February 10-- More popular then Bush? I'm feeling Zorny
Jim Zorn was named the 27th head coach in Redskins history. Of the assembled media, coaches, and other gawkers, he appeared the most surprised of all of us. Zorn admitted that he had not discussed the possibility of becoming the head coach until last Thursday when he said he was called to Dan Snyder's house to have lunch. Zorn joked he he felt like he was too busy to take time away from his work but went over anyway and said he was practically speechless when Snyder asked him if he'd be interested in the head coaching vacancy.. Snyder said that throughout the interviewing process, after each candidate was discussed, Vinny Cerrato would almost always say he thought Zorn was the right guy..
Zorn said that he had no apprehension taking the Skins offensive coordinator job prior to a head coaching announcement because he was told by Snyder that during the interviewing process, the other candidates seemingly always had him on their short list of potential offensive coaches.. Zorn said he will hire a new offensive coordinator to replace himself and he is unsure who will call plays until that person is chosen.. It is unclear if there will be a quarterback coach hired as well (his specialty).
The offense will be a west coast style, but Zorn wouldn't go so far as to say that he is going to implement what has become a standard west coast formation.. His eyes lit up at the idea of having Clinton Portis as his back and asked about Jason Campbell and whether he believes he is definitively the quarterback of the future, Zorn succintly said, "for now." He reiterated what Joe Gibbs said at the end of the season, that Todd Collins being resigned is a priority for the Skins come free agency..
In one footnote, Zorn said one of his first impressions in helping Campbell improve was that center Casey Rabach is going to have to get his butt higher so that Campbell doesn't have to get so low to the ground so that he will have an easier time exploding away from the center.. A shotgun formation could help alleviate that as well..
Greg Blache spoke to us on Redskins radio for the first time since his promotion to defensive coordinator.. Zorn by the way said "I'll have nothing to do with the defense." Blache wouldn't go into detail as to how his unit would attack differently from the style Gregg Williams implemented calling this "the Redskins defense. It's been here for 75 years and it will be here for 175 more." Basically, he doesn't want to be attributed to how the team succeeds, he wants that for the players. So gone are the days of the second G = genius and fittingly Blache only has two G's in his first name, not 3.
Blache, Gibbs and Cerrato both spoke vaguely about Gregg Williams only to suggest it wasn't going to work out for Williams to remain solely as the defensive coordinator and that while the Williams was dissapointed to not get the job, both sides understood it was best for both to part ways..
On Vinny's new promotion to executive vice president, he would not go so far as to call himself the GM of the team and hinted that indeed not much has changed in terms of how personnel decisions will be made by the Redskins. While his title says the buck ends with him, Zorn will have a say and Dan Snyder certainly will be intimately involved..
In his one moment of humor, Zorn said he was happy to see a straw poll out on ESPN last night saying he had 41% of the people's support that he was the right choice saying "I've got a better approval rating then the President of the United States."
The Skins will have a five game pre-season taking on the Colts during the Hall of Fame weekend in Canton Ohio, fitting considering Art Monk, Darrell Green and former assistant coach Emmitt Thomas will be inducted that weekend..
On a personal note, I saw Craig Heist who works mainly for WTOP for the first time since he suffered a seizure at a Wizards game a few weeks back and he seemed to be feeling very well.. I won't go into detail about his personal information, but Craig is a friend and one of the hardest working reporters in the area and it was nice to see him back where he belonged..
I suppose I'm supposed to give some form of opinion on the hiring of Zorn, but I feel like I'm still processing it. So check back later in the week.
And finally, my off-season begins!!
More to come as the week progresses..
OK men
Zorn said that he had no apprehension taking the Skins offensive coordinator job prior to a head coaching announcement because he was told by Snyder that during the interviewing process, the other candidates seemingly always had him on their short list of potential offensive coaches.. Zorn said he will hire a new offensive coordinator to replace himself and he is unsure who will call plays until that person is chosen.. It is unclear if there will be a quarterback coach hired as well (his specialty).
The offense will be a west coast style, but Zorn wouldn't go so far as to say that he is going to implement what has become a standard west coast formation.. His eyes lit up at the idea of having Clinton Portis as his back and asked about Jason Campbell and whether he believes he is definitively the quarterback of the future, Zorn succintly said, "for now." He reiterated what Joe Gibbs said at the end of the season, that Todd Collins being resigned is a priority for the Skins come free agency..
In one footnote, Zorn said one of his first impressions in helping Campbell improve was that center Casey Rabach is going to have to get his butt higher so that Campbell doesn't have to get so low to the ground so that he will have an easier time exploding away from the center.. A shotgun formation could help alleviate that as well..
Greg Blache spoke to us on Redskins radio for the first time since his promotion to defensive coordinator.. Zorn by the way said "I'll have nothing to do with the defense." Blache wouldn't go into detail as to how his unit would attack differently from the style Gregg Williams implemented calling this "the Redskins defense. It's been here for 75 years and it will be here for 175 more." Basically, he doesn't want to be attributed to how the team succeeds, he wants that for the players. So gone are the days of the second G = genius and fittingly Blache only has two G's in his first name, not 3.
