D.C. Examiner: Zorn's job in jeopardy? (not so fast he's coming back)

What's with the quotes around the word 'expert'? Clearly, the experts were right, and this joke of a front office has been wrong. And what makes you think the market of fans in Washington are the only ones who want instant success? Every market wants that. And with the way the NFL is structured, just about every team has that ability. Look at Atlanta and Miami. Those turnarounds are about as instantaneous as you can get.

It's absurd to say that fans of the Redskins are "hypercritical" or the most impatient when for 10 years we've suffered through F'ed up drafts, over-paid and overrated free agent disasters, draft picks tossed down the drain, the most expensive ticket prices in the league, the most expensive hot dogs and beers in the league, all to watch a team with a losing record ever since the franchise was taken over by complete buffoons. For TEN YEARS we've put up with this crap -- and some people have the audacity to say we're just not patient enough.

The issue with Shottenheimer was that he wanted all the power. They parted ways.

False. According to the terms of the original contract, Schottenheimer already had complete control. Then after the season finished, Snyder tried to weasel his way back into control of personnel decisions and assistant coaching hires which was in total violation of that contract. Schottenheimer refused to relent, and Lil' Danny fired him.

Lil' Danny's next act of wisdom was to bring in the flavor of the nanosecond -- Steve Spurrier, and as we all know, that set the franchise back even further.

It's botch-job after botch-job with our dork of an owner. Looking back, Marty probably had things moving in the right direction better than any other coach. And that includes Joe Gibbs.
Your criticism of Spurrier is valid if you are using hindsight, but how many fans were not thinking that that was a steal of a move. Now many more have college coaches have failed at the transition, but at the time alot of people thought it was a good move.

As we saw with the coach search to replace Gibbs.

Everything changed after he spent five minutes to hire Spurrier and it completely blew up in his face. Ever since then he's been very deliberate and methodical with just about everything.

Your criticism of Spurrier is valid if you are using hindsight, but how many fans were not thinking that that was a steal of a move. Now many more have college coaches have failed at the transition, but at the time alot of people thought it was a good move.

My criticism of the Spurrier Experiment had more to do with giving up so quickly on Marty Schottenheimer than anything else. That 8-3 stretch at the end of 2001 was probably the best football the Skins have played in years before or since. And Marty was doing it with the likes of Tony Banks and Kent Graham.

And it was the way Danny tried to go back against the terms of the original contract that really reflects his sleaziness.

So, do I blame Snyder for making a bad decision to hire Spurrier? Yes, I do. Was I supposed to know it wasn't going to work? No. I'm a fan. Snyder hired people around him to advise him in these matters, and with or without the benefit of hindsight, he cannot be absolved for taking a sledgehammer to the foundation that Marty had just begun.

Raider fans don't give Al Davis a pass because he can't see into the future. He deserves the whipping he gets because it's his job to see the trends, and to know which way the wind is blowing. Ditto for Danny. Nobody has a crystal ball. But the league has people who show a knack for making good decisions on a regular basis. Until there is some other method to determine whether people are successful or not, the only thing we have to go on are the results. By definition, that means using hindsight.

As we saw with the coach search to replace Gibbs.

Point taken, and his rock-solid faith in Vinny Cerrato year after year further confirms that.

As we saw with the coach search to replace Gibbs.

In which case he becomes reclassified as indecisive.

Cerrato Says Zorn Will Return as Redskins Coach in 2009 - washingtonpost.com (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/22/AR2008122202172.html)

So, do I blame Snyder for making a bad decision to hire Spurrier? Yes, I do. Was I supposed to know it wasn't going to work? No. I'm a fan. Snyder hired people around him to advise him in these matters, and with or without the benefit of hindsight, he cannot be absolved for taking a sledgehammer to the foundation that Marty had just begun.

Pepper Rodgers was behind the Spurrier debacle....he's gone, can we get over it? You're bringing up bad repressed memories......my head hurts now.

Cerrato Says Zorn Will Return as Redskins Coach in 2009 - washingtonpost.com (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/22/AR2008122202172.html)
Very good article. Good news IMO (although I hope this isn't the dreaded "vote of confidence" that happens before many an axe has been dropped). Cerrato's take on things is spot-on. I wish the "Cerrato's an idiot" crowd would read this article objectively.

I think this says it all:

Cerrato said he is confident Zorn, whom he strongly recommended to team owner Daniel Snyder for the Redskins' head coaching vacancy last winter, is "learning and he's improving. Just how rookie players learn and improve, same type of steps. He's making progress."

Zorn probably wasn't in any real danger, not as long as Vinny is around.

Cerrato Says Zorn Will Return as Redskins Coach in 2009 - washingtonpost.com (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/22/AR2008122202172.html)

That's the right move