Jim Zorn will no longer call plays for the Redskins.
Washington Redskins head coach Jim Zorn has been relieved of his play-calling duties, which have been turned over to offensive consultant Sherman Lewis. Zorn, who arguably was wearing too many hats to begin with, remains head coach, as well as quarterbacks coach. This presents an opportunity for Zorn, who many assume will be fired no matter what, to showcase an ability to be a macromanager, rather than a micromanager.
The problem I have always had with Zorn is how meticulous he is. Many people loved that about him, how he was a perfectionist, someone who wouldn’t rest until the job could not be done any better. I see this in an entirely different way. While it’s great that Zorn likes things to be done correctly, he focuses on so many small things, that he forgets the bigger issue. For example, if the offense sputters in the red zone, you will get an exchange something like this:
“Coach, you had first and goal from the three-yard line, but only got a field goal. What needs to change?”
“Well, we had a second down pass play called, and Jason [Campbell] was supposed to have a five-step drop, looking for a crossing route and then progressing to an outlet from the backfield if nothing was there. Jason took an extra step there and our timing was a little off, so we couldn’t maximize the limited space we were dealing with.”
While that might be a nice answer for some, it bothers me to no end. The problem was that with three yards to go, and four chances at it, no touchdown was scored. That’s the problem, not how many steps Jason Campbell is taking on his dropback inside the five-yard line. The play-calling has been horrendous, and it’s clear that the scheme is what needs to be worked on, not how perfectly Campbell is snapping the ball off his ear on his release. Receivers need to run better routes and not fumble, linemen need to open holes and give better protection and running backs need to hit holes harder and make better cuts. But you will never hear that from Zorn. He will always give you some kind of football terminology about what you’d see on tape if you looked at it again. He doesn’t seem to realize that some things are so clear that you only need to see them once to understand what’s wrong.
With Zorn giving up play-calling duties, it appears he might have the opportunity, at least temporarily, to take a step back and see the game from a different perspective. Instead of looking at what angle the ball comes out of Campbell’s hands, how low he is when he takes a snap or how many steps he takes, maybe Zorn can see that the Redskins can’t convert third downs, aren’t scoring and are relying far too heavily on their defense to keep them in games.
Zorn might already be a dead man walking, but he might be able to learn some lessons to have a future career in coaching by looking at the bigger picture.
