Here I go again. After standing up for the status quo a couple of weeks ago in saying that Jason Campbell should stay behind center for the Washington Redskins, here I am calling for some more stability. Jim Zorn needs to be given at least one more year, preferably more, to make the Redskins into a team that is capable of going deep into the playoffs. I’m not saying this because I think that Zorn is without flaws that need to be corrected. He has made mistakes and I’m not going to call them rookie mistakes. Rookies come into the league and enter an environment that is totally different from the one that they were used to in college. Zorn has spent virtually all of his adult life in the NFL. Through observation he should know that you have to have your finger on the pulse of the team and know that a player like Clinton Portis isn’t going to knock on his office door when he’s ticked off about a coaching decision. You can’t let Carlos Rogers stand there in the tunnel waiting to get introduced as a starter when everyone in Washington who had Internet access could find out that he had been demoted to second string. From watching Mike Holmgren over the past seven years he should know that your sideline demeanor can set the tone for the rest of the team and that if you act frustrated that feeling can spread. He appeared to be unprepared for other teams catching up with his offensive schemes. In this league, as soon as something starts working, you had better make plans to tweak it. However, I will go on the assumption that he recognizes these mistakes, that he’s not stuck on stupid, and that he wants to improve. In other words, I figure he meant what he said in his Monday presser when he said he felt like “the worst coach in America” and basically took responsibility for everything that’s gone wrong short of the problems that General Motors is having. If you’re reading this, I don’t have to chronicle all of the upheaval that the team has undergone in the past 10 years. The number of changes at the key positions—head coach, offensive and defensive coordinators and quarterback—has been staggering. You have to give Zorn some time to grow and learn and get the players to ingrain his system and philosophy into their brains and bodies. I don’t think that Dan Snyder will pull the trigger on firing Zorn this soon. If nothing else, to do so would be to admit that the long, drawn out coaching search of last January came to a disastrously wrong conclusion. Had the Redskins reached their 7-7 record by winning one, dropping a couple, going on a mini-streak followed by a mild slump, there would be no talk of Jim Zorn being fired. They would be meeting the mildly optimistic preseason expectations of a .500 season. But the way they have gone from 6-2 to 7-7 has many people fired up. But you are what your record says you are not matter how you get to that record. The Redskins are about where they’ve been for the past decade, not horrible but also not ready to contend for any kind of playoff run. Their best shot at changing that in the near future is to resist change and stay the course with Jim Zorn.
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This is the logic and reason that I was looking for. I expected him to struggle like this. Thats why the early wins didn’t impress me too much. I said what’ll determine how he is as a coach is how he responds to these types of situations.
But I’m so tired of the coaching merry-go-round here in DC. I wish that we could just let things grow for a while.
I agree rich I think we need stability. More change would only hurt this team even more if you get rid of Zorn this soon it would be a big mistake and will mess up the progress Campbell has made. I think they need to just shut everyone up and say we are sticking with Zorn if they intend to. That would make Zorn relaxe and shut the rumors up. But all i know is if they let go of Zorn don’t expect us to be winning here any time soon. I would like to see Zorn get a 5 yr deal i like Zorn 1 key thing he needs to do is talk to his players directly like you said Rich. But great story. I can feel your frustration as a Redskins fan in it too don’t worry were getting there is what i keep telling myself.
I agree, lets give Zorn another year. But your right – his “rookie mistakes” are more like basic communication mistakes. And this is really strange from a coach that is so upfront with the media. Rookie mistakes are more like the the way he handled the play clock in the first part of the year.
I do think we are close to being a horrible football team at this very moment, however. We are certainly dreadful on offense, the special teams give you nothing, and the defense keeps you into the game up to the point where you need one more stop, and then they fall apart.
Back to the special teams. Is Randle El not the worst returner in Redskin history. Joe Theismann was more productive in that role. When we put Moss in to return punts, he makes it look easy. I am wondering how many yards we have conceded by not putting in Moss, or someone (anyone) else in his position. Rock Cartwright is 28th in the league in kick off returns. He is steady, but don’t you think a speedier return man might have broken a few this year?
Is this Smith’s coaching problem not to put in other return men – or do these decisions come from the higher ranks?
