Still nursing a bruised knee, Jason Campbell says he expects to play in this Thursday's preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Campbell said he would participate in the Redskins' practice on Tuesday. It's the only practice of the week for the Redskins as they prepare for the preseason finale in Jacksonville.
Campbell said it was important that he re-establish the timing and rhythm of the passing game with his receivers.
"I'm going to go out there and give it all I got for the first quarter, or however long I'm going to play," he said. "The main thing is to get the rhythm going before our first [regular-season] game."
Campbell added: "There is still some soreness [in the knee] that the doctor said will be there for a little bit. The more I do, the looser it becomes. I'm not taking any kind of risk by playing, so I'm okay to go out and play."
Campbell sat out the Redskins' storm-shortened 13-7 win over the Baltimore Ravens last Saturday.
His injury occurred Aug. 18 in the Redskins' preseason game versus Pittsburgh when defensive end Brett Keisel lunged into Campbell's knee. The injury was initially thought to be more serious, but there was no damage to the ligament.
Through his recovery from the injury, Campbell has been testing the knee periodically. On Monday, he got some work in with his receivers in a brief session.
"I've just been doing drop-backs and throwing the ball with no offensive or defensive line," he said. "So [Tuesday] will be the first day back and we'll take steps from there and see how I go through a full practice."
Head coach Joe Gibbs said that Campbell must be 100 percent healthy before he allows him to play against the Jaguars.
Does Campbell feel his knee is 100 percent healthy?
"I'm still working towards that," he said. "A lot of times you have to play in games when you're not 100 percent. That happens week-in and week-out in the NFL. It's a very physical game."
This preseason, Campbell has thrown just 22 passes, completing 12 of them for 179 yards.
By contrast, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterbacks Byron Leftwich and David Garrard have thrown 38 and 37 passes, respectively, this preseason. Leftwich and Garrard have played in three games, while Campbell has played in just two.
Said Campbell: "When you're the quarterback and leader of the team, the one thing the quarterback can't do is have too much time away from it because you lose your rhythm and you lose your edge.
"So it's important for a quarterback not to miss too much time because all of the things we've worked so hard on over the summer, you don't want to lose it before we get ready to start the season."
