How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

I think Zorn is acting really calm and professional as a first year coach. He was put in a real tough situation when he made that jump from Washington state to Washington, D.C and from QB coach to head coach. I think he has the potential to win us a few ball games. He has a whole lot of knowledge about the game of football with him being a former NFL QB and all. I just want him to be around for a while.

What do you think?

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

kinda hard to say, professionally I think that he's doing fine, but it doesn't really mean anything yet

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

no one's played a meaningful game yet. it's easy to be optimistic this time of year, but the proof is in how well his efforts pay off in the W/L column.

the first year can be a bit rough, especially with a WCO where there wasn't one before.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

It's GREAT to be Skins fan this time of year!!!

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

So far so good I guess, but that's not saying much. We simply don't have enough to go on in order to judge how he's doing.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

It's all about the W & L's.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

I enjoy watching his interviews on Redskins.com ... but I also really liked watching Steve Spurrier's interviews. Let's hope this one turns out a little better.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

Dude is undefeated! He may just be our greatest coach ever!!! All Hail L337 Zorn!!

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

He's doing great. We're really encouraged with what we've seen thus far. We're certainly glad he's part of the organization and look forward to a productive year from him.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

He's doing great. How are you?

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

How would anyone know since they havent snapped a ball in a regular season game yet.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

hopefully since hes relatively young for a head coach and since we gave him his first chance he will be around for more than a couple years. i envy teams like the broncos, steelers (cowler), ravens (billick sp?), colts, seahawks, titans etc who have had the same coach for so long. i know some of the teams i named have recently changed HC but you get the point.

was gibbs II 4 years the longest coaching tenure with the skins since Gibbs I?

get a coach who has a thought out approach to how you win games in the nfl. i remember a few years ago belichek (sp?) and/or parcells talking about how a head coach needs to write out their strategy for winning games in the NFL which includes how you approach FA, draft, training camp, what positions to spend big money on, how you match up against your division, do you draft line and D guys and spend money in FA to get proven performers at skilled positions etc.

gibbs never wrote out his approach or philosophy and i think that hurts the process of having a true identity year after year.

go skins!

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

What is this 10th grade english class?

I guess if Gibbs wrote a 5 page essay on how to win in the NFL he would have done better?? Say what?

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

[quote=724Skinsfan;452163]He's doing great. We're really encouraged with what we've seen thus far. We're certainly glad he's part of the organization and look forward to a productive year from him.[/quote]
Maybe you should change the we're and we've to I'm and I've and let everyone post how they feel. LOL

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

[quote=firstdown;452194]Maybe you should change the we're and we've to I'm and I've and let everyone post how they feel. LOL[/quote]


I was speaking for all 724 of us.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

I asked how he was doing so far. That doesn't have anything to do with how many games he's won being as though we didn't play any. Obviously, I'm talking about as far as managing the team through practice and things like that.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

[quote=724Skinsfan;452203]I was speaking for all 724 of us.[/quote]
Now that explains the 724. What does it cost to become #725?

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

Hard to say even so far from a management point of view. Of course, I'm kind of taking the summer off from talking Redskins football...at least until August! ;-I

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

[quote=over the mountain;452173]hopefully since hes relatively young for a head coach and since we gave him his first chance he will be around for more than a couple years. i envy teams like the broncos, steelers (cowler), ravens (billick sp?), colts, seahawks, titans etc who have had the same coach for so long. i know some of the teams i named have recently changed HC but you get the point.

was gibbs II 4 years the longest coaching tenure with the skins since Gibbs I?

get a coach who has a thought out approach to how you win games in the nfl. i remember a few years ago belichek (sp?) and/or parcells talking about how a head coach needs to write out their strategy for winning games in the NFL which includes how you approach FA, draft, training camp, what positions to spend big money on, how you match up against your division, do you draft line and D guys and spend money in FA to get proven performers at skilled positions etc.

gibbs never wrote out his approach or philosophy and i think that hurts the process of having a true identity year after year.

go skins![/quote]

I'm not sure what this means. Are you saying if our past coaches since Gibbs I, including Gibbs II, had simply written down their philosophy on paper we would have had more success? I can't imagine how that would make a big difference. Gibbs was unwavering in his values and rules. As far as philosophy, most coaches have a style they stick with as far as game planning, but you have to tweak things game in and game out, year in and year out based on personnel, injuries, opponent, etc. I can't see how having a "to do list" scratched out in a notebook would change anything.