Anyhow, when you lose to the Bengals and Rams, and you are very much looking at 1-7 to finish the year, you’re pretty much horrible.
Yes, this team needs a special teams overhaul – desperately. A long high punt or a field goal might not change the entire outcome of the game but it carries momentum for your defense and offense.
CUT Suisham please. Please. PLEASE.
Bring in competition for Plack just to get more consistency.
Please get rid of Randle El back there on punt returns and get someone else.
I agree Allen, Rock is solid at KR but man only if he had some speed he would’ve gone past defenders long time ago far too often.
I call them Rookie mistakes not so much in comparison to NFL rookies, but in regard to a rookie in any job. There’s just some things you’re going to learn the hard way in your first year, especially when you essentially skip a step jumping into your job. I don’t fault Zorn for these things, though some of them (like talking to Portis and Rogers) seem more like common sense than coaching.
And there are enough of these common sensical things floating around him that I’m lukewarm on him. He certainly should come back, but I don’t think anyone should have expectations other than one more year. He needs to show that he can improve this team. If we wind up right back here next December, then it’s probably back to the coaching carousel.
But here’s a related question for everyone, especially Rich: What is the root cause of this same end result, year after year?
Regardless of the coach, this team seems to under-perform compared to expectations. When we bring in big talent it dies here (again, under-performing). We never seem to have a player who dominates at any position, though we’ve had a million potential candidates over the years. Even Portis, as great as he can be, dominates only a few games at best, and then fades. There just seems to be a ceiling of “very good” that players (and coaches) cannot break through. And it leaves the team, year after year, mired in mediocrity or worse. It even pre-dates Snyder by a few years. Why is this, and what can Snyder or Vinny or Zorn to do break it?
I would say that if you judge the November-December Redskins, based on what they’re doing right now, you would have to say that they are definitely horrible. There’s no other word for it. They are below average to terrible in every facet of the game.
They are riding a good start, but they might be the worst team in the NFL. I can’t think of one team that they would be favored to beat.
Rich, excellent commentary ! Amen !
Allen, Kyu — Rock Cartwright isn't ranked 28th — he's at #14 (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/stats/bycategory?cat=Returns&conference=NFL&year=season_2008&sort=319&timeframe=ToDate). That's not elite, but about league average, and very consistent. No TDs, but fewer than half the KR men in the league have a TD this year. If we're talking about problems special teams, Rock is the LAST thing we need to worry about. Our Punting, Punt Coverage, and Field Goal units are all among the league's very worst. We need to consider sacking Danny Smith, bringing in some competition for Suisham and Plackemeier next year, and working on our coverage. Rock should stay exactly where he is.
Hey Boss,
I have to agree with you. We could do well with a team full of Rock Cartwrights. My point is that if Rock is getting through whatever holes the blocking scheme is creating, than someone with real speed could even be better. I guess I want the threat to go all the way a real possibility in my return man. By the way, I pulled the stat from this link,
http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=0&statisticCategory=KICK_RETURNS&season=2008&seasonType=REG
I know what you mean, Allen, but that Kick Returner rankings are all messed up — includes guys who have only returned 1 kick, randomly, and happened to get 28 yards or something. Among regular returners, Rock is ranked 14th.
It’s true that a faster return man might be able to turn some 40 or 50 yard returns into 80 or 90 yarders, but I don’t think you can give our coverage all the credit for opening those holes. Rock hits the seam more quickly and decisively than many ‘faster’ returners — he’s the anti-Randle El, if you will. So there’s a tradeoff, in that you’re less likely to get a 90 yard TD once or twice a season, but more likely to start many more drives at the 30, 40, or 50. I’m happy with the latter.
In response to your article: “Zorn must stay”, my view (Redskin Fan since ‘73) is this: Keep Zorn around even though I’m not convinced he was the original choice Snyder wanted in the first place but settled for and hire a enthusiastic, proven Offensive-Minded and aggressive play calling Coordinator to call the plays. I believe it would benefit the offense to gain that unpredictable edge that got us to 6-2 the first half of the season compared to the present “I’m all out of ideas” look we now have. Your thoughts…?