Basically, however Brett Favre goes, so go the Packers. He tends to play very well for a series of games, but then tends to have his bad games in bunches too. Hopefully his dreadful performance against the Bears is the start of another one of these valleys.

The Redskins had a lot of positive factors going for them last week. They came off a bye week (against a team that didn’t) and were playing one of the NFL’s worst franchises when it comes to winning on the road…just in case the 0-21 lifetime in Washington didn’t give that away. Winning on the road, especially at Green Bay, is never easy. But the Redskins should have no pressure on them. Not many expect them to win this week. However, Santana Moss returns from injury, Clinton Portis finally has a week of practice under his belt and Jason Campbell has never looked better in his young career. If this team can win at Lambeau Field, and go 4-1 on the season, I think it would be definitely time to start getting excited.