The Loser Papers - 2008 edition

[Cappster]

Only one loser paper so far for the Browns? Come one JSPB22, lets relish in their Loserissm!

http://www.ohio.com/sports/31266704.html

Capital punishment

Browns' offense M.I.A. in D.C. Rally falls short in loss to Redskins

By Marla Ridenour
Beacon Journal sports writer

Published on Monday, Oct 20, 2008



LANDOVER, MD.: Through three quarters, the Browns' Monday night magic from a week ago looked like a Monday night mirage.

But when the Washington Redskins took an 11-point lead with 12:28 remaining Sunday, the Browns' offense got its mojo back.

A furious finish came up just short. Phil Dawson's 54-yard field-goal attempt that would have tied the game with 25 seconds remaining sailed wide right, and the Redskins held on for a 14-11 victory at FedExField.

''Kicking a million balls in my life, you can feel it one way or the other before you look up and that one felt like it might be a little right,'' Dawson said. ''Distance, on that particular kick, I wasn't worried. But it's distance and line, and I only got half of it right.''

After rolling up 454 yards against the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants, the Browns' offense crawled back into its hole. It finished with only 236 yards (121 through three quarters), and went 4-of-16 on third down. Quarterback Derek Anderson, coming off a 310-yard effort, completed 14-of-37 passes for 136 yards and a touchdown for a 57.9 rating. He completed 1-of-8 for 6 yards in the first quarter.

''The way the defense played today, they deserved to win,'' wide receiver Braylon Edwards said. ''It would have been stealing on the offensive side of the ball, but it would have been deserving on the defensive side.''

The Browns (2-4) came in with a two-game winning streak and hoped they had turned around their season with the nationally televised 35-14 triumph over the Giants. But the
big-play ability displayed that night and last season was nowhere to be found. Edwards dropped four passes, though one was nullified by penalty, and caught four for 58 yards. Tight end Kellen Winslow returned after sitting out the Giants game with an undisclosed illness, but caught only two passes for 17 yards.

''We missed a lot of plays today,'' Edwards said. ''I dropped a lot of passes and I didn't help my team. By the time I made a play, it was just too late.

''Everybody was a little out of rhythm early on. I think we might have underestimated the Redskins. We missed some things early and it leads to frustration. It caused me to be frustrated and lose my head.''

Anderson was just as disappointed.

''To be 0-0 in the first half was pretty bad,'' he said. ''We crossed the 50 three times in the first half and didn't get even a field goal. That's frustrating.''

As bad as it was, the Browns had a chance even after a fourth-quarter drive to the Redskins' 1 came away with no points. On the Redskins' next play from scrimmage, cornerback Eric Wright grabbed Clinton Portis' right arm and forced the league's rushing leader to fumble after a 24-yard gain. Free safety Brodney Pool recovered at the Redskins' 29.

The Browns scored five plays later with Joshua Cribbs getting the first offensive touchdown of his career on a 1-yard reception on fourth down. Anderson hit Edwards on the 2-point conversion to close the gap to 14-11 with 2:44 to go.

The Browns stopped the Redskins on three downs, all Portis runs, and got the ball back at their 29 with 1:51 remaining. The last-gasp rally was not a model of efficiency, however.

Anderson hit Donte' Stallworth for an 18-yard gain and found Winslow for 9 more to the Redskins' 39. On second-and-1, Anderson's sneak gained 3 yards, but he did not quickly spike the ball to stop the clock. Instead he threw incomplete to Winslow, setting up second-and-10 from the Redskins' 36 with 41 seconds left.

''I was doing what I'm told,'' Anderson said. ''The headset wasn't working; it went out five or six times. They gave me a play and I rolled with it.''

At the end, Anderson tried two consecutive passes to Edwards that both fell incomplete. The first wasn't close, as Edwards looked like he failed to turn around.

''That was the only pressure they brought all day,'' Edwards said. ''It was my job to pick up that 'hot' like I did against the Giants, and I missed it. I thought I was open on something else. D.A. saw it. That's my fault.''

On the second, the ball was low.

''I probably could have gotten it up a little bit, give him chance to make it,'' Anderson said.

''Another step, another inch, I probably make that catch and give Phil a better chance to make that kick,'' Edwards said. ''We just didn't get it. That's kind of how we were all day, just inches away on a lot of things.''

LANDOVER, MD.: Through three quarters, the Browns' Monday night magic from a week ago looked like a Monday night mirage.

