Om Field: Confidence Game

[Om]

If I may ...

Confidence Game
Sept. 16, 2008

Ouch … has it really been 8 days since the last update? Apologies. Time flies when the mierda hits life's ventilador.

Forgive me for cheating, but given what happened Sunday against the Saints, and that I may not be able to update again this week … here’s a draft of the piece I was working on last week I didn’t get to finish.

I think you’ll understand why I’m posting it now.


Confidence Game

Not to be all dramatic, but on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, Redskins QB Jason Campbell may well play the biggest football game of life.

It’s not so much the game itself (although given the angst suffered by Redskins fans in the wake of the ugly opening night loss to New York, it’s a big one). No, this feels like a bellwether game for the young quarterback because it could define the rest of career.

Hyperbole? You decide ...

Click Here (http://www.theomfield.com/) to read more

[BigRedskinDaddy]

There's an old expression used in many walks of life, "from hero to zero." JC was well on his way as you said, but forestalled it with Sunday's cool, precise performance.

I can only hope it will be repeated consistently this season and those to come. I see no reason why it can't.

[IbleedBnG83]

I've been looking forward to your thread this week OM.

Great job as always.

[China]

With 9:57 to go in the game, trailing 24-15, backed up 2nd-and-22 on his own 6 yard line … I was thinking the Redskins were in trouble. Big trouble. Not just in terms of the 2008 season, but because they were once again back at square one at the single most important position in the sport—quarterback.

The name Colt Brennan was uttered in the room (not by me, though I admit I’d thought it), and I found myself mumbling, “Yeah maybe, but it’s a good couple of years before he’s ready.”


Yes, I felt the same way. Glad to see JC finally made some plays to get the win. Hopefully, the success will build and snowball into better things. But I'm still in the "I'll believe it when I see it mode." One game is not enough. Hopefully, he can produce consistently.

[HigSkin]

Good job OM.

I would say that most players have JC's back in the locker room. Give credit to Gibbs for instilling that characteristic. However, losing and media "heat" can do funny things to people. The win was very timely.

[Neophyte]

Nicely put and all so very likely true.

[Om]

Just finishing up watching the fourth quarter again. Something definitely happened inside JC's head at some point in that half--you can see it in his face, in his body language, and in the speed he played. Starting with the pass to Cooley to get the next-to-last TD drive going after the sack, he was directing traffic before the huddle, getting guys to huddle up, motioning to the sideline to get the plays in faster, changing plays, and ... by far most encouragingly ... playing faster after the snap.

There's the old cliche about "the game slowing down" for a player at some point. If you go back and watch the last three drives, you may see what I think I'm seeing too. It's like the lightbulb finally blinked on.

And make sure you watch him closely on that final 4th-and-2 pass. Watch how smoothly, timely, decisively and accurately he makes that throw.

It's quite possible we just watched the man come of age.

[dcnativenerd]

Om...please share with me the source of your awesomeness, so that I may also drink from it's waters :D
Great article and spot on at always.

[BigRedskinDaddy]

Just to play devil's advocate here, didn't we see similar stuff last year from him? Let me go on record as saying I've always been in JC's corner, and I still believe he will be OUR guy. I just remember the Eagles and Cowboys games in particular, where he seemed to have a lightbulb click on only to throw both games away at the end. Thoughts?

[Om]

BRD,

Of course he could still flop ... as I said in the piece, even if he came up big it was no guarantee it'd carry over to future games. But a couple of things about this one stood out for me that make it look and feel different.

First, I thought he had come right up to the edge of the cliff, where one more bad game could cause the kind of loss of confidence--his own and that of his mates--that could spell the beginning of the end for him. I really believed that, and don't think I was alone. He'd ever faced that kind of pressure here; up until now, he'd mostly been given a pass (sorry) due to his youth, changing systems, etc. No more. I thought he'd come to his crossroad game. Do, or do not--there is no "try."

