Enough Zorn to go around?
February 9, 2008 9:46 PM
Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando
Jim Zorn impresses people. There's no other way to explain his sudden emergence as the Redskins' head coach. People in the league knew Zorn was a good teacher, particularly of quarterbacks. But only after spending time with Zorn does a person realize what Redskins owner Daniel Snyder now knows: Zorn has lots of interesting ideas, he is enthusiastic about them and he is a persuasive person. Zorn grows on people.
I covered the Seahawks as a beat reporter from 1998 through the 2006 season. Zorn was there as quarterbacks coach beginning in 2001. You always needed some extra time if you were going to interview Zorn after practice because he would give such thorough, in-depth answers. He would also give you something a little off the wall sometimes, but if you saw him play the game as a left-handed scrambler, you weren't surprised.
The big question for the Redskins is whether there's enough of Jim Zorn to go around. Head coaches have to worry about so many things that go beyond what Zorn has proven to be good at: teaching and coaching. Head coaches are CEOs as much as anything.
As the Redskins' offensive coordinator, Zorn probably still could have taken a hands-on approach with Jason Campbell. As head coach, he is most likely going to need some help.
As one of Zorn's former co-workers put it to me this afternoon: "The best thing that happened to Jason was having Zorn named offensive coordinator and working with quarterbacks. The worst thing was Zorn being named head coach, because it will be harder for him to be as involved coaching the position."
Knowing Zorn, he's still going to be very involved with the quarterbacks. That is his identity. He played quarterback in the league and there isn't a more important position, so he'll still work with Campbell as much as anyone, I would think. Zorn won't have to worry about coaching the defense because Greg Blache is in place as the coordinator, so that helps.
Zorn will install an offense very similar to the one Mike Holmgren has run in Seattle. He would have an easier time doing this if he could to find another assistant or two who know this offense inside and out. Gary Reynolds, who recently followed Mike Sherman to Texas A&M, impressed everyone he came into contact with during his time on Holmgren's staff. He would be the type of person Zorn might find helpful in setting up his offense.
Holmgren's base offense features two backs, two receivers and a tight end. This is known as "regular" personnel in West Coast parlance. Seattle also leaned hard on its "E" personnel grouping with two running backs, three receivers and no tight end. They liked this group because the fullback allowed for running the ball, while the third receiver created mismatches against linebackers in the slot. "Zebra" (one back, three receivers, one tight end) and "Eagle" (four receivers) were also widely used groupings during Zorn's time in Seattle. The Redskins have different personnel and I would expect Zorn to tailor his personnel groupings accordingly.
Zorn's strength is coaching quarterbacks. He was a very good resource for Matt Hasselbeck during rough times in particular. Holmgren can be very harsh on quarterbacks. One of his all-time blowups came during halftime of a Seahawks loss at Washington. Zorn is competitive, but also a very pleasant person who doesn't even curse. His even keel balanced out the more combustible Holmgren. Zorn is a very enthusiastic, high-energy, hands-on guy. He is a hard worker and creative. He would take reps throwing 35-yard sideline passes during pregame warm-ups, something he'll presumably give up now he's the head guy.
The book on Zorn in Seattle was that he showed a great deal of improvement as a coach, becoming more organized. He is a Seattle guy at heart, but he also realized Seahawks coach-in-waiting Jim Mora would have his own candidates for offensive coordinator, so there was no way Zorn could pass up a three-year deal as coordinator in the other Washington. His decision was wiser and more lucrative than anyone could have imagined.
In addition to helping Hasselbeck go from struggling former sixth-round choice to Pro Bowl regular, Zorn was the assistant coach in charge of handling third-and-7 or longer. The Seahawks had some success in this area during his tenure, but their third-down offense struggled in general once Shaun Alexander hit a wall with injuries and the offensive line struggled.
There's a difference in being an idea guy with some input and being The Guy who runs everything. We won't know how well Zorn makes the transition until he's had a little time. If it doesn't work out, he can always go back to being a coordinator. The Redskins never lost a game when he held that title.
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/hashmarks/0- ... d=tab2pos2R.I.P. Sean Taylor
You will be missed, but never forgotten
We were in dire straits and nothing our FO tried really worked - back came Gibbs - in hindsight not a great "return" but Gibbs did get the team back on track and we now are approaching an off-season with most of our draft picks and a salary cap that while still bad (this was going to take a millenium to recover from anyway!) is somewhat manageable when we do what we have to here 
SO - Gibbs is a good move by Snyder
