What must Jim Zorn accomplish this season to keep his job?

[MTK]

The team has to show progress. I think his job is safe as long as the team doesn't take a major step backwards. If that happens I think it's safe to assume we could be looking at a new HC and QB next year.

[redskinslick]

I agree,Cower & Shanahan were with there teams forever,and Green Bay stuck with Holmgren.They all need time,Gruden beat a QB that he coached up.Who knows were we would have gone with Mighty Marty,he certainly changed the culture at the time.I can understand how norv 7 years of bad luck can make it hard to weather the storm.Lets stick with our guy!!!

[DBUCHANON101]

I hope Zorn can solidify his job this season but if the team regresses then i do think he and JC are gone after the season. If we do go after a new HC i would like to see us go get a OC from N.O or S.D. to fill the spot as HC. both teams are good on offense and do more with less as in terms of talent. Brees is a very good QB but i couldnt name a single WR from the Saints squad yet they led the league in O. and they dont really have a good RB or Oline.

[53Fan]

Improvement. A sense that we're on the right track. Competitiveness as a team.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by redskingrove

Let's face the facts. Zorn as long as he improves should stay and this would obviously provide a more comfortable atmosphere for the players to develop in the offensive schemes. Too much change can build resistance and be devastating to any plan. Blache just carried on the prior years defensive scheme and it has kept us in the top 5 defenses for a couple of years now.
In the draft, we went defense to bolster our sack record. Our defense was ranked 4th overall which wasn't so aweful that we needed to address defense so much again this year, but the offensive line which provides a QB time to throw the big plays, or a RB to break the big plays was not really addressed except for a few small additions in free agency. This has put Zorn as a victim of DS and Vinny's ego of wanting notariety with defensive production. You may say that defenses win championships but that is not the entire truth. Without a strong offense to put points up on the board when the defense stalls an opposing offense, you'll still go nowhere and your D will eventually get tired thus giving up points.
The FO (DS and Vinny) have rolled the defensive dice to try and produce the winning edge. They saw other teams that went far into the playoffs and beyond and bought into the grand picture instead of seeing the whole needs in a championship team.

Keep Zorn and develop your players. Also give the offense (LINEMEN) talent to be more productive. The FO did it with the defense so why not the offense if winning is their top priority!

Lets see we have CP who was ranked where in the NFL this year? The SB was won with how many points? Now Zorn is a victim? How do you know it was not Zorn giving the final OK to bring in players or who we drafted?

[DBUCHANON101]

I think the Oline will be better this season.
we got Haynesworth and RAK to bolster the passrush

We need Thomas,Kelly and Davis to step up this season. I believe Randle EL needsto go. for the money he is making he doesnt produce much IMO.I hear Marko is doing well so far.

[redskingrove]

If you think Zorn is calling the shots with only two years now as a HC, then you have bumped your head really hard. Main point.....if you continue to change the schemes of a team all the time without letting systems work kinks out and without giving the coaches the tools they need (right players) to get the job done, every coach would fail; not just Zorn. It is obvious that the FO is going in one direction when it comes to adding players to build on than what the offense needs to accomplish.

Try working on your car's engine with Playschool tools if you have any doubts.

[DBUCHANON101]

PPL act like DS is firing HC's left and right. He brought in Spurrier when he got here,at the time many teams had tried to lure him out of the college ranks.Spurrier resigned and he went back to Gibbs. who re-retired so he brought in Zorn. so its not like he is giving HC's a short leash, they either resign or retire. which cant be put on the owner.

[hooskins]

Yeah I doubt playoffs means anything. What if our D plays amazing and gets a ton of turnovers and our offense struggles; we make it to the second round but lose because we can't score(hm, when has this happened before?). IMO, Zorn gets cannned.

I still think if we don't make the playoffs and our offense is putting up good numbers and JC becomes CONSISTENT then Zorn stays.

[hooskins]

Originally Posted by redskingrove

If you think Zorn is calling the shots with only two years now as a HC, then you have bumped your head really hard. Main point.....if you continue to change the schemes of a team all the time without letting systems work kinks out and without giving the coaches the tools they need (right players) to get the job done, every coach would fail; not just Zorn. It is obvious that the FO is going in one direction when it comes to adding players to build on than what the offense needs to accomplish.

