The wake of the Washington Redskins’ embarrassing home loss to the previously 0-5 Chiefs became even more bizarre than anyone could have imagined.
Conventional wisdom was that, if the ‘Skins got scalped by the Chiefs, coach Jim Zorn would load his personal effects into a box and make the slow, final walk to the parking lot.
But instead Zorn has agreed to a second public emasculation this month, giving up one of his main functions — calling the plays on offense — in order to keep his job.
With that news came the bizarre word that Zorn and executive V.P. of football operations Vinny Cerrato would be putting their heads together to decide on the new play-caller on Monday morning.
The development created a sense of drama where there should have been none. I mean, who was it going to be? Coach Janky Spanky?
Sherm Lewis was the obvious selection, primarily because there was no other alternative.
We’re told that it is Lewis, and Rick Maese has reported the same thing.
And so a guy who made his name in Green Bay as an offensive coordinator who deferred the play-calling function to Mike Holmgren will now be charged with the task of saving the asses of Zorn and, as we’re hearing it, Cerrato, too.
Good luck with all that.
The only remaining question is whether the new arrangement gets one week or longer to save Zorn’s job.
And, given the current disarray, whether the Redskins will be able to win any more games this year.
This just shows that from the top down, this organization is totally clueless!
Hey, being stripped of your play calling duties could be good for your future, so don’t knock it. Just ask Sean Payton.
Mr. Zorn, your balls are caling; they miss you.
He should have stood his ground and refused the moves, and taken the inevitable firing. At least then he would have looked stronger for a potential new hiring. Who the hell is going to hire him after this? There isn’t one NFL player who can look at him with any respect, since he obviously doesn’t respect hinself.
This guy is toast.
Calling bingo, calling Washington’s plays–no difference. Some old lady with blue hair could do either at this point.
So Snyder hired an offensive coordinator (before he hired a head coach), Zorn, who’d only called a handful of plays; then made him headcoach too. Now Snyder hires a long retired offensive coordinator to save the day, who didn’t really call the plays either. Danny Boy Snyder is such a powerful football mind, it really is amazing.
oh yeah, this kind of crap really entices another coach to come to DC next year. This makes Al Davis look good!!
If this nightmare of a season results in Vinny C. being replaced by a real GM then this will all be worth it. Because, say what you will about The Danny he cares about the team and if he can ever get his own ego out of the way and put real football people in place, watch out. Of course, that is a huge if.
ROFLMAO. For a Cowboys fan living in Redskins territory and having been subjected to the unmitigated arrogance of the Redskins (for no apparent reason, at least the Giants and Eagles have some cause for being arrogant) for years it just doesn’t get much better.
So, what are they going to call him, ‘Playcaller in Chief’, or ‘The Danny’s Puppet’. Wonder if The Danny is going to be supplying a list of plays he wants called on Sunday?
Is Sherm just going to show up on Sunday and call plays? Doesn’t he have to be in some coaching capacity or other to be able to know what plays the Redskins run well (although that seems to be a shorter list than the ‘Book of Gourmet Irish Recipes’).
Pretty funny that The Danny is now using ‘Consultants’ to ‘manage’ the team rather than having football people coach the team. I wonder if he’s considered outsourcing his play calling to India?
“Good Morning, how may we be helping you today?”
This organization has become a joke. Zorn is not a head coach and I’m tired of owners thinking that some ex-players can coach. Some are better than others as coordinators but usually not as head coaches. Exceptions being Mike Ditka, Dan Reeves, but overall most do not succeed as head coaches. Dan Snyder needs to quit using this franchise as a rich boys toy and get serious. Curb your spending and get serious about draft choices and certain trades that will enhance your team not destroy it. One player does not make that great a difference overall (A.Haynesworth). It is a collection of several good players with the right mentality to work as a cohesive group. Too many players are of the “I” mentality and “what can I get right away in the event I’m injured or cut” contract wise. Granted career expectations are only 4-5 years in the NFL but why did you go to college if you’re not going to use your education post-career? Wake up Dan. it’s time to realize money will not solve your problems. Become a hard nosed p…k and show your fans how much you truly want to create a winner with the same enthusiasm you had before you bought the team. Maybe take a lesson from George ALLEN’S playbook and start bringing together some veterans who would be appreciative and loyal for having their careers extended a bit longer and may not be so demanding money wise in getting to play a bit longer and have the proven experience needed to create a winner. Clean house a bit, re-decorate, but don’t build from the ground up, you already have a nice house it just needs some updating. Good luck – a long time fan and “old school” thinker with modern ideas.
