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October 28, 2007

POSTGAME: Jason Campbell's interview transcript

Do you see anybody coming on those strip sacks?

I didn’t see those coming. On those plays I was looking downfield, keeping my eyes downfield, trying to read my receivers and throw to the open guy. They did a great job of breaking in and making a play on the ball. One thing I have to do as a quarterback is go back and look at the film this week and try to find ways to protect the ball better when I’m getting hit that way.

Do you feel that this game was at all a step back for you in your progress, personally?

No, today is just one of those days. Everyone has their bad days and their great days and, unfortunately, today was one of those days. What we have to do as a team and by myself is to just put it behind us quickly and just learn from it and make sure that we never feel this ever again. You’ve got to come out next week and it’s all about moving on to the next week now. There’s nothing we can do to change the outcome of this game. The only thing we can say is that we got beat by a great team and we didn’t have our best game today and we’ve got to move on.

What was the most impressive part of what the Patriots were doing offensively?

They’re very dynamic in everything that they do. They’re very precise in their offense and their defense, everything’s very sound. They make plays. That’s one thing that they’re doing is making plays. Right now, they’re just clicking on all cylinders in all three phases of the game. They’re a team that is just about what their record says they are.

What kind of struggles on third down did you have tonight?

It’s just something we need to continue to improve on. We started the season hot on third downs and we kind of fell off the last couple of weeks for whatever reason. We’ve got to find a way to pick it back up and do whatever I have to do in practice to help the situation and do what I need to do to improve myself. It’s one game that we had a minor setback. We’ve got to move on next week, including myself. It wasn’t one of my best games of the year, but at the same time I’m not going to get down. I’m going to learn from it and move on to next week.

Are there points when you feel like your letting the defense down because you’re putting them out there against their offense again?

When we do that, we’re putting ourselves in a bad position, offensively, because we’re not able to get into a groove. When we started the game, we were moving the ball pretty well and we’ve just got to finish those drives. Like I said, they’re a great team, but at the same time the score did not indicate the type of team that we are. We’re a lot better team than we were today. We just didn’t do the things we needed to do to win.

When you see Tom Brady on the other side, do you feel like you need to step your game up at all?

Anytime you’re playing against a guy like that it’s not about Jason versus Tom. It’s about the Redskins versus the Patriots. Today, like I said, watching from the sidelines, he did an outstanding job. He was very precise in everything that he did and one thing that I can do is to learn from some of the things he’s been doing and just continue to try to grow. It might have been one minor setback in my growth, but I’m going to come back next week and compete.

Coach Gibbs mentioned about troubles hearing in the headset. Was there any problem for you?

Today, it wasn’t a problem. Before the game we were trying to get them turned up, but during the game it wasn’t that big of a deal as it was in the Green Bay game. Communication wasn’t big on the outcome today. One or two plays we had to try to rush it. Other than that it was pretty straight forward.

Do you think they were running up the score at all?

I don’t know how to answer that one. They were going for it on fourth downs, but like I said, that’s an NFL team and we have to stop it. We’re all in the NFL and we’re all here to make plays. One thing you have to remember about this level is no one is going to give you anything. Anything you get, you have to earn it. One thing I’d say is that we’d probably have a little chip on our shoulder. We’ve just got to get back and do what we need to do to win games.

Does it tick you off a little bit that they were running it up?

You know, when we’re in those situations we tend to back off a little bit because that’s just what we do. Their motto might be different. They might have a different approach in the way they do it, but we’ve just got to put this one behind us and move on. It’s not a pretty feeling when they’re moving up and down the field and scoring that way and we’re not completing third downs or not getting into a groove to make plays offensively. It’s kind of a frustrating day all around.

What was your sense from the guys in the locker room after the game?

I think we’re going to bounce back strong. The reason why is because everyone understands that wasn’t us today. We’ve just got pick our game up a little bit more and [that’s] what it’s going to take to win when we’re playing one of the top two teams in the NFL and we want to get to that level. Now I think we know what we’ve got to do on a week-in and week-out basis and definitely that’s not the game we wanted it to be and things just didn’t go our way. A big part of it is now what you’re going to do. You can look back and just feel bad about it, but you’ve just got to move on to the next week and get ready because the NFL’s a long season.

Is there anything about Tom Brady that you’d like to emulate as you grow?

He’s very in control in everything that he does. You can tell right now that he’s very comfortable and one thing that he does is just to take what the defense give him. He’s an outstanding quarterback and he’s been doing it for a long time. He’s everything that people say about him and there’s nothing bad you can say about the guy. You just try to do those things and hopefully one day I grow through the process that I’m able to do those things.

Did the defense do anything to trick from what you saw on film?

One thing that they did do was they played very hard. They tried to sit on a lot of our routes, try to re-route some of our passes. Overalll, they’re a very good defense and they play together. They’re always in the right places at the right times. You’re playing against a team that one thing you have to do offensively is when the chances are there you’ve got to hit them.

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