Second, and more important, this time he did it in the crunch. When things were at their worst and his team needed him most, he put them on his back and did what the great QB's do--took over the game and won it. For three years, the one knock on JC was he came up short in the clutch. This time, in the biggest game of his career to date, he grabbed the clutch by the scruff of the neck, threw it on the turf and ground it into a fine powder. :cool:

[BigRedskinDaddy]

Thanks, Om. I was hoping you would respond to my last post. I haven't yet been able to put eyeballs on the game - I will have to search for a torrent I guess; hence I was hoping for you to elaborate on your take in the piece and in your posts here. And fail me you did not. very good points, Master Yoda. :)

:cheers:

[thesubmittedone]

Om, as usual (and it's getting kind of sickening), you took the words right out of my mouth.

Couldn't have said it better... except, I felt I had a bit more confidence and belief in Campbell than a lot of others even after the first game. Maybe it's just blind homersim and the burning desire for a franchise QB, but I like to think I'm a bit smarter than that.

As soon as I heard Jason say "We just need to let loose" in the interview with Kelly Johnson just after the Giants game was over, I knew he understood what his problem was. He said "we", but he meant "I". The following week, in all his interviews, he pretty much continued down that flow of thought. That was enough for me, because my only problem with his play all along was that he played worried. He wasn't doing what he knows he could do... he was too worried to make a mistake and have his coaches or teammates disappointed. It was so easy to see... he just wasn't himself. The fact that he basically admitted to it left me filled with excitement.

He knew what he had to do, and I knew he'd do it.

I just can't see him going backwards now that he's finally realized what he's been missing all along. He, somehow, lost the belief and trust in his own game along the way. He was only thinking about doing everything his coaches told him right, instead of just making the play first. Making the play should always come first. So long as he sticks to that idea, and does whatever he can do to make the play, he'll be fine. I think Zorn understands this too, and we've just witnessed the fruits of this understanding Sunday.

[TheItalianStallion]

Om, as usual (and it's getting kind of sickening), you took the words right out of my mouth.

Couldn't have said it better... except, I felt I had a bit more confidence and belief in Campbell than a lot of others even after the first game. Maybe it's just blind homersim and the burning desire for a franchise QB, but I like to think I'm a bit smarter than that.

As soon as I heard Jason say "We just need to let loose" in the interview with Kelly Johnson just after the Giants game was over, I knew he understood what his problem was. He said "we", but he meant "I". The following week, in all his interviews, he pretty much continued down that flow of thought. That was enough for me, because my only problem with his play all along was that he played worried. He wasn't doing what he knows he could do... he was too worried to make a mistake and have his coaches or teammates disappointed. It was so easy to see... he just wasn't himself. The fact that he basically admitted to it left me filled with excitement.

He knew what he had to do, and I knew he'd do it.

I just can't see him going backwards now that he's finally realized what he's been missing all along. He, somehow, lost the belief and trust in his own game along the way. He was only thinking about doing everything his coaches told him right, instead of just making the play first. Making the play should always come first. So long as he sticks to that idea, and does whatever he can do to make the play, he'll be fine. I think Zorn understands this too, and we've just witnessed the fruits of this understanding Sunday.Interesting.

[thesubmittedone]

Interesting.

Glad you think so. :D

To further elaborate, Jason still has a ways to go in becoming an elite WC QB. He needs to continue practicing his mechanics, going through the drills, and trusting what his coaches are telling him. However, he needs to make plays, PERIOD. Eventually, all the practicing and drills will just become second nature to him and he'll instinctively do exactly what his coaches want most of the time on the sheer repetition of it all. The problem was that he's been forcing it to become "instinctive" when there's no such thing. You don't make something instinctual. It just is. Until it is, he just needs to focus on the one play and make it work no matter what. If the play requires a certain mechanic that isn't so instinctual yet for it to work, he should try his best to do it perfectly, but not to think about it more than the actual play itself.

Hope that helps you get where I'm coming from. There's just a thin line that Campbell has been walking, and I finally think he's balancing himself out again.