But when the Washington Redskins took an 11-point lead with 12:28 remaining Sunday, the Browns' offense got its mojo back.

A furious finish came up just short. Phil Dawson's 54-yard field-goal attempt that would have tied the game with 25 seconds remaining sailed wide right, and the Redskins held on for a 14-11 victory at FedExField.

''Kicking a million balls in my life, you can feel it one way or the other before you look up and that one felt like it might be a little right,'' Dawson said. ''Distance, on that particular kick, I wasn't worried. But it's distance and line, and I only got half of it right.''

After rolling up 454 yards against the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants, the Browns' offense crawled back into its hole. It finished with only 236 yards (121 through three quarters), and went 4-of-16 on third down. Quarterback Derek Anderson, coming off a 310-yard effort, completed 14-of-37 passes for 136 yards and a touchdown for a 57.9 rating. He completed 1-of-8 for 6 yards in the first quarter.

''The way the defense played today, they deserved to win,'' wide receiver Braylon Edwards said. ''It would have been stealing on the offensive side of the ball, but it would have been deserving on the defensive side.''

The Browns (2-4) came in with a two-game winning streak and hoped they had turned around their season with the nationally televised 35-14 triumph over the Giants. But the
big-play ability displayed that night and last season was nowhere to be found. Edwards dropped four passes, though one was nullified by penalty, and caught four for 58 yards. Tight end Kellen Winslow returned after sitting out the Giants game with an undisclosed illness, but caught only two passes for 17 yards.

''We missed a lot of plays today,'' Edwards said. ''I dropped a lot of passes and I didn't help my team. By the time I made a play, it was just too late.

''Everybody was a little out of rhythm early on. I think we might have underestimated the Redskins. We missed some things early and it leads to frustration. It caused me to be frustrated and lose my head.''

Anderson was just as disappointed.

''To be 0-0 in the first half was pretty bad,'' he said. ''We crossed the 50 three times in the first half and didn't get even a field goal. That's frustrating.''

As bad as it was, the Browns had a chance even after a fourth-quarter drive to the Redskins' 1 came away with no points. On the Redskins' next play from scrimmage, cornerback Eric Wright grabbed Clinton Portis' right arm and forced the league's rushing leader to fumble after a 24-yard gain. Free safety Brodney Pool recovered at the Redskins' 29.

The Browns scored five plays later with Joshua Cribbs getting the first offensive touchdown of his career on a 1-yard reception on fourth down. Anderson hit Edwards on the 2-point conversion to close the gap to 14-11 with 2:44 to go.

The Browns stopped the Redskins on three downs, all Portis runs, and got the ball back at their 29 with 1:51 remaining. The last-gasp rally was not a model of efficiency, however.

Anderson hit Donte' Stallworth for an 18-yard gain and found Winslow for 9 more to the Redskins' 39. On second-and-1, Anderson's sneak gained 3 yards, but he did not quickly spike the ball to stop the clock. Instead he threw incomplete to Winslow, setting up second-and-10 from the Redskins' 36 with 41 seconds left.

''I was doing what I'm told,'' Anderson said. ''The headset wasn't working; it went out five or six times. They gave me a play and I rolled with it.''

At the end, Anderson tried two consecutive passes to Edwards that both fell incomplete. The first wasn't close, as Edwards looked like he failed to turn around.

''That was the only pressure they brought all day,'' Edwards said. ''It was my job to pick up that 'hot' like I did against the Giants, and I missed it. I thought I was open on something else. D.A. saw it. That's my fault.''

On the second, the ball was low.

''I probably could have gotten it up a little bit, give him chance to make it,'' Anderson said.

''Another step, another inch, I probably make that catch and give Phil a better chance to make that kick,'' Edwards said. ''We just didn't get it. That's kind of how we were all day, just inches away on a lot of things.''

[Deadskins]

Only one loser paper so far for the Browns? Come one JSPB22, lets relish in their Loserissm!

It is fun, isn't it? But, for a non-division (and non-conference for that matter) opponent, I'll stick to the single article. Feel free to add all you want, though. I still enjoy reading them.

[Cappster]

I'll jump start this thread today.

