Campbell’s growth key in Skins’ streak

After a meeting with coach Jim Zorn and an assistant Monday afternoon, Washington Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell had two options for the next two days: Go home to relax and enjoy two rare days off or bury himself in a meeting room.

As usual, he chose the latter.

Instead of celebrating the biggest win of his career, Campbell stayed at work, watching three Philadelphia Eagles game tapes for nearly four hours, the first stage of preparation for the next opponent.

Unflappable in the face of criticism after a season-opening loss to the New York Giants, Campbell didn’t change.

And during a three-game winning streak that has raised respect and expectations for the Redskins, Campbell hasn’t changed.

His demeanor remains the opposite of a roller coaster, his confidence level never teeter-tottering.

And Redskins fans should take that as a good sign: Their team is 3-1, and the player most responsible for that still sees himself as a quarterback in a new system who must quickly forget about last weekend’s huge win over Dallas and focus on the next challenge.

“That’s who he is,” said Chris Meidt, a Redskins offensive assistant who works exclusively with the quarterbacks. “When I was just starting to work with him, everybody said he wasn’t emotional enough and he wasn’t fiery enough. There’s good and bad with that. The highly emotional and fiery guys, when things aren’t going well, they go the other way. Jason’s not that way. He’s very even. Coach Zorn talks about staying medium about how you act, and Jason epitomizes it.”

Campbell’s even-keel attitude has rubbed off on the Redskins as they prepare for Sunday’s game in Philadelphia. The Redskins are one of the NFL’s biggest surprises, and it’s in large measure because of Campbell’s development within Zorn’s West Coast passing offense.

The system, which some insisted takes years to master, Campbell has learned well enough to throw for 878 yards and six touchdowns.

The quarterback, who was deemed by some pundits as a bad fit for the rhythm-oriented scheme, has yet to throw an interception in 124 attempts.

And the head coach-quarterback tandem, featuring two people relatively new to their jobs (Zorn’s first year as an NFL play caller, Campbell has made only 24 starts), is the talk of the league.

“I know what he’s been through in terms of all the different offenses, and I just think he’s in a comfortable place right now,” said Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman, Fox’s lead NFL analyst, who called Washington’s win over Dallas and will work Sunday’s Redskins-Philadelphia game. “He has a good relationship with Jim Zorn, and he’s within a scheme that he feels comfortable with. Those two things are helpful for any quarterback.”

Said Campbell: “It’s fun the way we’re moving the ball, and it was fun [Sunday] to see how we could control the fourth quarter with our run game. We still left some plays and points out there, but at the end of the day, we understood where we had to improve.”

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