By the way, the Ravens fired Brian Billick. John Harbaugh is their new HC.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

he appears to be doing well, but that's about all we have to go on, limited interviews & statements.

I like it that he
1) said JC is the starter from day 1
2) said Portis won't be taking himself out of games. though his statement was something like "we probably won't do that." Todays post article about Portis seems to indicate that Portis may be changing his practice habits, and that might be due to Zorn.
If so, that's a needed change IMO.

I hope we can be patient w/Zorn cause he's got a lot of OTJ training to do.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

[quote=Mattyk72;452181]What is this 10th grade english class?

I guess if Gibbs wrote a 5 page essay on how to win in the NFL he would have done better?? Say what?[/quote]


just making a mention that some head coaches think its important to sit down and actually think about how they are going to win in the nfl, not just making up individual plays and schemes. zorn, before he was named head coach, wrote out his philosophies and long term game plan (head coach manual) if and when he was named a head coach and i think it will help the team have an identity and direction (it didnt hurt in the interviews with snyder and vinny either, they were impressed)

and yes maybe if gibbs had developed a thought-out gameplan on how to win NFL games year in and year out we wouldnt have gone from smashmouth, to al saunders playbook, to zone blocking, to al saunders calls plays until we reach the red zone, etc.

point i was trying to make is that i hope and have a feeling from what ive seen from zorn that he has an idea of what he wants to do with this team and i like it. no need to take my opinion and generalize it to an elementary level. yeah i should have just posted "zorns undefeated 0-0 baby!!"

whatever.

go skins!

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

[quote=GMScud;452215]I'm not sure what this means. Are you saying if our past coaches since Gibbs I, including Gibbs II, had simply written down their philosophy on paper we would have had more success? I can't imagine how that would make a big difference. Gibbs was unwavering in his values and rules. As far as philosophy, most coaches have a style they stick with as far as game planning, but you have to tweak things game in and game out, year in and year out based on personnel, injuries, opponent, etc. I can't see how having a "to do list" scratched out in a notebook would change anything.

By the way, the Ravens fired Brian Billick. John Harbaugh is their new HC.[/quote]

yeah i said "some of these teams have changed head coaches since" and yes i guess me and Zorn and parcells are the only ones who think a head coach needs to develop strategy beyond Xs and Os.

sorry if im coming off irritable ya'll, im not just diffrence of opinions or im not explaining my thoughts clearly enough . . . but atleast zorn and his manual got me

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

I have no idea how good Jim Zorn is. I'm in a wait and see mode. I hope he ends up head coach of the year, but it is too early to judge. He needs to be involved in some meaningful games and be forced to make some difficult adjustments, then we will know how good he is.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

[quote=over the mountain;452222]yeah i said "some of these teams have changed head coaches since" and yes i guess me and Zorn and parcells are the only ones who think a head coach needs to develop strategy beyond Xs and Os.

sorry if im coming off irritable ya'll, im not just diffrence of opinions or im not explaining my thoughts clearly enough . . . but atleast zorn and his manual got me[/quote]

Sure it's good that Zorn has a manual with a plan and long term goals. But it requires not only a ton of intelligence, but also a maniacal work ethic and impeccable organizational skills to be a head coach. I'm sure every HC in football has extensive goal setting and planning. I think Zorn just publicized it to help answer questions about his experience and readiness for the position.

You're not being irritable.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

[quote=over the mountain;452220]just making a mention that some head coaches think its important to sit down and actually think about how they are going to win in the nfl, not just making up individual plays and schemes. zorn, before he was named head coach, wrote out his philosophies and long term game plan (head coach manual) if and when he was named a head coach and i think it will help the team have an identity and direction (it didnt hurt in the interviews with snyder and vinny either, they were impressed)

and yes maybe if gibbs had developed a thought-out gameplan on how to win NFL games year in and year out we wouldnt have gone from smashmouth, to al saunders playbook, to zone blocking, to al saunders calls plays until we reach the red zone, etc.

point i was trying to make is that i hope and have a feeling from what ive seen from zorn that he has an idea of what he wants to do with this team and i like it. no need to take my opinion and generalize it to an elementary level. yeah i should have just posted "zorns undefeated 0-0 baby!!"

whatever.

go skins![/quote]

This is the first that I have read about Zorn and him having writen out how to suceed as a coach in the NFL. Do you have a link about this and how do we know that Gibbs did not have a game plan on how to build a team?

