Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

I found this tidbit to be pretty interesting:

[quote]
The player, and another veteran, said that while the team played with passion for Zorn, the fact was there were places he came up short as a coach, such as preparing the team for situational football. "We were never as prepared as we were because we didn't practice that," the player said.

"Other coaches make that a priority during practice and we didn't."

[URL="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/03/AR2010010302142.html"]link[/URL]
[/quote]

Disappointing to hear something like this. Probably not surprising as Zorn was clearly tossed into the deep end of the pool, but I think it explains a lot as far as what we saw on the field these past 2 seasons.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

How do you not practice that?

Well...on a positive note the same player said

"I think Dan Snyder has learned his lesson, finally," one Redskins player told me after the game. "I think he's done with the fame game and trying to bring in big-named guys instead of keeping the homegrown guys who are out contributing to so many teams in the league. I think he's done with that, I really do."

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

I hope the new regime changes the mind set and the way things are run with our beloved football team. This year was a complete embarassment. Alot of pieces need to fall into place for this team to turn it around in the coming years.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

ok, we don't practice situational football, but we practice at least 4 different special teams fakes. Seems like Danny Smith knew they might be needed.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=CRedskinsRule;649493]ok, we don't practice situational football, but we practice at least 4 different special teams fakes. Seems like Danny Smith knew they might be needed.[/quote]

Seems like Danny Smith got more say than most Special team coordinators. I'm guessing most SC guys dream about all the fancy shmancy trick plays they could run and the HC always tells to go 'eff off. I guess Zorny didn't have the heart to tell Smith no.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=SmootSmack;649428]How do you not practice that?

Well...on a positive note the same player said

[B]"I think Dan Snyder has learned his lesson, finally," one Redskins player told me after the game. "I think he's done with the fame game and trying to bring in big-named guys instead of keeping the homegrown guys who are out contributing to so many teams in the league. I think he's done with that, I really do."[/B] [/quote]

I certainly hope that's the case. It's hard to build a true team when you don't reward your own and you continuously bring in outsiders and give them the big money deals.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=Mattyk;649416]
Disappointing to hear something like this. Probably not surprising as Zorn was clearly tossed into the deep end of the pool, but [B]I think it explains a lot as far as what we saw on the field these past 2 seasons[/B].[/quote]

Yup, it explains why they adjusted so poorly in games. If things weren't working right from the start, it just snowballed.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=Mattyk;649416]I found this tidbit to be pretty interesting:



Disappointing to hear something like this. Probably not surprising as Zorn was clearly tossed into the deep end of the pool, but [B]I think it explains a lot as far as what we saw on the field these past 2 seasons.[/B][/quote]

True, it explains a lot. Many of us would have guessed this to be true if the guess hadn't seemed so bizarre. How on earth can you not practice for various situations?

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

Well it certainly looked like we never practiced a 2 minute drill,we absolutely sucked at that,Sunday showed us that again.
Someone else might have brought this up,but once SD had the ball 1st n goal we should have let them score,it was inevitable and it cost us a lot of time off the clock.
The defense was ranked pretty good this yr,but did they ever stop anybody when it counted?

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

Situational football as in we weren't prepared for situations that required us to play on Sundays and Mondays...but hey if there were games on Wednesdays we would have been 16-0!

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

this is exactly why i don't understand why there's a thank you jim zorn thread on this site. zorn was a complete joke as a head coach. he may be a "nice guy" but there's no reason to thank him for anything.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=BigHairedAristocrat;649650]this is exactly why i don't understand why there's a thank you jim zorn thread on this site. zorn was a complete joke as a head coach. he may be a "nice guy" but there's no reason to thank him for anything.[/quote]

If Zorn's crime was that he was unprepared as a HC, then it was a greater crime to hire him as the HC...there is a Thank You Zorn thread simply because the spoiled child at the head of this organization handled the situation like the asshole that he is whereas Zorn handled it with dignity. Rather than quit on the team mid way through the season, he stuck it out and did his job to his ability...can the same be said of Snyder?

