Redskins QB impresses teammates, Big Ben

LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Ben Roethlisberger has nothing but admiration for the big zero that still sits on Jason Campbell’s row of stats halfway through the season.

“It’s impressive in this league,” Roethlisberger said, “not to throw an interception.”

It’s impressive, surprising and even a bit flukey, but the fourth-year Washington Redskins quarterback who this year had to learn a new offense has had all 230 of his passes land either in a teammate’s hands or on the ground.

The streak faces its biggest hurdle to date Monday night when the Redskins host the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have the league’s top-rated overall defense as well as the top-rated pass defense.

“It’s unbelievable that he hasn’t thrown a pick,” Redskins tight end Chris Cooley said, “based on the chance that somebody’s going to drop a ball, tip a ball up in the air. It’s not only saying that Jason is smart, it’s saying that you have a lot of luck on your side as well. Or all of our receivers are just catching the ball.

“But weird things happen in football games. I don’t want to jinx him or jinx us, but it’s a huge credit to the way he’s playing that he’s protecting the ball like that. It’d be really cool to say he went through the whole year without a pick.”

That would certainly be a first. In fact, no NFL team has ever made it through an entire season throwing fewer than five interceptions. Campbell is only 56 attempts away from Bernie Kosar’s record of 286 pick-free passes to start a season.

“That is a bit of a novelty, not planned out,” Washington coach Jim Zorn said. “I don’t know how many games in a row he can continue to do that. But to his credit, he has tried to make good decisions.

“He has thrown the ball away in good spots, when necessary. We had some balls batted, like every quarterback, and they fall into the ground.”

Campbell says he tries not to think about the streak, that he’s only trying to manage the game as best he can.

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