Jim Zorn is living in a fantasy world:
Redskins coach Jim Zorn blamed the failed halfback option on the offensive line, for not selling the run harder. The right side of the line pulled up too soon. Clinton Portis‘ pass to a covered Chris Cooley fell incomplete.
“When we came off the line, the offense was backing up and when [the Rams] saw that, they played it right down the line,” Zorn said.
It’s more than fans being dissatisfied with a fair catch or a field goal or a third-down call. As much as anything now, it’s 17 years of pent-up frustration, almost two decades of sub-.500 football – at some of the highest prices in the NFL.That’s what the Redskins were tapping into when they danced with defeat against St. Louis.Granted, they committed their share of blunders in the game, but the early part of the season can be like that. No, the booing was more of the here-we-go-again variety – if not the Howard Beale variety. The Redskins, for all their extravagance and expectations, were having trouble beating one of the worst clubs in the league.
On their own field.
For the second straight year.
Has Redskins Nation finally run out of patience? Well, let me just say that when I got out of my car Sunday after arriving at FedEx Field, the first words I heard were a profane condemnation of Dan Snyder’s latest parking policy – the one that involves an army of attendants waving flags and directing you to a space in Waldorf.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he and similar-minded fans carried their grievances into the stadium (assuming, that is, they could slip them by Security). And the first time the home team messed up… out their anger spilled.
At other times in the game, the crowd seemed strangely disconnected. Maybe it was just anesthetized by the lack of scoring – or maybe, as I’m suggesting, there’s a larger problem at work here: The fans, many of them, just can’t make The Leap any more, just can’t convince themselves the Redskins are contenders for anything except the Best Attendance Trophy.
…You look at the club section of FedEx, and you see plenty of empty seats. You look in the upper deck, and you also see empty seats. You take this all in, and you wonder whether it’s just the economy – or whether, in Year 11 of the Snyder Era, the Golden Goose is slowly being choked to death.
However, Zorn’s dismissal isn’t happening right now and you can thank predecessor Norv Turner for that. Owner Dan Snyder’s reputation can’t take any more hits, and repeating his 1999 in-season firing of Turner would be the breaking point for fans still hanging in there. Snyder said he learned from that mistake. We’ll soon find out.
Snyder has a financial incentive, too. While nemesis Jerry Jones drew 105,000
people to his new Dallas Stadium on Monday, there were 4,000-plus empty seats at FedEx Field for a beautiful opening day. How is Snyder going to keep up with Jones in free-agent bidding if no-shows aren’t spending outrageous money on hot dogs and beer?
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