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I must admit that I am shocked. Not shocked at the NFL regular season opener's struggles for the Washington Redskins...

Jim Zorn's Doom and Gloom Begins with Redskins, or Does It?

by Craig Garrison Sr (Columnist)

20

1416 reads

Opinion

September 05, 2008


I must admit that I am shocked.

Not shocked at the NFL regular season opener's struggles for the Washington Redskins.

Not shocked that Redskins' quarterback Jason Campbell looked confused, particularly in the first half, of Thursday night's game against the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants.

Not shocked, per se, over the incredible amount of negative coverage of Jim Zorn's poor debut as rookie Redskins' head coach.

Not over the Washington media using the struggles of the "new look" Redskins against the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants to further vilify owner Daniel Snyder and his right-hand man Vinny Cerrato.

Not shocked at the calls for Colt Brennan, the Redskins' rookie (and third string) quarterback who looked like a real player in the preseason.

Not shocked that the Giants took an early lead, riding high on the emotions of their pre-game ceremonies, in which they hoisted their brand spanking new Super Bowl banner.

Not shocked that the game didn't continue the way it started, with a dominant showing from the Giants being slowed by Redskins' defensive adjustments.

And certainly not shocked that the Giants won the game, despite an underwhelming performance from their Super Bowl MVP quarterback Eli Manning.

No, I am not shocked at any of that. All of that was very much expected.

What I am shocked about is the level headedness being shown by so many Redskins fans. As I trolled the internet, looking for quotes to use in a "Doom and Gloom for the Redskins" article, what I found was a pleasant surprise.

Reality. From the fans? Yup!

The reality is that this was one game. As is so often said, the NFL regular season is "a marathon, not a sprint." And despite the poor performance from the Redskins' offense, and the occasional look of "unpreparedness" by the rookie head coach's team, all is not lost.

The media surrounding the Redskins has enjoyed the antics of the "meddling" owner Daniel Snyder for years, using him for headlines and articles that seem quite "personal" rather than unbiased journalism.

Recently, reporters from the Washington Post used quotes from Punter Derrick Frost, who lost his job to a rookie by the way, in an apparent effort to prove just how terrible the Redskins' front office is.

A punter! Yeah, reliable personnel guy there.

During post-game coverage on local TV and radio following last night's game, this type of coverage was also on display.

"Jim Zorn is in over his head," "Campbell needs to go, he can't run this offense," "the Redskins' secondary was terrible" (really? the entire secondary?). These are just a few of the quotes that paint the picture for fans: doom and gloom.

Plaxico Burress had a career night, but Eli couldn't find anybody else open, finishing 19 of 35 with one interception and no passing touchdowns. He also should have thrown three more interceptions.

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20 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment

  1. Suman 10 months ago

    Great column Craig! I am totally on board with your analysis... This is indeed just the beginning... We still have whole season to go. I believe in our teams capability... GO SKINS!!

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    • Craig Garrison Sr 10 months ago

      The funny thing is, that whether one thinks it will get better or not, this ONE game doesn't prove or disprove anything, and some people just (in particular some folks in the media) have a tendency to show their personal biased against an owner that many don't like, not good journalism.

      I'm just glad that most fans seem to be a little more mature, and smarter than that.

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    • Tanner Kluth 10 months ago

      It really got to me today when I went to school this morning (high school, that is). Most of the people I know gather in the same area before school starts. There was nothing thrown but insults at the Redskins and comments about how terrible Campbell is.

      And all I want to do is just go up to their faces and yell, "It's only the first game!!!!"

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    • Vinny Gazzara 10 months ago

      Bu Tanner, did'nt you say on another article that the giants defense would suck? Even if it was the first game, the skins should have had more than that against such a sucky defense, no?

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    • Craig Garrison Sr 10 months ago

      Vinny, seriously, I would be a bit concerned about the Giants defense. Spags is a good defensive coach and he may be able to get it right just like he did last year, but he doesn't have the talent and depth this year that he had last year. Could be a problem down the road.

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    • Bee Burroughs 10 months ago

      The begining was to be expected. The Giants made their living on pressure defense. The emotion of it all certainly drove them for a while. After that settled down and the Skins were able to block, the offense showed signs of life. The Skins, despite the first quarter and a half were two plays away from "stealing" this one. Landry curt in front of Burress and had a touchdown in his hands, Thrash had the ball go through his hands at the goal line, and biggest of all ( 2 actually) Moss quit running on the long pass to him AND he dropped one that hit him in the numbers in a critical drive late. That drop is nothing new for Skins fans.
      Craig...you said it very nicely...but you left out just how close the Skins were from "stealling one".