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

[quote=over the mountain;452173]hopefully since hes relatively young for a head coach and since we gave him his first chance he will be around for more than a couple years. i envy teams like the broncos, steelers (cowler), ravens (billick sp?), colts, seahawks, titans etc who have had the same coach for so long. i know some of the teams i named have recently changed HC but you get the point.

was gibbs II 4 years the longest coaching tenure with the skins since Gibbs I?

get a coach who has a thought out approach to how you win games in the nfl. i remember a few years ago belichek (sp?) and/or parcells talking about how a head coach needs to write out their strategy for winning games in the NFL which includes how you approach FA, draft, training camp, what positions to spend big money on, how you match up against your division, do you draft line and D guys and spend money in FA to get proven performers at skilled positions etc.

gibbs never wrote out his approach or philosophy and i think that hurts the process of having a true identity year after year.

go skins![/quote]

I think Zorn is 54 years old, not too young actually. Matter of fact he's an older coach compared to alot of the recent hires.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

Someone mentioned Spurrier. I thought Spurrier was doing great about this time in OTA's / Camp / Preseason. I'll have to wait to see how Zorn works out.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

Im just excited to see a offense that spreads the field and plays with a killer instinct.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

i think that all redskin fans will be pleased with the offense under zorn we need to score pionts and let the defense rest not go 3 and out and bleed the defense we have the tools now we need a little luck just look at the games we pissed away last year greenbay dallas buffalo giants we cant let teams come back being to conservative(sorryjoe)we have to put the lid on the coffin so they cant climb out and bite us on the last play of the game

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

[quote=redskinjim;452246]i think that all redskin fans will be pleased with the offense under zorn we need to score pionts and let the defense rest not go 3 and out and bleed the defense we have the tools now we need a little luck just look at the games we pissed away last year greenbay dallas buffalo giants we cant let teams come back being to conservative(sorryjoe)we have to put the lid on the coffin so they cant climb out and bite us on the last play of the game[/quote]

Welcome to the board. Please use punctuation in your posts in the future. It's painful to try to read a 100 word run-on sentence.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

Call me naive but I think a whole lot has been overblown for the need for experience above a position coach in order to be successful. Did Mike Tomlin's one year as a DC for Minnesota make him that much more prepared to be a head coach? He seemed to do ok last year. He's got a solid staff experienced with these players, a strong base of talent who is eager to learn and run his system and he comes from probably the best coaching 'tree' in football today. He's doing fine and will continue to do fine.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

Yeah I do believe if Zorn will get anywhere with this organization than we are going to have to be patient and give him a year or so to mold the team in his image.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

Zorn is a smart, savvy guy. I don't think he is as patient as we might think. He wants to win now, and he is already proving to be a good motivator. I think he'll take risks to win, too. Joe Gibbs defaulted to the "avoid losing" approach too often for me. Let's go out and win!

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

From Wickipedia: Of the 26 Redskins coaches, seven have been elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, including Ray Flaherty, Turk Edwards, Curly Lambeau, Otto Graham, Vince Lombardi, George Allen, and Joe Gibbs.

Let's look at the last 38 years.. Only 2 winners in the group, both Hall of Famers.

George Allen: The future is now...67-30
Jack Pardee: Coach of the Year and then out...24-24
Joe Gibbs I: Coach of the Year in his 2nd and 3rd year...124-60
Richie Pettibon: What, me coach?...4-12
Norv Turner: Never react to anything...49-59
Terry Robiskie: Never had a chance. Probably didn't deserve one...1-2
Marty Schottenheimer: The most boring coach in history. Full of it, too...8-8
Steve Spurrier: Ole Ball Coach. Full of it, too...12-20
Joe Gibbs II: Like a second helping; never as good and gives heartburn...30-34
Jm Zorn: He's gotta do better than some of these guys...our coaches since 1971.

Other winners: Ray Flaherty, Dutch Bergman, Dudley DeGroot, Dick Todd...and that takes us to 1951. Next winner? VINCE LOMBARDI!!! WE LOVE THAT GUY!!!

COME ON JIM ZORN!!!

