Let's talk Zorn/offense

I posted this just now in another thread but it is applicable here too...

Besides the good outings of a number of players, it looks like the players REALLY like playing for Zorn. Maybe i'm jumping to conclusions, but it looks like they want to have some fun this year. Anyone else get that feeling?

You are always going to get player-speak when they talk about their coach, but it actually looks like they like Zorn and his relaxed attitude. This year could be a special year if we can get some wins early.

I feel the same way. You hear the term "Player's Coach" thrown around so much. But here it really does apply I believe.

I'm actually very excited about it. They were talking about it on 980 this morning. Zorn looks very calm and relaxed on the sidelines and the players look like they really respect them. It's kind of a fresh change from the Gibbs regime where everything was very strict. It seems like this is more of a new school approach. I don't know, I just get that feeling.

You know we've talked a lot about Campbell learning a new offense again, this and that. But at some point, after 8 OCs, some of this stuff has to overlap. What I'm saying is football is football, and I'm not giving Campbell too much of a pass this year. I think he'll pick up this system just fine and roll with it.

Good point, and I agree. But last night was positive and it gave me a little bit of hope...

Hard not to like what we saw overall. My only real concern is pass protection. Not that we were horrible, but I didn't expect jansen and co to get beaten for any sacks against their backups. I know they only gave up the one, but they got creamed on both sides on that play. Run blocking looked good. I'm damn excited to see what we have in these tall fast rookie wideouts.

Loved the tempo. I thought our mix between short/intermediate/downfield was particularly encouraging though I am sure some of the more aggressive stuff was due to Colt being a slinger playing scrubs. I was definitely stoked about our running. I know they said it was the same run attack but it seemed more dynamic to me. Not so much handoff, 3 yards and a cloud dust but some more zone blocking and using the younger guys more athletically.

In particular I loved the use of the WRs downfield in between the hashes. That's aggressive. I did think our line looked only ok and some guys looked downright craptastic but I have faith Bugel can get them tightened up.

All in all it was encouraging but Like 12th said it was only a base offense and it wont work against starters for a whole game so we don't much more than we did before other than that the tempo is up there and the players seem to like the offense. I think that'll help that are excited to be doing the things they are doing.

Another thing to me was our discipline. Not a whole lot of penalties along the line which can be expected at this point.

I know it was just the HOF Game and it was the first preseason game AND the Colts didn't play a lot of guys, but I felt like that offense could be something special. Campbell looked about as good as I've seen him, no incompletions will do that and Colt ripped up the scrubs. I will say, I thought Collins looked bad, accurate when throwing the ball, but a bit indecisive.

I don't know why, I have a really good feeling about this team, right now. I'm hoping that Jim Zorn can become the kind of coach who sticks around for 10 years or so and that Jason Campbell is forever tied to him. The way Favre and Holmgren still are. I would love to see that happen, the Skins can't keep running through coaches and players the way they have since Snyder took over. I'm hoping that Zorn, Campbell, and Portis can be guys that this team builds around and this team returns to sustained respectability and occasional glory in the form of Super Bowl wins. Gibbs put them on the right track and Snyder is starting to "grow up" as an owner and it's up to Zorn to take them to the next level, imo.

Just so we're clear, I didn't come to all of these conclusions based on the HOF game, I've been thinking this for a little while. I'm really thinking/hoping that the Zorn regime can be great.

agree with you all that the skins O worked at a nice pace and the players were into the game which should suggest they are buying into zorn's attitude and system.

i think it was sonny on radio who said one plus with zorn is that there is "no book" out on him so opposing coaches dont know what his tendencies are. good point, makes sense to me.

What a special start for our skins and the pre-season hasnt even started yet! i have not been this into a preseason game since spurrier's first season when we stomped the 49ers.

The thing that made the biggest impression in my mind was the excitment leve. It was just a preaseason game (and the first one at that) and after the Brennan through that touchdown players were jumping up and down, greeting on the field. It was not just the younger players it was Clinton Portis leading the charge, with Springs and Smoot out there it was cool to see, there was a different enthusiasm level on that field.

Campbell looked smooth, and distrubuted the ball well to various recievers. He kept the ball up high, got back quick and delivered it quickly. There were no miss steps, no hesitation, just smooth. Brennan also looked comfortable but boy his throwing style is awkward, low and side armed in a way, but dead on the money.

Stephon Heyer got owned a few times, (once for the sack on Campbell) but the run blocking was tight across the line.

i was was amazed at the few catches that fred davis made that guy with cooley are gonna kill people underneath that guy is huge!

I absolutely loved the two TE sets and the trips WR packages! Rock is the man, but he is a third stringer, and Mason was a beast but again, not even a third stringer. With Yoder/Davis and Cooley on one side can anyone imagine what Portis is capable of? And on pass plays we will have a guaranteed check-down reciever in Portis and/or Cooley. Its almost fool proof. Also, with the trips WR packages we will have the opportunity to show off our burners, our slots, or our TE or RB on the weak side. I like his style and he really didnt give much away. I cannot wait to see what Zorn has in store for us!

On certain things, you can't put any stock in the preseason. For example, how free our WRs were running, even ARE on that TD pass. If Bob Sanders was playing I highly doubt that happens.

But certain things you can judge and put a lot of stock into, and I thought Campbell graded really well:

- In Zorn's offense, which is basically very similar to Holmgren's, you look for the QB to drop back, plant, and throw. If the throw doesn't come out right away, you look for the QB to make his progressions quickly. I saw Campbell move his head from target to target very quickly. His decision making seems quick already. That's a sign that sacks (and hence turnovers) could be lower this season.

- Campbell's most impressive throw wasn't the floating TD to ARE. It was the little 7-yard hitch to Moss. Campbell dropped back, planted on the 3rd step, and gunned the ball out. Moss hadn't even broken his route off yet. When he did, he turned around and the ball was in his gut. This was despite pretty tight coverage from the CB. The guy wasn't playing press, but he wasn't giving a cushion either. JC quickly read that Moss was not getting pressed, hence his route would be clean, and when he broke off the route he'd create adequate separation. This showed excellent rapport with Moss, good timing, and that Campbell has great confidence in his reads already. While the aggressive style of play is great and everything, I'm more concerned about our ability to sustain drives. Quick decisions on quick-hitting passes are paramount to moving the chains in the WCO. Well-executed.

- I thought our starting offensive line run-blocked well, even if they didn't pass protect that well.

- I think we're deep. Our reserves kicked the crap out of the Colt's reserves. I'm not going to say our reserves can beat other teams' starters, but at a lot of spots we can get by if we get hurt.

- I don't care about Brennan's stats because it came against chumps. But man was he accurate. It's hard to teach accuracy, technique helps, but Colt just has a knack for getting the ball in there. Yeah his WRs were open, but he was still hitting them right in stride in very catchable locations, and fitting it into a few tighter windows. We got no sense of how good his decision making was, because it's easy to make decisions against chumps. But we did see accuracy, which is a very good building block.