This move will not make a difference. You still have the same players and same inefficient O -line.
Until- we get the right personel in the front office- ” a parcels type” and get rid of cerrato and rebuild this team with REAL players, you can put JC as our coach and things would not be different.
Some player actually care. But the rest are here to get paid.
You want my advice- get rid of portis, campbell, Betts, Sellars, and smoot to start.
Maybe let Devin Thomas or Aldridge return kicks and punts
Get a new O- line with Dockery. Everytime fat albert wants to sit fine him $10,000. All personal fouls need to be fined.
Teach Landry how to tackle and not just throw his body anywhere like a wild animal.
Everybody is talking about that 79 trd run yesterday- that should have been a TD- the fact that Sellars couldn’t push that DB to the ground instead of slipping and falling- and that Portis couldn’t cut inside and break away with speed – is the exact reason why we SUCK. These players don’t have it
All we hear is how much talent we have and how they are going to go back and look at the game film and improve. This is BS.
Let me share a true story with you. The redskins were interested in Allan Rossum- I know this. His good friend D- Hall called him up and told him that he would get alot of touches this year if he came but not to expect to win that many games- b/c they were not a good team.
Finally the truth
Its bad here in Washington. And Zorn has shown he was way in over his head. To be honost, he should NOT be fired, because firing him this early in a season is pointless. Replacing him as playcaller may help, but only a little. The real question now is who is the Skins QB. Campbell was replaced, and should be for the season. His Skins tenure should be done. But who makes that decision? Zorn? Sherman Lewis? Cerrato? Snyder? With so many questions, who knows who is running the team. I do agree, if this debacle of a season gets rid of Zorn, Cerrato, and Campbell, then its not a total loss. As many as 4 top QBs will be in next years draft with Bradford, Mccoy, possibly Clauson, and that guy from Houston. Man, firing all of them and drafting a QB (im rooting for Mccoy) would be the only thing to look forward to as a Redskins fan. Thank goodness Hockey season started. Go Caps!!!
as a skins fan, I’d like to let billindc know that he’s looking at the wrong sherman, there are two in this crazy organization- sherman lewis and sherman smith.
I understand we deserve the ridicule of cowboy fans right now, but a cowboy fan is calling us arrogant???????I don’t get that ever.
And finally, go back to texas, ya jerk!!!!!!!!!!!!we got enough idiots in washington dc
Did you hear Deion defending his boooyyyy Daniel Snyder on the NFL Network last night? “It’s not the owner’s fault”, “he’s a good man”, “he cares like Jerry Jones”, etc. Sure, Deion would have to love anyone that paid him mucho dollars to play football well past his prime.
In a day when all in the media seem to have lost their impartiality Deion stands apart as the biggest homer out there!
The Cowboy fan is an idiot. Skins fans are not arrogant, just passionate. The ONLY team in the division with any reason to be arrogant is the Giants. The Cowboys are clowns with a HUGE problem at QB and coach (sound familiar) and the Eagles are one win better than the Skins. Give me a break.
Again, this classless organization and it’s fans are getting exactly what they deserve. The Skins suck and their only purpose this season is to do their best to make sure there isn’t another 0-16 team in the league this year.
And yeah Bake you Skins fans are arrogant from your cross dressing, pig nose wearing, easter bonnet wearing tranny fans…to that 7th rate marching band playing that dumbass song, to “Superskin” (wtf) all the way to the most arrogant MF’er in the NFL Danielle Snyder. The Skins are the biggest joke in the league this year and I for one can’t stop laughing.
@ Bill in DC: Arrogance? We are passionate about our team; don’t mistake that for arrogance.
What could be more arrogant than a club claiming to be “America’s Team”? That’s a joke.
Having said that, we all realize that the Redskins are in total disarray, thanks to horrible decisions by the ownership. How we long for the days when Jack Kent Cooke hired the best football minds available and then enjoyed the game from the owner’s box.
@Branephood: Oh, so dressing up crazily for games makes you arrogant? And carrying on a great tradition (the marching band) is arrogance?
The only thing arrogant about the Redskins organization is that idiot owner that we all have despised for years — but we continue to support our team because we are LOYAL FANS who are hoping to carry on the tradition until he wakes up and smells the coffee.
