The biggest rookie mistake, the longtime NFL guy said last February, is taking on too big a load. He said this after hearing that Jim Zorn would be the Redskins head coach … and offensive coordinator … and quarterbacks coach.
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It seemed like a lot.
And two weeks ago one veteran said, “He seems worn out as a playcaller.”
Of course, injuries — nagging and severe — can make many playcallers look this way. But the point is this, as Zorn looks inward to determine what’s gone wrong, maybe he’s doing too much. Even quarterback Jason Campbell said, not in a critical tone, “That’s a lot to be doing. … But everything’s not his fault.”
“I don’t feel overwhelmed in calling plays or overwhelmed in [coaching Jason Campbell] and I think I’ve gotten pretty good response from that,” Zorn said. “But there is something wrong there.”
But can he really change things? The criticisms vary. It’s not all playcalling; it’s not all about communication or finger-pointing; it’s about everything. Not everyone is complaining; many are. Welcome to losing football.
Again, can a coach — and football coaches tend to be the most stubborn — change? For proof, just look in the NFC East. Two years ago New York’s Tom Coughlin was Dead Man Coaching. But he was retained. Why? Because he agreed to a number of changes laid down by the owner. Big-name players had called for him to be fired, including Michael Strahan and Jeremy Shockey. Tiki Barber went to owner John Mara and said what he thought needed to change.
So Coughlin changed, doing a 180.
“Everything before January ’07 was awful,” one Giants source said, “and everything since then has been great.”
This is not to say Zorn is Coughlin. And the latter had a coaching resume that showed he could win; nobody questioned his coaching. With Zorn, there’s no proof that he can succeed in this role. What we know is that he’s had good moments and bad moments. Right now, it’s hard to say his way is the right way.
That could mean giving something up, like playcalling, whose preparation takes away from being a head coach. If players lose confidence in the playcaller, they lose it in the head coach — if he’s the same person. It could mean — definitely should mean — having a stronger line of communication set up for the players. Some change that would help is in the form of personnel.
But that’s out of Zorn’s control. Zorn is a smart guy who wants to win; and he needs to change what he can control. It will make him a better coach.
John Keim has covered the Redskins since 1994. Reach him at [email protected]