[gortiz]

There's the old cliche about "the game slowing down" for a player at some point. .

hot damn ... I was thinking the same thing.

[gortiz]

Just to play devil's advocate here, didn't we see similar stuff last year from him? Let me go on record as saying I've always been in JC's corner, and I still believe he will be OUR guy. I just remember the Eagles and Cowboys games in particular, where he seemed to have a lightbulb click on only to throw both games away at the end. Thoughts?


NO ... we didn't see the same thing last year.

JC couldn't step on the throat last year ... this year he did.

end of story.

[Silent Majority]

Great write up Om.

The video on the Giants reading the snap count was eye opening too. It said a lot, and I'm glad the team addressed it in our game against the Saints.

[Om]

As soon as I heard Jason say "We just need to let loose" in the interview with Kelly Johnson just after the Giants game was over, I knew he understood what his problem was. He said "we", but he meant "I". The following week, in all his interviews, he pretty much continued down that flow of thought. That was enough for me, because my only problem with his play all along was that he played worried. He wasn't doing what he knows he could do... he was too worried to make a mistake and have his coaches or teammates disappointed. It was so easy to see... he just wasn't himself. The fact that he basically admitted to it left me filled with excitement.

He knew what he had to do, and I knew he'd do it.

I just can't see him going backwards now that he's finally realized what he's been missing all along. He, somehow, lost the belief and trust in his own game along the way. He was only thinking about doing everything his coaches told him right, instead of just making the play first. Making the play should always come first. So long as he sticks to that idea, and does whatever he can do to make the play, he'll be fine. I think Zorn understands this too, and we've just witnessed the fruits of this understanding Sunday.
I agree to a point. No one's been higher longer on JC than I have--and I still believe that he's going to make a helluva NFL QB ... for someone. If he washes out as a modified WCO guy, I fully believe he'll land somewhere else where they run more of the pounding, play-action, take-your-shots-downfield style Gibbs drafted him to play in the first place, and do very well.

Insofar as his status here and now, though, I'm freely admitting that while I went into the game Sunday still believing he could adapt to this style, by the time there were about 10 minutes left in the game and the Skins looked like they were going down hard, I was having a hard time convincing myself he was going to make it here.

Lord knows I've been wrong before, but I think "something" happened between his ears late in that game, because his entire presence changed, dramatically. I've watched that final 10 minutes three times now (what can I say), rolling the tape back and forth and watching his body language. I can't believe I'm the only one who saw the change.

We'll start to see this coming Sunday whether it was a one-shot deal, a mirage ... or the turning point I'm thinking it was today. The best news is, however, that what he did late in the game against the Saints gave a shot in the arm to his entire team. As much as it did for Jason himself, I think the effect in the locker room was far more profound. That team will hit the field against Arizona knowing that, no matter how the game goes early, the guy behind center has what it takes to bring them back. I'm not sure they believed that this time a week ago.

[BigRedskinDaddy]

NO ... we didn't see the same thing last year.

JC couldn't step on the throat last year ... this year he did.

end of story.

Gee. Thanks...
Fortunately, when I asked for thoughts (actual opinions with substance), those I had in mind were kind enough to respond. Again, not with hindsight and dismissal. With details.
But appreciate you taking the five seconds to do that with me -
Be seein' ya...

[BigRedskinDaddy]

...We'll start to see this coming Sunday whether it was a one-shot deal, a mirage ... or the turning point I'm thinking it was today. The best news is, however, that what he did late in the game against the Saints gave a shot in the arm to his entire team. As much as it did for Jason himself, I think the effect in the locker room was far more profound. That team will hit the field against Arizona knowing that, no matter how the game goes early, the guy behind center has what it takes to bring them back. I'm not sure they believed that this time a week ago.

Om, I've looked to the best of my meager search abilities, but can't seem to find any stats that break this down. Was Sunday's game the 1st 4th quarter comeback of JC's career? If so, as I believe it was, that is a HUGE corner he's turned -