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

I'm getting a deja vu from the Spurrier era. It's amazing how similar these last two years have been to 2002-2003.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

snyder didnt hire zorn. cerrato did. if we should be thanking anyone for this debacle forcing snyder to finally change the organizational structure its cerrato. it was his decision to hire cerrato which brought all this on.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=BigHairedAristocrat;649650]this is exactly why i don't understand why there's a thank you jim zorn thread on this site. zorn was a complete joke as a head coach. he may be a "nice guy" but there's no reason to thank him for anything.[/quote]

Nothing wrong with thanking a guy for his hard work and dedication. Obviously he was in over his head as head coach but that wasn't his fault. Gotta fault the guy that put him in that position to begin with.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=Mattyk;649416]I found this tidbit to be pretty interesting:



Disappointing to hear something like this. Probably not surprising as Zorn was clearly tossed into the deep end of the pool, but I think it explains a lot as far as what we saw on the field these past 2 seasons.[/quote]

This is very interesting indeed. And I'll bet it was not just Zorn and the offense that didn't prioritize situational football, the defense neglected it too. We couldn't hold on to a single lead when it mattered.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=Mattyk;649686]Nothing wrong with thanking a guy for his hard work and dedication. Obviously he was in over his head as head coach but that wasn't his fault. Gotta fault the guy that put him in that position to begin with.[/quote]


Agreed. If they hired me to be HC and I went 4-12, don't blame me, blame the moron that put me there.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

Yeah it seemed fairly obvious that we weren't prepared situationally and I'd even go as far to put one of those situations as the opponent we were getting ready to face.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

Personally I'm sick of hearing folks piss on Zorn. I understand white-hot anger during a game and even through a season where the team repeatedly got embarrassed, but reality is Snyder/Cerratto created this mess when Gibbs quite. We had great coaching talent in Williams/Saunders but the ownership decided to take a big risk on a totally unproven guy. Hopefully lil D has really learned something.

...I actually thought of starting a thread about Snyder's first decade of ownership that nominates him for biggest failure in sports. I mean it's really shocking overall. A guy who tookover a proud franchise, openly boasted that championships were the clear expectation and spent as much as possible to make it happen. He's a complete failure by every standard imaginable including his own, as at this point he's run the franchise right into the ground.

I hope Snyder lets Allen really run the team now and gives him enough time to turn things around...

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=rbanerjee23;649655]If Zorn's crime was that he was unprepared as a HC, then it was a greater crime to hire him as the HC...there is a Thank You Zorn thread simply because the spoiled child at the head of this organization handled the situation like the asshole that he is whereas Zorn handled it with dignity. Rather than quit on the team mid way through the season, he stuck it out and did his job to his ability...can the same be said of Snyder?[/quote]


imo one of your best posts

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=The Goat;649969]Personally I'm sick of hearing folks piss on Zorn. I understand white-hot anger during a game and even through a season where the team repeatedly got embarrassed, [B]but reality is Snyder/Cerratto created this mess when Gibbs quite.[/B] We had great coaching talent in Williams/Saunders but the ownership decided to take a big risk on a totally unproven guy. Hopefully lil D has really learned something.

...I actually thought of starting a thread about Snyder's first decade of ownership that nominates him for biggest failure in sports. I mean it's really shocking overall. A guy who tookover a proud franchise, openly boasted that championships were the clear expectation and spent as much as possible to make it happen. He's a complete failure by every standard imaginable including his own, as at this point he's run the franchise right into the ground.

I hope Snyder lets Allen really run the team now and gives him enough time to turn things around...[/quote]

I am also sick of people always giving Joe Gibbs a free pass for some of the things he did here during his second stint with the team.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

Steelers had great coaching talent in Whisenhunt/Grimm and went with the unproven Tomlin. Good for them that it worked out well.

Not sure how saying championships were the clear expectation and spending what's necessary to make it happen makes someone the worst owner ever. What owner isn't going to say championships are the expectation?

But whatever, we haven't won and until we do (even when we do) there will be complaints

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

It's not that Snyder wants championships or spends money on the team, it's that he has repeatedly tried it his way when their are obvious examples around the league on how a team should be run and he has chosen to ignore them to satisfy his own ego. When a majority of the league has a GM who runs the team, well...they can't all be wrong. I don't doubt Snyders love for the team, but I do question his judgement and his opinion of himself as far as calling the shots with personell and making sound football decisions. And just like the coach has to take responsibility, he has to take some of the responsibility of the performance of this team the last 10 years because he has chosen to be heavily involved in the decision making.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

I wonder how much Jones' success as GM chaps Snyder's ass?

