Associated Press
LANDOVER, Md. ó After two games, the trend is hard to miss. Those Washington Redskins quarterbacks are looking pretty sharp under new coach Jim Zorn.
Whether it’s Jason Campbell with the starters or Todd Collins with the backups, Washington’s quarterbacks are putting up the kinds of numbers they would love to replicate in the regular season. The pair combined to go 15-for-21 in the first half of Saturday night’s 17-14 victory over the Buffalo Bills.
Campbell played the first quarter and went 7-for-10 for 71 yards ó and two of the incompletions were batted at the line of scrimmage. He led a 12-play drive that was nearly derailed by a pair of 10-yard penalties before Clinton Portis’ 1-yard touchdown run on fourth and goal.
“It felt great for us as a team to move the ball that way,” Campbell said. “We continued to keep fighting and we persevered through all of those penalties, and I think that it shows the character and focus of this team.”
Collins was 8-for-11 for 77 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown pass to running back Ladell Betts. Collins did have one major miscue ó a pass picked off by Ashton Youboty that set up a Bills touchdown in the final two minutes of the first half.
Including the 30-16 win over Indianapolis in last weekend’s Hall of Fame game, Campbell and Collins have combined to go 25-for-32 for 241 yards with two touchdowns and one interception ó not bad considering the steep learning curve expected with the introduction of Zorn’s version of the West Coast offense.
Bills’ starter Trent Edwards, who was 1-for-5 for 18 yards. Buffalo’s offense opened the game at Washington’s 30 after a fumbled kickoff, but Edwards’ throw on third and 5 at the 8 sailed mysteriously into an area where no receiver was to be found, forcing his team to settle for a field goal.
Bucs 17, Dolphins 6.
MIAMI ó Chad Pennington flipped through play charts on the sideline in his new Miami Dolphins jersey, watching his fellow quarterbacks audition for their jobs.
He also saw why Miami signed him.
Tampa Bay swarmed Miami’s struggling quarterbacks, and Michael Bennett had 68 yards rushing.
Jaguars 20, Falcons 17
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ó The Atlanta Falcons waited about eight minutes to launch the Matt Ryan era.
They’ll have to wait longer for Ryan’s first win.
Jacksonville rested Fred Taylor and lost three fumbles but still had enough offense to beat the Falcons 20-17 in the preseason opener for both teams.