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

I think that Jim Zorn has done a good job with how he has dealed with the absenses of both Laron and Shawn Springs.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

[QUOTE=Mattyk72;452149]So far so good I guess, but that's not saying much. We simply don't have enough to go on in order to judge how he's doing.[/QUOTE]

I disagree. There are a lot of aspects to being a successful head coach. Let me list a few.

1. Interface with Owner. Zorn has a great respect for Mr. Snyder and seems to be handling this well.
2. Interface with coaches - I've heard a lot of positive things about teamwork and listening. It takes a team of coaches to win. Last year we had great coaches but Sanders and Williams were too experienced and set in their ways to work together.

The coaches respect Zorn for coming in to a playoff team and keeping what was working - including the terminology and focusing on fixing what needed help. This says a lot about Zorn as well as Bugel and Blache

3. Interface with players - Zorn as a former player understands players and is making them work really hard - but in a way where they respect him, they want to win for him. Zorn is the Anti-Parcells. It's much easier to come in and run a military boot camp - than to get players to play hard out of desire. After Lewis left us the defensive players wanted things done a certain way and our D went down since the players were running the D instead of the coaches. Zorn is clearly running the show - but listens to the players and they like him. If he can succeed in getting a quality offense down and listening to the players then it will be hard to beet us.

4. Interface with media - Zorn is creating great positive spirit by always being upbeat, honest and realistic.

5. Thorough planning of off season - he's done a good job with this too.

6. Taking over from Gibbs - taking over from a legend is very hard. In a lot of ways this is still Gibbs team. Zorn has been smart enough to keep what was working and humble enough to only install parts that can be improved. When we win, and I think we will Gibbs gets a lot of the credit as well as Zorn for building on Gibbs instead of breaking down to build up again.

7. X's and O's and play calling. This is where we can't yet judge Zorn. He may be a lousy play caller and he may create lousy plays. But Turner was a scientist - more than a coach and football is won on emotion more than logic. If Zorn's team will play for him hard - even if he calls the wrong plays - he'll win and he'll also learn. Zorn is a rookie and will make rookie mistakes - but we need to give him some time to develop and make those mistakes and learn from them. I think Zorn has demonstrated that he can listen will and learn from experience. And in any case, maybe Zorn will turn out to be a play calling genius as well as a creative guru who makes plays that work. I like what he said about running the same plays while varying who is doing what and switching around receivers and sending portis out on patterns etc... Do you guys have any idea what confusing mess this will create for defenses? They'll need to play more zone than man to man and this will open up the pass game - especially for a WCO.

My prediction is that Zorn is going to make the NFL to like the arena league and we'll resemble the recent Rams (ironically). I think Zorn will be able to pull off what Sanders never was given the chance to try.

My big question is what happens in the rain and snow in December when we need to rely heavily on the run game - can we win key games then???

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

Excellent post HLSF.

Personally, I like Zorn's overall demeanor. He exudes a quiet confidence which is reasurring in a way. I'm interested to see how he'll handle real pressure situations though.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

[QUOTE=HolyLandSkinsFan;452313]I disagree. There are a lot of aspects to being a successful head coach. Let me list a few.

1. Interface with Owner. Zorn has a great respect for Mr. Snyder and seems to be handling this well.
2. Interface with coaches - I've heard a lot of positive things about teamwork and listening. It takes a team of coaches to win. Last year we had great coaches but Sanders and Williams were too experienced and set in their ways to work together.

The coaches respect Zorn for coming in to a playoff team and keeping what was working - including the terminology and focusing on fixing what needed help. This says a lot about Zorn as well as Bugel and Blache

3. Interface with players - Zorn as a former player understands players and is making them work really hard - but in a way where they respect him, they want to win for him. Zorn is the Anti-Parcells. It's much easier to come in and run a military boot camp - than to get players to play hard out of desire. After Lewis left us the defensive players wanted things done a certain way and our D went down since the players were running the D instead of the coaches. Zorn is clearly running the show - but listens to the players and they like him. If he can succeed in getting a quality offense down and listening to the players then it will be hard to beet us.

4. Interface with media - Zorn is creating great positive spirit by always being upbeat, honest and realistic.

5. Thorough planning of off season - he's done a good job with this too.

6. Taking over from Gibbs - taking over from a legend is very hard. In a lot of ways this is still Gibbs team. Zorn has been smart enough to keep what was working and humble enough to only install parts that can be improved. When we win, and I think we will Gibbs gets a lot of the credit as well as Zorn for building on Gibbs instead of breaking down to build up again.