Lions blacked out — and that’s a good thing

BY MITCH ALBOM • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • October 26, 2008

Tickets remain. That was the story Sunday. For the first time at Ford Field, the Lions couldn’t sell out; the game was not televised. Some called this sad. Others called it merciful. Many didn’t notice.
Advertisement

But as one of the lucky 54,312 in attendance, I feel obliged to report to you what you missed.

Not much.

Detroit actually scored in the first quarter for the first time all season. A touchdown with 13 seconds left. That makes the year-to-date first-quarter total: Opponents 57, Lions 7. Yay!

But besides that, there was nothing you haven’t seen before. The Lions had chances. They missed them. They had plays to make. They didn’t make them. They kept within shooting distance. Then shot themselves in the foot.

They converted two third downs, gave up 439 yards, lost by eight, 25-17, and walked off the field.

And afterward, Rod Marinelli insisted, earnestly — and he is nothing if not earnest — that he was going to “just keep doing what I do,” even though some would argue that what he actually does is coach a losing football team.

“I’m coaching the dog out of them,” he said. “... We’re just not getting it done on Sunday.”

This is honest and unacceptable. It’s a bit like saying, “I went to med school, I scrubbed up, but I keep removing the kidney instead of the appendix.”

In “doing what they do,” the Lions don’t make big plays. They don’t convert. And they are 0-7.

Tickets remain.
Redskins fumble and bumble

Now, we must admit, there were some things seen Sunday that were notable. The game was not even 5 minutes old and Washington was already down to the Lions’ 1. Then, apparently some folks on the Redskins’ side who get paid by the TV ratings (Washington ratings, not Detroit) decided they’d better make it interesting.

From that point, the ’Skins did all kinds of things to go backward. They got sacked. They fumbled. They missed a field goal. They committed penalties to stall drives and keep Detroit drives going.

They tried, it seemed, as hard as they could. But like an older boy who can’t help but outrun his baby brother, the ’Skins eventually grew bored and did what they were fated to do.

A third-quarter bomb to Santana Moss gave them the lead.

A fourth-quarter punt return — by Moss again — went 80 yards for a TD. That put it out of reach.

Afterward, I spoke with left tackle Jeff Backus, who has been here a long time.

Like others, he insisted that game day is not matching with weekday.

“We don’t accept losing,” he said. “The day you start accepting losing you might as well hang it up. Losing isn’t fun.”

When’s the last time you had fun, I asked?

“It’s actually fun during the week,” he answered. “Once we get past Monday and critiquing film. The guys are fun to work with. We have fun in practice. It’s just not translating into the game.”

Maybe they should sell tickets to practice.
Use the Tigers as a lesson

Because there’s nothing to see here. The Lions turn every opposing quarterback into Johnny Unitas. (Jason Campbell had a career-high rating.) But they can’t make their own offensive plays to win it — only the ones, like a pretty Calvin Johnson 17-yard touchdown catch-and-dive, that keep it close.

This prompted me to ask Marinelli if the team hadn’t developed a “doomed to lose” attitude.

“That’s a great question,” he said. “But I don’t deal with couch therapy.”

Fair enough. On the other hand, that’s what people who need it the most always say. And nobody at home was doing much couch therapy either, since you couldn’t watch the game.

The Lions — and by the Lions I mean the owners — had better be careful. Ask Mike Ilitch about trying to win back fans after they’re alienated. The way pro football works is this: You get a team, you sell tickets, you get on TV, you go for a championship.

Well, there’s no championship. There’s no TV. And Sunday, when the clock expired, there was no sound at all. No boos. No cheers. Just the turned backs of spectators heading up the aisles.

Tickets remain. Fans are another story.

http://www.freep.com/article/20081026/COL01/81026061

[Deadskins]

Sorry folks. I was out of town this past weekend, and have been playing catch-up ever since. Without further ado, from the Detroit Free Press comes this gem:

WASHINGTON 25, DETROIT 17
Once again, Lions miss opportunities, frustrate
Redskins WR gives Lions fans a familiar sight: A loss
BY NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER • October 27, 2008


The Lions were alive. They had a chance to tie in the final 2 minutes Sunday.

But Ford Field, short of a sellout for the first time since its opening in 2002, was now more than half empty. From the highest reaches of the stadium you could hear a faint chant: "Let's go, Redskins!" It seemed no one believed the Lions could come back.

And then the Lions reinforced their fans' lack of faith.

