By now you know that the Redskins have hired former Green Bay offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis as an “offensive consultant.” Read it. Does this mean the end of Jim Zorn is near? Read it.
“I’ll jump on this one right away here,” Casserly quickly said. “OK, number one, I don’t know this, [but] I don’t believe Jim Zorn voted for this, ok? Now he may have accepted it, but I have a hard time believing [he said], ‘You know what, I need somebody in here.’
“The other thing is, I’m dead set against bringing people in in the middle of the season like this, ok? This is the kiss of death, men….And it’s nothing against Sherman Lewis, I know Sherman Lewis, but I’ve never believed in these things, I’m not for it. It’s a philosophical thing that business people believe in. Obviously Dan Snyder’s believed in it because he’s done it on more than one occasion here before. I don’t….Historically, consultants lead to other people getting fired.”
In the last few weeks, we’ve been hearing a lot about Snyder seeking answers from Coach Jim Zorn as to why the team has struggled to score. A confidante of Executive Vice-President of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato, on the condition his name not be used, recently said that lingering concern over Zorn’s inability to make Jason Campbell more effective in the West Coast offense – and particularly out of the shotgun – was weighing on management’s mind.
Ultimately, though, the move indicates Snyder’s lack of confidence in Zorn and his top lieutenants on offense — offensive coordinator Sherman Smith and assistant head coach-running backs Stump Mitchell.
The Redskins have continued to sputter on offense (they rank 27th in scoring with an average of 14 points) and speculation about Zorn’s job security grew after the demoralizing loss to the lowly Detriot Lions in Week 3. Snyder hired Zorn as an offensive coordinator and quickly promoted him to head coach, although Zorn had never held either job in the NFL until Snyder gave them to him. To remove him without giving Zorn at least two full seasons would be a rash move, even given Snyder’s history.
But it has always seemed likely that Zorn would only get 32 games – at most. In an interview before the season, Cerrato said he believed in evaluating the coaching situation as he goes along. So Zorn has been week-to-week since he arrived in Ashburn, if not day-to-day.
Multiple sources, who have requested anonymity, have said that Snyder told people he would have fired Zorn if the Redskins had lost in Week 16 last season to the Philadelphia Eagles at FedEx Field. The Redskins held on at the end to win, lost their last game on the road to the San Francisco 49ers and finished 8-8 after a 6-2 start.
For a rookie play-caller and head coach to have finished .500 in his first season with the Redskins’ weak offensive line, well, things could have been worse. Obviously, though, Snyder viewed matters differently.
to some people there at Redskins Park, there’s no denying that
yesterday they had no one on staff who was capable of running that
offense on an interim basis if Jim Zorn were to be relieved of his
duties mid-season. Now they do. Lewis can be there, study with them, be
in the meeting rooms, all that stuff. And if they make a move, that’s
someone who has called plays and has been a coordinator at the NFL
level in the West Coast system.”
Cerrato said it has not been determined what Lewis’ role will be.
“They’ll get that figured out here in the next day,” Cerrato said.
“It
sends the message that we’re bringing in a guy who has a ton of
experience in the West Coast offense,” Cerrato said. “We’ve had
struggles scoring.”
“My
gut feeling is that they will let him come in and be here two to three
weeks and if things don’t get better, he now knows the offense and the
talent and he becomes the playcaller and they name Blache the head
coach — if things don’t change. That’s one theory. The other theory is
that maybe they felt like he needed another set of eyes just to help
him with the game. The problem with that is that [Dan Snyder] was so
impressed in the interview process in terms of Jim’s knowledge. Now to
go south on him? He’s done a 180. He’s either prepping for a move that
he’ll do once Lewis has a handle on the offense or he just thinks the
guy is in over his head and needs help.”
And this:
“I
don’t see them sitting there and losing and not making a change. Not
because it’s Jim’s fault, but the perception will make it look like at
least [Snyder is] trying to do something.”
Daly explains why this latest move is vintage Dan Snyder — look like
you’re doing something even if what you’re doing won’t help and doesn’t
make sense.
But
this move is more about symbolism, about appearances, than about fixing
a broken offense. It’s about Being Proactive, which Snyder has always
been, and showing the fans you’ll do Whatever It Takes to bring them a
winner. It’s also very Corporate Culture, which is the only culture Dan
knew before he was introduced to the rock ‘em, sock ‘em NFL. Corporate
America is the Land of the Consultants – and that’s what Lewis is as
much as anything, a consultant.
Zorn
may have “welcomed the idea,” as Vinny Cerrato claims, but he surely
didn’t originate it. No, this idea – like the Arnsparger idea and the
idea of having Joe Bugel do a drive-by one year when the O-line needed
Another Set of Eyes – has the owner’s fingerprints all over it.As
for Lewis being “not a threat at all” to the Z-Man’s continued
employment, as Cerrato also said, let me just point out it was Vinny
who told us last season that the Redskins weren’t trying to trade for Jason Taylor. And then, suddenly, they were.Lewis
might not be a direct threat to Zorn, but he’s an indirect threat. Why?
Because there’s now a coach in the building who can take over the
offense if Snyder decides to fire the head coach and, say, replace him
with defensive coordinator Greg Blache. Until Sherm agreed to come
aboard, there really wasn’t a guy on the staff who had much experience
calling plays.
is going to be asked about all this by reporters today and he’s going
to lie and say he is very much in favor of it. More revealing, as Dan
Steinberg noted, is this Zorn response to a question about whether or
not he needed more help with the offense.
“Well,
I don’t have the title of offensive coordinator,” Zorn said. “That is
Sherman Smith. I have the title, and my job is to be the head football
coach. And I do work with the QBs, because that’s part of my expertise.
And yet we have guys all day long working on offense. I do have a guy,
when I’m not around the QBs, his name is Chris Meidt, he’s my
quarterback assistant. And he does mass work, and he’s a tremendous
coach. I trust him. He speaks my language, although he speaks it with a
Minnesota accent, so it really sounds weird. But he works hard, and I
think we’re effective in how we’re doing it. [emphasis added]“If
I didn’t have Sherman Smith coordinating the offense, I couldn’t do
what I do as a head coach and a playcaller. Those are my two
significant [duties]. It’s easy to be the quarterback coach because I’m
talking to Jason all the time. I put him through a lot of drill work
and I talk to him almost every play, but I couldn’t coordinate, I
couldn’t organize as much of the offense as we’re organizing without
Sherman.”And then he added, “The one thing that we could really
use around here is another set of eyelashes, plus possibly another
torso and another set of kneecaps.”
amidst the usual turmoil and drama in Snyder City, the Redskins hired a
punter to temporarily replace the injured Hunter Smith. His name is Glenn Pakuluk and he averaged about 38 net yards per punt last year with the New Orleans Saints. Read it.
Tampa Bay’s final drive last Sunday, 6 of the 11 Redskins defenders on
the field were rookies or sophomores. Youth is served. Read it.
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