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

I don't think that what Snyder has done is all that different from the rest of the league or even our own history. In fact, I know it's not. But I can accept that as a critique of him. If nothing else, because he's been doing it with the wrong people. I mean that's totally valid.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=SmootSmack;650002]I don't think that what Snyder has done is all that different from the rest of the league or even our own history. In fact, I know it's not. But I can accept that as a critique of him. If nothing else, because he's been doing it with the wrong people. I mean that's totally valid.[/quote]

I'm not trying to out and out bash him, just saying he should share in the responsibility of the last 10 years for the decisions he has made. I think his decision to hire a GM is one of the best he's made since he's owned the team.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=53Fan;650009]I'm not trying to out and out bash him, just saying he should share in the responsibility of the last 10 years for the decisions he has made. I think his decision to hire a GM is one of the best he's made since he's owned the team.[/quote]He admitted to making some mistakes over the past decade, we'll just have to see how well he learns from them. He's not the first and he won't be the last owner to make some bad hires, get a little too involved, etc

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

In Snyder's defense (I've never done this before), who among us would not get involved if we had $1bil. invested in an organization? And who among us has never made a mistake about football, other people's skills, etc.?

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=rbanerjee23;649655]If Zorn's crime was that he was unprepared as a HC, then it was a greater crime to hire him as the HC...there is a Thank You Zorn thread simply because the spoiled child at the head of this organization handled the situation like the asshole that he is whereas Zorn handled it with dignity. Rather than quit on the team mid way through the season, he stuck it out and did his job to his ability...can the same be said of Snyder?[/quote]

I gotta agree with bighair.What do you mean he didnt quit on the team,of course he didnt,quit and you dont get paid,simple as that.Zorn was at least bright enough to figure that out.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=Lotus;650019]In Snyder's defense (I've never done this before), who among us would not get involved if we had $1bil. invested in an organization? And who among us has never made a mistake about football, other people's skills, etc.?[/quote]

True. But if I was bright enough to have $1bil. I'd probably be bright enough to hire someone who knows the business to run it. :) Your business is usually only as good as the people you hire. I think he's learning from his mistakes though. After 10 years you would think he would.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=Lotus;650019]In Snyder's defense (I've never done this before), who among us would not get involved if we had $1bil. invested in an organization? [B]And who among us has never made a mistake about football, other people's skills, etc[/B].?[/quote]

i haven't...ever...wait how far back does the warpath keep threads can't be more that a month right

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

If Z were an OC before being a HC, he would have known the importance of situational football. Hell, Bill Walsh was the one who brought that concept into fruition.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=Dirtbag359;649659]I'm getting a deja vu from the Spurrier era. It's amazing how similar these last two years have been to 2002-2003.[/quote]

The spurrier years came to mind for me too, but Zorn far & away outcoached the OBC. The end of Spurrier's 2nd year was pure disaster, the team really seemed to give up. Zorn at least got his guys to pay some really tough games(NO, Dallas, Philly, SD) only to lose.

I don't think Spurrier was ever undermined quite like Zorn was. By october the reports of Shanahan coming here were out there.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=rbanerjee23;649655]If Zorn's crime was that he was unprepared as a HC, then it was a greater crime to hire him as the HC...there is a Thank You Zorn thread simply because the spoiled child at the head of this organization handled the situation like the asshole that he is whereas Zorn handled it with dignity. Rather than quit on the team mid way through the season, he stuck it out and did his job to his ability...can the same be said of Snyder?[/quote]

Maybe Zorn knew there was about a million $ reasons to stick it out. Maybe a real man would have tould Snyder to kiss his ass and kept his pride and walked from the money. So it could go both ways.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

This entire mess is the little general's (Snyders) fault. Who the hell hires an OC and a DC before they hire a HC. That is totally laughable. And he did it after spending 4 years with Joe Gibbs. He learned nothing in 8 years. It finally took this complete total embarrassment of the franchise to wake his ass up. That is unbelievable.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

Everything is always Snyder's fault.

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=SmootSmack;650545]Everything is always Snyder's fault.[/quote]

Snyder made you say that, didn't he?

Re: Team was not prepared for "situational football"
 

[quote=Lotus;650554]Snyder made you say that, didn't he?[/quote]

I thought it was Vinnie.