Wide receiver Brandon Middleton dropped a pass. Rookie running back Kevin Smith caught one but didn't get out of bounds, and the clock kept running. Finally, on fourth-and-3 from the Detroit 45, wide receiver Calvin Johnson ran a crossing pattern only 2 yards from the line of scrimmage. He caught a pass -- and was stopped short of the first down.

That was the game. Washington 25, Detroit 17.

"He caught it a little bit shallow," coach Rod Marinelli said of Johnson. "You've got to make the play."

That has been the season. This is why the Lions are 0-7 -- little thing after little thing, mental mistakes and physical mistakes and missed opportunities, failing to execute what they drill in practice, not making plays.

"That's tough," quarterback Dan Orlovsky said. "Lack of execution and failure is going to happen. We're people. But we're making too many of them. It's tough to swallow."

And that is why the Lions' announced attendance was 54,312. Ford Field's capacity is 64,500. It snapped a sellout streak that stretched 51 games, to the Silverdome finale in 2001.

"We want to get this thing turned around and make our fans proud of us and have them coming out every week," left tackle Jeff Backus said. "It's on us that they're not willing to pay $85 a ticket, which is totally understandable."

The Lions have lost 14 of their past 15 games, since their 6-2 start last season, and they blew an opportunity to win this season on Sunday.

The Redskins (6-2) dominated statistically but hurt themselves much as they did in their loss to the previously winless Rams three weeks ago.

They failed to score a touchdown even though they had a first-and-goal at the Detroit 1. They fumbled.

They gave the Lions a first down with a holding call, after wide receiver Mike Furrey let a ball slip through his hands on third-and-8, and the Lions capitalized with a touchdown.

They failed to move deep into Detroit territory, because wide receiver Santana Moss caught back-to-back passes out of bounds and right tackle Jon Jansen took a 15-yard face-mask penalty, then missed a 50-yard field goal.

Backus couldn't help but notice that the Lions, for a change, were getting some breaks.

"You notice it when it happens because it's not very often," Backus said.

The Lions led, 10-6, at halftime, only their second halftime lead this season. But in the second half, the Redskins made fewer mistakes and the Lions made more.

With the Lions clinging to a 10-9 lead in the third quarter, nickel back Ramzee Robinson blitzed. He had an open path to quarterback Jason Campbell. But then he jumped.

"As a blitzer, you've got to keep your feet," Robinson said. "You don't get paid to blitz for batted balls. You get paid for sacks and quarterback pressures. You can't get a quarterback pressure in the air."

Campbell sidestepped Robinson and hit Moss down the right sideline. Moss took it in for a 50-yard touchdown. The Redskins led, 16-10.

"It's the little things that's going to make the difference in the game," Robinson said. "In those situations, when you've got a chance to make a play, you've got to make your play. That's the issue."

Early in the fourth quarter, the Lions were flagged for three penalties in one drive and punted. Moss caught the punt and ran into a teammate. But then he eluded two Lions and took off for an 80-yard touchdown. The Redskins led, 22-10.

"It was just an unbelievable heroic effort by Santana to even stay on his feet, because they had him, dead to right, right there," Washington coach Jim Zorn said. "And once he got open, he's tough to catch in the open field, and he ended up breaking it."

The Lions responded with a 17-yard touchdown catch by Johnson. But they failed to scoop up a fumble late, gave up another field goal and sputtered down the stretch.

"It's frustrating," Johnson said. "It starts with myself, and everybody has to know there are certain times we had to execute when we didn't."

Contact NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA at 313-222-8831 or ncotsonika@freepress.com. Check out his Lions blog at www.freep.com/sports.

http://www.freep.com/article/20081027/S ... 9/SPORTS01

[Deadskins]

After what seems like an eternity, we finally have another edition of "The Loser Papers" to print. From the pages of the Seattle News Tribune:

First down … and out again for Hawks
Interception on first play of key drive dooms Seattle for second straight week
FRANK HUGHES; Frank.hughes@thenewstribune.com Published: November 24th, 2008 12:32 AM | Updated: November 24th, 2008 01:15 AM

ELAINE THOMPSON/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington’s Clinton Portis fends off Seattle safety Jordan Babineaux during a second-half run. Portis led all NFL rushers Sunday with his 143-yard performance against the Seahawks.

ELAINE THOMPSON/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ELAINE THOMPSON/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The thing about being a spoiler, as coach Mike Holmgren suggested the Seattle Seahawks could become in their final six games, is that games actually have to be won.
Otherwise, a team is just prey.

