Zorn Needs to Keep His Ego in Check or It Will Get Him Fired

I honestly believe that most Redskins fans don't really know what they think about Jim Zorn. I know I don't. He was a total surprise as the hire for the head coaching position. His first NFL game was horrible, but he then led his team to a 6-2 mark. Since then, Washington has lost four of five and are spiraling out of control.

He can be blamed for the playcalling, blamed for being in over his head, blamed for his brash style and blamed for not being Joe Gibbs.

The recent tift with Clinton Portis has rubbed many the wrong way. This marks the second time that Portis has publicly complained about Zorn. Zorn needs to watch it. Portis is a fan favorite and the biggest Redskins fan there is just happens to own the team. Daniel Snyder loves Clinton Portis and Zorn needs to remember that.

Not to say that a coach can't do something that isn't popular to his team if they need it. But Zorn's "benching" of Portis was very troubling. I mean, this is a guy who was one of the favorites to win the MVP award this season. I say was because his production has gone down and he's dragged the team down with him.

This isn't to say that Zorn was wrong.Zorn has every right to sit Portis if he isn't executing the game plan correctly. Zorn would have had every right to discipline Portis for what he said on Thursday. The problem is that Zorn follows the same code most Redskins personnel follows: don't make owner Daniel Snyder angry at you.

Ticking off Portis will certainly do that. If push came to shove, he isn't going anywhere. Now you know why you were the ninth or tenth pick to be the head coach. That's also the reason a guy like Bill Cowher won't be coming to D.C. Do you think he would want to deal with a meddling owner? Of course not.

Joe Gibbs was able to get what he wanted done, but that was due to his legendary status and the idolization Snyder had for him. Steve Spurrier got clipped after two years. Marty Schottenheimer was done after one season. Both had a much better resume than Zorn currently has and neither of them have ticked off Danny Boy's favorite player.

It will be interesting to see what Zorn does and how the Redskins perform in their final three games. They have winnable games against the Bengals and Niners with a huge game hosting the Eagles sandwiched in between. If the team continues to look as bad as they've been lately, Zorn may be looking for a new gig.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

12-11-2008 @ 12:06PM

redskin purist said...

coach zorn better get on the same page as ze redskin faithful
from new york.we have had enough years of fighting with the fans of the FOUL ENEMY FROM JERSEY(THE TEAM THAT WON THE SUPER BOWL GAME AGAINST THE PATS)we feel
that coach zorn has to use techniques of coach gibbs and george allen.the skins have to hate teams more than just dallas. we have to make our home stadium a nightmare for
opposing teams.we cannot get swept by any team in our
division especially the FOUL ENEMY FROM JERSEY !!

12-11-2008 @ 2:26PM

Skinsfan4life said...

Snyder doesn't give a damn about fan favorites, look what happen to Arrington. He was the Cowboy Killer sending Aikman into retirement not to mention he made himself very accessible to the fans. Snyder wants a championship and to make the Redskins the most profirtable team in the league. I really dont't think Portis is liked as much as the media thinks. Cooley is a huge fan favorite.

12-11-2008 @ 2:47PM

Songya said...

....Arrington was a fan favorite but as soon as he went public and accused Snyder of lying to him, said that he doesn't talk to him anymore and that he thinks he can't trust him anymore, that's what got Arrington out of town, HIS OWN MOUTH!!!!

12-11-2008 @ 12:35PM

hunter said...

hahaha whoever wrote this is stupid to think that because a HEAD COACH calls out a PLAYER that he would be fired its unethical

12-12-2008 @ 11:43PM

Daniel said...

Oh, you obviously don't know Daniel Snyder very well at all. He practically worships Portis

12-11-2008 @ 1:20PM

dudleychopa said...

Portis is one of the biggest redskin fan favorites, that is a fact, but i dont think zorn should get fired. It was a huge mistake benching him because Portis is half of our offense really plain and simple...Zorn said betts did a great job, but thats not true...6 carries for 6 yards is not that good...and he got most of his recieving yards on the last play of the game when ravens were playing prevent only...either way zorn has made some bad decisions but he needs to stay so the team could develop more consistency!!!!!!

12-11-2008 @ 1:32PM

Marion said...

You people fail to understand that Snyder adores Portis. Should Zorn get fired for this? No. That doesn't mean that his leash hasn't been tightened a little bit. Don't think that Portis doesn't know this either.

12-12-2008 @ 12:43PM

First off I LIKE SYNDER!!!! Zorn needs to watch it. I know what he's trying to do. Showing that he has the balls to be a coach and not catering to his million dollar babies, I like that about him. The truth of the matter is he was an out of the blue head coaching pick. He was at his best when teams didn't have film on him! But benching Portis was the wrong move. We are talking about a back that has run for 1200 yards mostly when teams know they were going to run it(they looked bad vs Dallas, Bmore,Pitt, and NY though)! That said, the Bmore game was not out of hand. Even though they got behind early, they still had a chance to come back, but you can't tell me that Betts getting 6 yards on 6 carries was a better decision than Portis. 80 yards from Portis vs Bmore would have won the us the game because it would have kept them honest! Yes the Ravens have a superior D, but you don't bench one of the top RBs when you are in the playoff hunt!!!