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    • Craig Garrison Sr 10 months ago

      Good point Bee, I wasn't really try to get into the game as much as just trying to calm the masses and express my surprise at how many fans had such a realistic view of things, it really did surprise me.

      I really do believe that they are a lot closer to getting it right than it looked to most people.

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  2. Tanner Kluth 10 months ago

    Fantastic article!

    When the first half was about to end, I was going nuts. I was pacing back and forth in my basement in frustration. I was yelling at everyone on the Redskins team to get it the f*** together.

    After the scoring drive, and the MUCH better performance in the second half by both the offense and defense, I came to the EXACT same conclusions you have.

    In school and on the Internet, I have heard enough Redskins fans calling to bench Campbell. No. Bad idea. He will improve. In the first half, the Giants were hyped up beyond belief from the ceremony and from the desire to prove to everyone that they weren't a fluke last year.

    In the future, we will see the Giants play similarly to the way they did in the second half, and we will see the 'Skins offense improve in every game. With Springs returning next week, the secondary will improve while Carlos Rogers continues to get back into the flow of things.

    I did expect a win last night. Unfortunately, I hadn't considered that the Giants would be pumped full of confidence like no other.

    Really, I think the first game of the season, besides Preseason, is the absolute WORST time to judge a team, especially the Redskins because of their developing offense. Teams just have to develop a flow, and it isn't really fair to judge a team until almost mid-way through the season.

    I mean, look at the Giants last year. They went 0-2 in their first two games. Reporters kept talking about how terrible their defense was, and then they ended up leading the league in sacks...

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    • Craig Garrison Sr 10 months ago

      Thanks Tanner, it really just shocked me that I actually found so many realistic views on it. This game was very much what I expected, I wrote about it, the only that surprised me was Zorn being SO conservative. I expected a big dose of Portis with some Betts, and taking a few shots, which is what he tried to do, the team just didn't execute well enough for it to turn into a win.

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  3. Vinny Gazzara 10 months ago

    The skins have the wrong Jim at the helm. Fassel is a much better pick here.

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  4. Joe Bailey 10 months ago

    "Well enough in fact, that the game stayed within reach all the way to the final two possessions."

    Meaing that the game was out of reach when the Skins had their next to last possession? The proverbial imprecision here could mean that the game was within reach all the way until the end of the game -- all the way to the year 2000, ur, I mean final two possessions. Obviously, realistically speaking, it wasn't.

    ??

    "They understand that despite the appearances, Zorn's offense actually showed that they are close to making the plays they need to make. They just aren't quite there yet. They need a step here or there, a quicker throw, a quicker release, and/or an extra "half second" on the block."

    It looked more like JC needs to become comfortable enough to find the right receivers, and know to throw the ball longer on fourth down (also know how to *use* his coverage. He put himself into the grasp a few times). Pass JC and Carlos' typically stone hands, the game went, dare I say it, decently. (Of course when part of the complaint is that there was no passing offense and Rogers missed two INTs, "decent" don't mean much...)

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    • Craig Garrison Sr 10 months ago

      Good points Joe. However, Zorn himself said that those plays you're referring to throwing longer, like the fourth down play, there was NOWHERE else to go with the ball on that play, it was that or force a pass into coverage, INT, then everyone would be bitching about that too. The third down plays weren't on JC either, the wide outs have a responsibility too. And he was only sacked once, every quarterback who has ever played the game has run directly into the rush on occasion, it just happens that way. And he NEVER PUT THE BALL AT RISK, protecting the ball very well.

      Obviously he needs to get more comfortable in the offense in general(although that apparently didn't help Hasselback today, 99 yards passing?), but only time can do that, FOR ANY QUARTERBACK.

      It'll be OK, they just need time, and I think we'll see improvement every week, Zorn and Campbell are capable, they'll get it.

      And if they had scored on their second to last possession, they likely would have been able to win, so my point remains, and is valid.

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    • Vinny Gazzara 10 months ago

      You gotta put the ball in risk. Ever hear of a man named Favre? He puts the ball in risk all the time, and I think i heard somewhere he went on to have a pretty good career...

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    • Craig Garrison Sr 10 months ago

      I agree Vinny that there are times when a QB HAS to take a shot, even Zorn says that is what he is trying to get JC to do more of, but at this point, the whole team is learning the offense, not just JC, so to put it all on him is unfair. That's my biggest point, they are all learning the new offense, and they are all going to work through it together, I think that will make them all THAT much better for it as well.

      Patience, that's all, just patience. If everyone panicked over one bad game, there would be what, 10 coaches fired right now?

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  5. Anthony Brown 10 months ago

    I'm hoping the Skins will be no more than 4-5 at the bye. That puts them in position to make another late season run.

    Improbable? Yes, but a boy can dream; a man can hope.

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