Partially because Matt Hasselbeck threw a late interception on the first play of a potential winning drive for the second consecutive week, the Seahawks fell prey to the Washington Redskins, 20-17, at Qwest Field on Sunday afternoon, keeping alive the Redskins’ playoff hopes.

It was Seattle’s fourth consecutive loss, dropping the Seahawks’ record to 2-9 and leaving both players and coaches a bit befuddled as to why their season has become a panoply of errors.

After all, they are currently as healthy as they are going to get for the remainder of the season, and they have most of the pieces in place to revisit the type of production to which they had become accustomed.

Instead, their offense continues to stall, particularly in the crucial times that used to be the crucible of their success.

The old Seahawks relished the opportunity to get the ball in the final two minutes of a game, drive down the field and make a heroic play.

But not these Seahawks.

Not even close.

When the defense stripped Washington’s Ladell Betts of the ball with 1:28 left and recovered it on Seattle’s 22, it represented the possibility of redemption for Hasselbeck, who was in a similar situation against Arizona last week and threw an interception on the first play of the final drive.

On the first play of this drive, with Jim Zorn, his longtime position coach, looking on from Washington’s sideline, Hasselbeck dropped back, looked left in Zorn’s direction, zipped a ball intended for Koren Robinson and watched as former Seahawk Shawn Springs contorted his body to snare the pass out of the air, ending the Seahawks’ chances and adding to their puzzlement.

“It was my fault,” Hasselbeck said. “I misread the route by Koren. I think he did everything he was supposed to do. We had run similar routes earlier in the game; they had covered it a certain way. I was obviously anticipating something else. I am definitely kicking myself right now. It was sloppy.”

It was another poor performance by Hasselbeck, who missed five consecutive games with a back injury before returning last week.

Appearing to be either rusty or not completely healed, Hasselbeck completed just 12 of 24 passes for 103 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, which combined for a 54.7 passer rating.

“Inconsistent,” was the way Holmgren described the franchise quarterback’s outing.

Which, with this team, is not good enough.

Hasselbeck is well aware of his shortcomings, and for whatever reason seems powerless to reverse them. He threw one interception that was intended to be an incompletion. He has had difficulty managing the game at times. And his decision-making – the strength of his game – has been suspect since his return.

In short, he does not look at all like the same quarterback that has been named to the Pro Bowl three times, though he does not have – or is not willing to offer – an explanation.

“Not going to be doing that this year,” Hasselbeck said drolly about the Pro Bowl.

The lead-up to this game was dominated by the relationships involving the teams, including Zorn and former Seahawks Shaun Alexander, Ryan Plackemeier, Mike Green, Springs and running backs coach Stump Mitchell.

But once the game began, those story lines faded. Alexander did not even play, though he ran onto the field at one point and tried to get in the game in a goal-line situation.

There were good things in this game, almost enough of them to win.

Maurice Morris rushed for 103 yards on 14 carries, the first Seattle back to eclipse 100 yards since the third week of the season.

Josh Wilson had a 55-yard kickoff return, the third consecutive week he has broken off a big run.

And the defense was adequate against Washington’s run-oriented offense, though Clinton Portis totaled 143 rushing yards, enough to move him past Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson and into the league lead with 1,206 yards.

Still, the Seahawks put themselves in a position to win. When Washington (7-4) went ahead 7-3, Seattle answered with a screen pass to Morris for a touchdown, the second consecutive week he has scored off that play.

When Washington went ahead 17-10, the Seahawks tied the game on a touchdown pass to tight end John Carlson, the rookie’s third of the year.

And even as Washington went on what was supposed to be its game-clinching drive, Brian Russell and Julian Peterson did enough to make Betts fumble – much to Zorn’s chagrin.

But an offense that has failed to score more than 20 points in five of its last six games does not have the rhythm or ability at this point to produce the way it once could, Hasselbeck or no Hasselbeck.

“If I am just not careless with the football, we have a chance to win the game,” Hasselbeck said.

Now, the Seahawks have a short week to prepare for a Thanksgiving Day game in Dallas against the resurgent Cowboys, who have won two in a row since Tony Romo returned from his pinkie injury.

Perhaps the spoiler role starts then.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/se ... 47468.html

And

Winning in Seattle satisfying for Zorn
RYAN DIVISH; ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com
Published: November 24th, 2008 12:45 AM | Updated: November 24th, 2008 01:09 AM

JOHN FROSCHAUER/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Redskins coach Jim Zorn, left, and his prize pupil in Seattle, Matt Hasselbeck, catch up on some small talk after the game Sunday.

