Smoke Signals: People are mean to Clinton Portis

In an interview with a Seattle radio station, Jim Zorn’s friend and former Seahawks teammate Steve Largent attacked Redskins management and defended his friend.

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“They went to the point of pulling out his contract and said, ‘You have to do whatever the owner tells you to do,’ ” Largent told KJR radio in Seattle. “His choice was either to resign or to continue on under the current scenario.”

Contacted by telephone later in the day, Largent said it was his opinion — not Zorn’s — that the Redskins were trying to force him to step down. “Jim isn’t going to do that. Jim isn’t a quitter,” Largent said.

Three people who said they were familiar with Zorn’s conversations gave a similar version of what happened. They requested that their names not be used because of the sensitive nature of Zorn’s status with the Redskins.

However, in a statement released by the team Wednesday evening in response to the Post’s request for comment, Vinny Cerrato, the Redskins’ executive vice president of football operations, said Zorn was not given an ultimatum when he met with the Redskins coach at FedEx Field after the team’s 14-6 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

“I met one-on-one with Jim and I suggested to take the play-calling off of his full plate,” Cerrato said in the statement. “In no way did I ever give him an ultimatum. In fact, I received a voice mail from Jim that said, ‘You decide how you want to handle this and I’m in.’ ”

In a separate statement on the same sheet of paper issued by the team, Zorn said: “There was no ultimatum. My focus is preparing for the game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.”

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Read it. In case there is anyone out there who doesn’t understand this, let me explain it to you. Cerrato, serving as Dan Snyder’s errand boy, as usual, confronted Zorn after the game and told him he couldn’t call plays anymore. Zorn told him he wouldn’t stand for it and they could fire him if they didn’t like it. Cerrato told Zorn if he refused he would be fired for cause and the rest of his contract would not be honored. Jim Zorn backed down. That’s how it went. If you’re confused about differences between what I just told you and what the Redskins said, it’s because the Redskins are liars.

Apparently, when Jim Zorn spoke on Monday about being stripped of his main duty with the Redskins, he didn’t fake enthusiasm for the humiliation convincingly enough for Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato so they considered firing Zorn. Not willing to do him any favors, though, they decided not to fire Zorn now. Nevertheless, it’s left a tension-filled atmosphere at Redskins Park.

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“There’s a lot of tension out here,” one player said.

However, some of that tension subsided Wednesday, as it usually does. But the craziness has not; players use phrases like “not the ideal situation.”

Others, such as backup quarterback Todd Collins, called it “a little bit unsettling.”

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Read it.

Read the rest of the article at

http://dcprosportsreport.com/2009/10/22/smoke-signals-people-are-mean-to-clinton-portis.html