I am SO tired of the doom sayers that call themselves Redskins fans (pretty much all those jokers on LaCanfora's blog). This is what I love. First, they go up in arms about the possible hiring of Jim Fassel. Everyone goes in an uproar and cries, "NOT FOSSIL!!!!! NO! ANYONE BUT HIM!!!"
Then we hire Jim Zorn and people seem appeased. However, now Fassel is going on several radio programs (Mike and Mike, Riggo's show, John Thompson show) and is being very classy and professional. Now all of sudden, all the "fans" are saying that maybe we should have gone with Fassel and are apologizing for not accepting him before. Now they are complaining that we hired a guy with no experience, blah...blah...blah.
This is the type of nonsense that I find incredibly annoying. Redskins fans are some of the toughest fans to please. Steve Largent said that Seattle fans are just as rabid but they don't turn negative as quickly as Redskin fans. Redskin fans are SO quick to complain but then they will be even quicker to jump on the bandwagon should there be success.
5 comments:
Redskin fans aren't any more passionate or fickle as New York fans, Chicago fans, Dallas fans, Cleveland fans, etc. Fans are fans and most of them are ignorant of basic facts.
Many fans want to fire their coach or change the QB, as if someone else is out there who will change things over night.
I haven't heard or really seen a lot of pro-Fassel talk. I think the fans are mostly giving Zorn the benefit of the doubt right now, but if the Redskins start off 1-4, there won't be any patience.
I think that Jim Zorn will have a learning curve and will make a lot of mistakes. I think that JC is going to continue to make some mistakes as he learns another new offense.
One big problem for Zorn is that his strong suit was QB development and now because he is the head coach he won't be able to do all of the hands on stuff with JC (or whoever) that he might like to do. The head coach has to have a great staff and be a good manager and communicator to succeed. He has to deal with players, owners, the GM, fans, media, etc.
On that note, I have no idea whether Zorn can do it. He does not seem to be a particularly smooth communicator but we'll see.
I agree that the majority of fans are fickle. They DO think that simply replacing a coach or QB can solve all problems. They want guarantees that the next coach or QB can take them to the Super Bowl. There are no guarantees like that.
Again, I listened to Riggo's show AND the John Thompson show and Fassel appeared on both and after his interview, the phone lines were opened up and there were several callers calling in saying that he wasn't such a bad guy after all and maybe we should have hired him. Some of the callers even apologized for how hard they felt towards Fassel prior to the interviews. Even Riggo and Thompson said that they didn't think Fassel was that bad of a guy after their respective interviews.
I agree Zorn will have a learning curve. I think he will have difficulty adjusting to having to be the face of the team and dealing with the media. I think he will have to learn to delegate a lot to other coaches. Before he only had to focus on the QB and the offense. Now he is responsible for the entire team. He said that he will leave the defense to Blache which is good. He also is bringing in some of his guys that he works well with and understand his offense so that is good.
I would disagree with the claim that he is not that great communicator. By all accounts, he is an excellent communicator. Many people have corroborated that he is a very good communicator. Some player (I cannot remember who it was) praised Zorn for his skills saying something to the effect that a lot of people have great ideas up here (pointing to his head) but it doesn't come out of here (pointing to his mouth) and said Zorn can do that. Another player (or could have been a coach) relayed a story about how Zorn used an analogy in trying to explain something and it made perfect sense and was really helpful.
Again, I don't think communication will be an issue. I DO think that the added responsibilities could become an issue. By all accounts, Zorn is a very good coach but he may get bogged down with all the other things that come with being a head coach (media, meetings, etc.) that he may not have time to do actual coaching so that could prove to be difficult. With that, I think bringing in his guys that share his philosophy and understand his offense and that he is comfortable with will definitely help.
We'll see how he adjusts.
If you say fans have warmed up to Fassel I'll believe you. I just haven't really seen any real support for him and I haven't heard any fans who would rather have him over Zorn.
I base my communication comment about Zorn on his press conference. He did not seem totally confident. He will have to learn on the job.
I think Zorn is probably a good QB coach - by all accounts that seems true. However, we he has never called plays or managed an entire team. That we'll have to see about.
I don't think everyone changed their opinion on Zorn but enough people called in that it was almost comical the way the fans sway in their opinions.
I don't think the press conference was a good indication on his communication skills. One, I am sure he was overwhelmed and anxious/excited/nervous at the conference and two, communicating to the media like that is far different than communicating football to the players on your team.
The playcalling could be an issue. However, I think he wants to do that. I also think that it is helpful that Stump and Sherman will be there to help teach this offense to the entire offense. Again, it was a mistake to match Gibbs with Saunders. The two had completely different approaches. Gibbs was an old school grind it out running attack kind of guy and Saunders was a more innovative pass orientied kind of guy. I like that we now have an entire offensive coaching staff that shares the same belief and understands the offense and that they have all worked together before. It should create more synergy.
I don't think any of these guys have ever called plays before. That will be a real challenge.
It may work out, he may be a good head coach, he may be a good manager of people, he may be able to deal with the media and the scrutiny. All we can do now is wait and see.
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