Zorn will not be back barring an miracle. Zorn is stuck on trying to implement the west cost offense with a team built for smash mouth football. They do have the weapons to execute his offense but the doesn't have the O-line for it. He should have just stuck with the power run game, get the big plays off of play action, kept working with Campbell and we would have at least 3 more wins so far!!! Snyder gets a bad wrap. Yes he was wrong for firing Norv during the season, and probably regrets (should regret) firing Marty, but Spurrier quit, he was going to sink or swim with him because he wanted Spurrier ever since he took over the team. Gibbs quit also. There's no way that Cowher will turn down the job if offered, he will take over a team that only needs some O-lineman and some pass rushers and even if things don't work out for him, he will still walk away with about 10 million!!!!!!!

12-11-2008 @ 3:39PM

How was benching Portis the wrong move? Players that don't practice shouldn't play. He was missing his assignments in the game and was virtually ineffective running the ball, 11 carries 32 yards. Seattle was the only game in the last five that he played well in, 143 yard on 29 carries. When he has been needed he hasn't been able to perform. Yes he was injured but he still didn't play well. He should have been benched and he should get benched again this weekend for running his mouth to the media instead of being a man and taking the challenge the Head Coach is giving him. Practice and play. The o-line is doing it's job giving Campbell an average of 3 seconds in the pocket, which is also the league average for pocket time. So that falls on the QB. I can't count how many time this year or even the last few since Portis came here that he runs straight to the pile. Where are the cut backs? That's why Gibbs traded for him, his ability to make cuts at the line for a big gain. His stats say he's been a very affective back this year but anyone that watched the game can see that when he's needed the most he's sucking oxygen.

12-11-2008 @ 3:06PM

BigBlueShoe said...

Want to know why the Redskins have been an irrelevant team since 1991, look no further than this story. Seriously, if Clinton Portis (a decent but not great back who finally started mattering in Washington because of Jim Zorn) is complaining about his coach, SO WHAT! And if Jim Zorn has to worry about appeasing Portis because the fans will get mad, then Jim Zorn better start looking for job openings. The second the coach starts giving a crap about what fans want, that coach will not last much longer.

Zorn has done a fine job with this joke of a franchise which is owned by an incompetent owner. If Redskins fans can't see that, then they are as dumb as they owner, and they deserve to lose.

12-11-2008 @ 10:53PM

...then who else would you have running the ball for us? Betts? Cartwright? Please, there are only two teams (Minn and Carolina) that are completely happy with their RB situation and everyone else would be more than happy to have Portis. I just believe that you don't bench your horses. Even Gibbs was wrong for not having Portis in the game vs the Giants on the goal line last year. The man has been hurt, yes like everyone else, but they are certainly not the game breakers like he is. You want him practicing, and slip, fall, and hurt his knee more during practice? I would take an 80% Portis over a 100% Betts ANYTIME!!!! 6 CARRIES FOR 6 YARDS and you want him in the game??????

12-12-2008 @ 4:11AM

First the Giants, Dallas, Saints, and Atlanta are happy with the RB groups they have. And second it's doesn't matter who the better back is, what matters is who is going to give the best opportunity to win. Zorn stated that Portis was missing his assignments and Betts wasn't. How many plays has he cost us by not being where he's suppose to be? Only Zorn and Portis can answer that. There is no reason why Portis is getting winded after a 20 yard gain other than he's out of shape. It's been a problem for the past few year and he's been called out last year by Philip Daniels and and some other player and this year by Brain Mitchell and other football analyst. How many time have you seen Barber or Jacobs sitting on the bench sucking air in the fourth quarter when the game is on the line? I haven't, and I watch a lot of football. Is Portis the best back we have, yes, but he's still garbage. It was a bad trade giving up Champ for him, he won't be around much longer, and I hope they draft a back next year to take his place.

12-13-2008 @ 11:56AM

Cliff said...

Why does "benching" Portis have to imply that Zorn was displeased with him?

We couldn't run anyway. The O-line was dropping like flies. Why get Portis hurt anymore when we have MUST-WIN games coming up against NFC teams like the 49ers and Eagles? It made sense to me.

Ladell Betts has done just fine for those of us that can't remember what he has consistently done for our recently "less-than-dominant" Redskins franchise. Betts going 6 for 6 against the Ravens D only confirms that Portis would have gotten even more beat up for little purpose!

Portis is righty upset that he couldn't play since he is a competitor that hates to lose. Stop asking Zorn to be like everyone else and let him bring some fresh change to Washington.

CP has a mouth but thank God he can also use it to help the team. Has anyone seen what T.O. has done to Dallas this week?

Thank God we have a back that can fight through the physical pain to win and we have a coach that has made a smooth administrational transition like we haven't seen before. We are building the team up...be patient!!!!