Blache, Gibbs and Cerrato both spoke vaguely about Gregg Williams only to suggest it wasn't going to work out for Williams to remain solely as the defensive coordinator and that while the Williams was dissapointed to not get the job, both sides understood it was best for both to part ways..
On Vinny's new promotion to executive vice president, he would not go so far as to call himself the GM of the team and hinted that indeed not much has changed in terms of how personnel decisions will be made by the Redskins. While his title says the buck ends with him, Zorn will have a say and Dan Snyder certainly will be intimately involved..
In his one moment of humor, Zorn said he was happy to see a straw poll out on ESPN last night saying he had 41% of the people's support that he was the right choice saying "I've got a better approval rating then the President of the United States."
The Skins will have a five game pre-season taking on the Colts during the Hall of Fame weekend in Canton Ohio, fitting considering Art Monk, Darrell Green and former assistant coach Emmitt Thomas will be inducted that weekend..
On a personal note, I saw Craig Heist who works mainly for WTOP for the first time since he suffered a seizure at a Wizards game a few weeks back and he seemed to be feeling very well.. I won't go into detail about his personal information, but Craig is a friend and one of the hardest working reporters in the area and it was nice to see him back where he belonged..
I suppose I'm supposed to give some form of opinion on the hiring of Zorn, but I feel like I'm still processing it. So check back later in the week.
And finally, my off-season begins!!
More to come as the week progresses..
OK men
posted by Bram Weinstein | 4:32 PM
5 Comments:
We are officially the league's laughing stock. It was fairly evident in his presser that he is in WAY WAY over his head. He lost me at maroon, black , and ugh maybe yellow. I have not missed watching a single game since 1992 and have attended at least 1 game yearly despite living in Nebraska. This smells of a hiring in where Vinny can feel in control and never threatened. Ya think old Zorn is going to have any time for Jason as he feels his way through play design, play calling, offensive coord., and head coach ALL for the first time. Bram don't be a company bitch, be our voice and let the radio show and Dan's girlfriend Larry know how many of us feel. And yeah Gibbs is to blame for this mess, I wished he'd stayed in NECKCAR. I may have finally reached end point. The Chiefs are looking better and better each year Snyder is in my life....
For me, my first thought is that I have no choice but to support him.
Second thought is that I like what I heard from him as far as keeping elements of the offense the same.
My third thought is that my friend was telling me he heard Matt Hasselbeck on the radio the other day and Matt said we'd be crazy not to consider Zorn for the head coaching position. So I think that's worth noting.
But regardless, every coach has to start somewhere and right now there is no coach I'd rather see succeed than Jim Zorn.
Snyder should be thankful that Al Davis still runs the Raiders, so there is one team that outdoes the current Skins management when it comes to incompetence. This hire has way too much to do with Cerrato's opinion. That's right the same guy who traded for Brandon Lloyd. I hope that Zorn can do it, but he's in the absolute worst position a head coach can be. The team's players all made it clear that they wanted Gregg Williams as the next coach. Snyder then decided to forget about continuity, something he claimed he'd learned from Joe Gibbs, and pushed Williams out the door. The Skins seemed to bank on Spagnoulo, and when "they" decided he wouldn't coach the Redskins, the team had no clear backup plan. Due to the interminable length of this process, the secrecy surrounding it, and the owner's seeming panic when the masses revolted against the possibility of a Jim Fassel coached team all suggest that the Skins had no clear plan as to the process. They just talked to people for a long time and then couldn't make up their minds on who to hire. They hired Zorn because no one else would take the job with Snyder and hall monitor Vinny having almost total control of personnel decisions. Hell, the owner had already hired half of the coaching staff before the coach hired. Not exactly the way you attract a "name" coach. Danno needs to fire Vinny, hire a GM, and keep his butt up in the Sky box watching the game with Tom Cruise or Bernard Shaw.
Bram,
There is something about Zorn...
A young unheardled offensive minded coach from a west coast football team who tutored under an eventual hall of fame coach and was a head scratcher hire. A guy with lots of ideas and high energy who will build a high powered offense with Joe bugel running the rushing attack and Oline and let the Def staff handle that completely.
I hate this hire because the last time we had a guy who fit that description he only took us to 4 super bowls and gave three lombardi trophies.
There are differences between Gibbs and Jim Zorn. The first is that Gibbs was an offensive coordinator for years under Don Coryell and called plays as the offensive coordinator. Not only has Zorn never served as an offensive coordinator, he has limited experience calling plays. That means he's never been in charge of the offense much less an entire team. The next is that Gibbs served as head coach under Jack Kent Cooke, an owner smart enough to leave football decisions to his football guys. The Skins had something called a general manager then, first Bobby Beathard and later Charley Casserley. Snyder terminated Casserley in favor of Norv as one of his first boneheaded decisions. The difference (one of many) between the Skins and truly successful NFL franchises is that you never hear about the owners of the most successful teams. Those owners go out of their way to stay out of the way of the football people. These owners include Bob Kraft and the Mara family. Last time I checked they won 4 of the last 7 Super Bowls. I'm sure Zorn would do a good job with Jason Campbell if given the chance. Based on Snyder's track record, if you want to call it that, Zorn will be canned about the time the Skins start to turn the corner. Remember Marty Schottenheimer?
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