Split pea soup? Amid the postgame splendor as he tried to describe what it feels like to come into Qwest Field and beat his former team and his mentor as the first-year coach of the Washington Redskins, Jim Zorn searched an adrenaline-overloaded mind for the proper words and eventually landed on soup.

“Coming in here and getting a win against Mike Holmgren and this team, that’s, that’s, that’s something,” Zorn said. “It’s not split pea soup.”

Here’s guessing that getting into the NFC playoffs – a distinct possibility for Zorn’s Redskins – will be something more than, perhaps, lobster bisque, and a Super Bowl win definitely more than filet mignon. But, Sunday it was split pea soup, ham was optional.

Culinary kidding aside, Zorn’s return to the Northwest was an unmitigated success. The Redskins snapped a two-game losing streak with a 20-17 win, moving to 7-4 and stayed tied for second in the NFC East with Dallas.

And that’s what Zorn had tried to maintain as his focus from the very beginning of the week – winning the game. Obviously, coming back to Seattle was going to be the story leading up to the game. Zorn couldn’t avoid that. After all, he was the first starting quarterback in Seahawks franchise history, and over eight seasons (1976-84) with the team, he threw for 20,122 yards and 107 touchdowns. And for the last six years, he was the Seahawks quarterback coach for Holmgren, working extensively with Matt Hasselbeck.

Before the game, he was reminded just how much time he spent with the Seahawks.

“It was hard before the game because I did know a lot of people,” Zorn said. “I wanted to say hi to a bunch of people. I just tried to keep from making it a distraction. It was kind of fun seeing people that I had worked with for so long.”

Two people he made it a priority to talk to were Holmgren and Hasselbeck.

“We visited probably more than I normally do,” Holmgren said. “I’m not real talkative with the coach before the game, sometimes I don’t talk to him at all. But, in Jim’s case, he came over and it was good to see him.”

Hasselbeck and Zorn, who talk on the phone often, didn’t speak this week for obvious reasons. The two exchanged pleasantries before the game, but not much else.

“I think he knows how I feel about him,” Hasselbeck said. “It just wasn’t the right time to talk.”

Zorn anticipated there would be a lot of talking before the game and prepared accordingly.

“Once we got done with pregame, I was well prepared knowing what I wanted to do because I did all the study before I got here,” Zorn said. “I knew it was going to be a distraction, and then I got my thoughts together and we came out and started the game.”

And once the game started, Zorn was all business. Watching him coach, you see many of the things that made him beloved as a player. He’s in a constant state of motion, pacing, jostling, waving his hands, jumping up and down, hugging players or screaming at officials. It’s all energy, all the time.

“You can never tell what’s going on in his mind because he approaches every game the same way, with the same intensity and the same fight,” Redskins receiver Santana Moss said.

It’s quite the opposite from his counterpart, Holmgren, who coaches with a building intensity that can occasionally erupt.

“(Zorn) is wired correctly, a little different than I am, but wired correctly,” Holmgren said with a small grin.

It seems Zorn’s particular wiring is what was needed for the rewiring of the Redskins. Washington was 0-2 in its last two playoff games at Qwest Field.

“There is some satisfaction in going all the way across the country to beat the Seahawks in their home stadium,” Zorn said. “It’s been difficult to do the last four or five years.”

During the week, Zorn never made it a big deal about coming back to Seattle. But obviously the local media outlets for both teams did. And that fact wasn’t lost on the Redskins players.

“I know what it means for him,” said cornerback Shawn Springs, a former Seahawk himself. “I know what he means to the Seahawks organization, and I know what he’s trying to start here in Washington, so it was big for him to come back and beat Coach Holmgren, who I know he has tremendous respect for.”

And on Sunday, the student gained another measure of respect from the teacher.

“He communicates well and his players are responding,” Holmgren said. “He seems to be the perfect guy for that young quarterback. When you put all that stuff together, it should work.”

Zorn could only smile when asked about the accomplishment yet another time.

“I think that it’s great to win against that team and those coaches that I know so well,” Zorn said. “I think it’s cool.”

er than split pea soup.

Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483

http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/se ... 47485.html

[Cappster]

Its been a while since this thread had been updated...unfortunately