I became a fan of the Redskins back when Vince Lombardi and George Allen were coaches and then my loyalty to the team was galvanized during the first Gibbs tenure — when the Cooke family owned the team. So I am saddened and disheartened to have seen what has become of this team and this organization since Dan Snyder bought this football team. The team is a shell of its former self and the organization is dysfunctional and incompetent. John Riggins hit the nail on the head with his diatribe about Jim Zorn. But frankly, the head coach is not what ails this organization — he is just a symptom. Jim Zorn is just one of many many poor personnel decisions that have been made by Mr. Snyder and Mr. Cerrato. This team will not see a turn around until Snyder decides to fire Cerrato and hire a GM who is an established football man. Snyder also needs to check his national deficit sized ego at the door and quit trying to think that he has what it takes to build and maintain a winning football program. News flash Mr. Snyder — you do not know what you are doing! You are the one who is out of his league. For the sake of us loyal fans, either sell the team or step aside and let football men come in and run things.
After being callously and unceremoniously pushed out of power by the Danny BOY and the NFL, John Cooke must be grinning ear to ear right now!
Zorn is only in his second year – give the guy a break. About 1/3 of the teams have similar or worse records than the Redskins right now.
They faced some scrappy teams with their backs against the wall that past couple of weeks also.
SkinsFanInNebraska says:
“@ Bill in DC: Arrogance? We are passionate about our team; don’t mistake that for arrogance.
What could be more arrogant than a club claiming to be “America’s Team”? That’s a joke.”
Please reread, I called the team arrogant, not the fans. The team has been arrogant for a long time. They assume they are smarter than all the other teams in the draft/FA and have been quite willing to say so. The Danny actually calls other teams and laughs at them about their draft choices (he’s done it to Jerry several times). They assume that teams will willingly surrender #1 draft picks for players they don’t want.
Dallas NEVER claimed to be ‘America’s Team’, that was a moniker attached to them by NFL Films and subsequently the CBS announcers. A little history lesson for you:
” in 1978 that Bob Ryan, the editor in chief of NFL Films, tagged the Cowboys as “America’s Team” because of their enormous appeal and popularity nationwide.”
“During the Cowboys’ first game of the 1979 season, a nationally televised game against the St. Louis Cardinals (which Dallas won 22-21), the television announcer for CBS introduced the Cowboys as America’s Team and the name stuck.”
richm-
zorn is crazy like a fox. if he quits/resigns, he doesnt get the rest of his contract $$. if he sticks around and forces them to fire him or do whatever else they think will work, he will.
our chances of having 4 teams go 0-16 went down the drain thanks to the pathetic washington weakskins… change your football name – you don’t deserve to be called what your football name is!!!!!!!!!!!
For those of you who think the Skins fans are arrogant, you must be dreaming. 3 playoff appearances in 18 years. An owner and a coach who are in way over their heads. A stranglehold of a front office that removes many head coaches from being interested in the fat paycheck that the Skins bring. We are not arrogant, we are intensely loyal (sellouts when the team sucks, a la this year). We are passionate and never satisfied with 8-8 records. Playoffs or bust. To hate us doesn’t make sense, we don’t win, have a terribly run organization personel wise, and have a huge payroll and no draft picks year in and year out. Its insane. Seriously take a chill pill and hate a team that has the real arrogance, the Cowgirls. Jerry Jones and his stadium is proof enough of his Arrogance. Snyder did NOT build his stadium, moron.
And as for our front office problems, Gibbs had control, but he was the only one. Hence why 2 playoff appearances in 4 seasons for Gibbs. Zorn is out of his league and it shows. But he is the coach because no one else wanted the job. To rebuild the Skins starts with Cerrato. Daniel Snyder is seriously considering Shanahans demand for GM control. And if things keep going south, and as a loyal Skins fan i think they will, he may finally fire Cerrato. And Shanahan can do something no Redskins front office man knows how to. He can flat out draft!!! Shanahan to DC, pray for it boys. Pray for it…
Portis broke out on a long run and was eventually caught from behind. The guy looks terribly slow. Even when he was in open field I was thinking they’ll catch him anytime now.
I like Shannahan as GM, but I do not like him or any other person wearing both coach and GM hats. They need to be separate, but they also need to be willing to work in tandem.
This is as bad as it gets. Total meltdown is coming. What we are seeing is a coach being fired sloooooooowly. Zorn has been completely neutered. I guess Snyder and Cerrato want him to quit and void his contract?
I have been a skinz fan since the days of Riggo and the Hogs and the Smurfs. I’m afraid those memories is all we will have as long as Napoleon Snyder is the owner.
Thanks Mr. Snyder for RUINING the franchise!