More insight on the Zorn/Campbell relationship

It was well publicized last year that Zorn puts alot of responsibility on his quarterback, and my understanding was that Campbell, instead of the center, was responsible for making all protection adjustments at the line of scrimmage. According to the Washington Post this morning, I may have underestimated the center's role in protection calls, but also underestimated just how much was expected out of Campbell:

" Zorn has tweaked things in an effort to reduce Campbell's on-field duties and, hopefully, increase his production. In games last season, Zorn, the Redskins' play-caller, would only provide personnel groupings for plays, and Campbell was responsible for putting together formations in the huddle. Center Casey Rabach made many of the line protection calls, but Campbell was responsible for changing protection schemes against certain blitzes.

This season, Zorn, essentially, will provide Campbell with all of the information for plays. Pass protection 'rules' for a variety of blitzes will eliminate the need for Campbell to make many protection adjustments.

'We talked a lot about how my work last season was kind of doubled compared to most quarterbacks around the league, in terms of what I had to do at the position level,' Campbell said. 'Learning all the formations, and then you had to put the plays together in the huddles, there's just a lot that goes into it. This year, they're going to try to take some of that strain off of me and just give me the opportunity to go out, play and not have to worry about so much.'"

(The bold has been added by me, because those are the parts that pretty much blew my mind)

Jesus Christ. Yeah, the guy deserves a second year to get this down. This passage also emphasizes the point that Zorn was learning last year too. How these guys work and grow together will determine the future of the franchise.

One other tidbit from the same article was this chart. I know the results fit with what we already know, but the differences in Campbell's performance from the first half of '08 to the second half are still striking when laid out directly:

-----------------------------------------------First Half------------------ Second Half

Completion %-------------------------------66.1 ---------------------------59

Yards/Completion -------------------------11.5---------------------------- 9.1

TDs ----------------------------------------------8------------------------------- 5

Interceptions ----------------------------------0(!)---------------------------- 6

Sacks -----------------------------------------16------------------------------- 22

Passer Rating ------------------------------99.6(!)------------------------- 72.3

(Gratuitous parenthetical punctuation added)