Try working on your car's engine with Playschool tools if you have any doubts.

Hello B-Mitch! Seems like you have a ton of free time now, huh?

[Trample the Elderly]

Originally Posted by KI Skins Fan

Money.

We've posted about this many times all ready. If it was just about money then we would've had one those big names you mentioned. Snyder has put such a bad coaching cloud over the club that coaches don't want to come here IMO.

They could've gotten Cowher and some other "big name" guys. We were a Cowher kind of team anyway, defensive football that is focused on the run.

Money wasn't the issue, it's control. Zorn said so in so-many words when he said he had no choice in picking FAs or in the draft. He might have put his two cents in, but that's it. All of the big name guys are going to want to have the power to steer the club in the direction they feel will allow them to win.

I don't think Holmgren would come to a club that just fired Zorn. Cowher probably already turned us down. Shanahan would want the kind of control that he had in Denver. Chucky, eh . . . maybe, maybe not? If they fire Zorn the FO is f'ed up for sure.

[DBUCHANON101]

i dont want a old HC to come in for a 2-3 yr paycheck. if Zorn falters lets get a young hopeful who can stick around. Id like to see Zorn make it but we have to show improvement this season. he has a rep of being a great QB coach and he needs JC to step up and lead this team.

[DBUCHANON101]

JC has all of the talent you need in a QB, but i feel he has trouble makin quick reads and if he doesnt breakout soon we may see a change at the position. The Coltists will be out in full force if he continues to do well in OTA's and preseason and JC starts to stumble

[BringBackJoeT]

Originally Posted by KI Skins Fan

I think that DS was rash in firing both Norv and Marty because he wanted a coach that he found more appealing (Marty and then Spurrier).

Norv took the team to the playoffs the year before he was fired when the Skins hosted a wildcard game and lost by only 1 point in the 2nd round. The year he was fired, the Skins lost a lot of close ones.

After making many changes, Marty took the team to an 8-8 record with Tony Banks at QB. The team was clearly on the upswing, but DS was in love with Spurrier.

I'm not a compulsive FO basher. I think Vinny and his staff are capable. I dislike the way in which DS appears to insert himself into personnel decisions.

We could probably do without another rehashing of the Norv drama, but my reaction is always knee-jerk when I see Snyder criticized for it. The fact is that Norv accomplished the not-so-common feat of keeping his job after failing to make the playoffs for five consecutive seasons (Jeff Fisher did too, but Norv hasn't accomplished anything in his post-Redskins days that would indicate that he was a Fisher in the making before getting axed). His teams consistently lost close games, and the environment at Redskins Park during his reign was, as Sonny consistently said, of the Club Med variety. He brought the team to the playoffs in year six, but only after Snyder told him that he was finally going to be accountable for the team's success (or lack thereof)--Norv did not have this fear during the two-plus years the ownership was in question after JKC's death. In year 7, the team was, yet again, underachieving, despite the chance it still had at a playoff berth. Most notably, during the game after which he was fired (the Giants game at FedEx), Pam Oliver reported on the sidelines the stark contrast in the Giants v. Redskins benches. She reported in the SECOND HALF that the Redskins bench was dead, while the Giants' bench was fired up. Blame the players if you will for their own failure to get fired up about a late season home game against a division rival with playoff implications, but there was nothing surprising about it given the team's head coach. For me, the most memorable incident in the Norv years was Marvcus Patton bitching out Gus on the sidelines in season opener against the Giants in the Meadowlands in 1998. Patton was tired of the failure of the coaching staff to get in a player's grill for stupid mistakes, and the guy had to take matters into his own hands.

I could go on, but as I said, this is really a very old story that could probably do without a rehashing. Simply put, the one thing I refuse to blame Snyder for is the firing of Norv. To me, that was the one brash/rash move he's made that I thought was completely justified.

[skinsfan69]

Originally Posted by KI Skins Fan

Money.

Sorry but there are other teams that will pay him and there are other teams that will give him full contol. A guy like Cowher will never work for Snyder. Neither will Mike H. What happened to the last strong head coach that worked here? Got fired after one year. The only strong HC that can work for Snyder is/was Gibbs.