7. X's and O's and play calling. This is where we can't yet judge Zorn. He may be a lousy play caller and he may create lousy plays. But Turner was a scientist - more than a coach and football is won on emotion more than logic. If Zorn's team will play for him hard - even if he calls the wrong plays - he'll win and he'll also learn. Zorn is a rookie and will make rookie mistakes - but we need to give him some time to develop and make those mistakes and learn from them. I think Zorn has demonstrated that he can listen will and learn from experience. And in any case, maybe Zorn will turn out to be a play calling genius as well as a creative guru who makes plays that work. I like what he said about running the same plays while varying who is doing what and switching around receivers and sending portis out on patterns etc... Do you guys have any idea what confusing mess this will create for defenses? They'll need to play more zone than man to man and this will open up the pass game - especially for a WCO.

My prediction is that Zorn is going to make the NFL to like the arena league and we'll resemble the recent Rams (ironically). I think Zorn will be able to pull off what Sanders never was given the chance to try.

My big question is what happens in the rain and snow in December when we need to rely heavily on the run game - can we win key games then???[/QUOTE]


I agree with Lady Brave. Dude, your post rocks!

I just don't totally agree with the arena league idea however. More like the Seahaux or old 49ers. Haux beat us twice in the POs in three years.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

Interaction with the owner, coaches, players, fans, media is good and all but let's remember how excited we were about Brandon Lloyd because of his Training Camp blog. Alls I'm saying is we have no reason to be down on Zorn at this time, but at the same time there really is nothing of substance with which to say he's a great coach.

Re: How is Jim Zorn doing so far?
 

[quote=HolyLandSkinsFan;452313]I disagree. There are a lot of aspects to being a successful head coach. Let me list a few.

1. Interface with Owner. Zorn has a great respect for Mr. Snyder and seems to be handling this well.
2. Interface with coaches - I've heard a lot of positive things about teamwork and listening. It takes a team of coaches to win. Last year we had great coaches but Sanders and Williams were too experienced and set in their ways to work together.

The coaches respect Zorn for coming in to a playoff team and keeping what was working - including the terminology and focusing on fixing what needed help. This says a lot about Zorn as well as Bugel and Blache

3. Interface with players - Zorn as a former player understands players and is making them work really hard - but in a way where they respect him, they want to win for him. Zorn is the Anti-Parcells. It's much easier to come in and run a military boot camp - than to get players to play hard out of desire. After Lewis left us the defensive players wanted things done a certain way and our D went down since the players were running the D instead of the coaches. Zorn is clearly running the show - but listens to the players and they like him. If he can succeed in getting a quality offense down and listening to the players then it will be hard to beet us.

4. Interface with media - Zorn is creating great positive spirit by always being upbeat, honest and realistic.

5. Thorough planning of off season - he's done a good job with this too.

6. Taking over from Gibbs - taking over from a legend is very hard. In a lot of ways this is still Gibbs team. Zorn has been smart enough to keep what was working and humble enough to only install parts that can be improved. When we win, and I think we will Gibbs gets a lot of the credit as well as Zorn for building on Gibbs instead of breaking down to build up again.

7. X's and O's and play calling. This is where we can't yet judge Zorn. He may be a lousy play caller and he may create lousy plays. But Turner was a scientist - more than a coach and football is won on emotion more than logic. If Zorn's team will play for him hard - even if he calls the wrong plays - he'll win and he'll also learn. Zorn is a rookie and will make rookie mistakes - but we need to give him some time to develop and make those mistakes and learn from them. I think Zorn has demonstrated that he can listen will and learn from experience. And in any case, maybe Zorn will turn out to be a play calling genius as well as a creative guru who makes plays that work. I like what he said about running the same plays while varying who is doing what and switching around receivers and sending portis out on patterns etc... Do you guys have any idea what confusing mess this will create for defenses? They'll need to play more zone than man to man and this will open up the pass game - especially for a WCO.

My prediction is that Zorn is going to make the NFL to like the arena league and we'll resemble the recent Rams (ironically). I think Zorn will be able to pull off what Sanders never was given the chance to try.

My big question is what happens in the rain and snow in December when we need to rely heavily on the run game - can we win key games then???[/quote]

I get that but in the end all that's going to matter is how the team plays on the field.

I did say so far so good with him, but for me personally I want to at least see some live action before I can say whether he's doing a good job or not.