Redskins Trail of Tears

Some NFL football teams this year had to deal with the untimely death of a player resulting from crime or accident. Life deals everyone these situations for which many people relate with sympathy and empathy. Spectator sports provide theater like the battlefield at Little Big Horn in which participants from all sides can relate.

Yet, there is a different story about the Washington Redskins that culminated this year as Coach Zorn’s last stand.

Jim Zorn’s life began May 10th 1953 in Whittier California outside Los Angeles. His professional football career began when he was the left-handed quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks for which he eventually transitioned from player to quarterbacks coach in 2007. Oh sure, there was more personal history that included mediocre performance for the Green Bay Packers, and a stint with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He retired at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a great place to put a career ending exclamation. On February 9, 2008, he became the head coach of the Washington Redskins.

Now, you might think that was rapid escalation, but there are plenty examples in history where younger leaders emerge early in their careers to undergo great responsibility. George Armstrong Custer is an example. Can you imagine how Custer would have fared as a quarterback with a name like Armstrong? In fact, Custer performed well on the field of battle in the Civil War. It wasn’t until he met the Native Americans (aka Indians aka Redskins) that he ran into serious trouble.

Zorn joined a tribe whose name was criticized more for its being degrading to Native Americans than the team’s deficient play being offensive to accommodating fans.

We must put Coach Zorn’s last stand in perspective. His owner-boss, Dan Snyder, born in 1965 and therefore a relatively young successful entrepreneur bought the Redskins and their football stadium in 1999. He has owned the team and served as CEO for ten years.

Snyder has earned a fortune in the amusement park and communications business, and he makes plenty on the Redskins too. Trouble is, aside from Coach Joe Gibbs rehashed performance as coach from January 2004 to January 2008; he has had trouble fielding a winner.

Snyder is a hands-on CEO, who used Vince Cerrato as his managerial instrument. Cerrato aka Vinny said, “You win from the top, from ownership.”

With that, the stage is set whereby Coach Zorn had little or no control over his destiny. He might have said, “You have to go to war with team you’ve got, not the one you want.” That would have been appropriate, though Zorn is far more polite and makes no excuses.

Coach Gibbs picked Zorn’s QB with help from Vinny, and that is Jason Campbell.  In the culture of the Redskins, coaching is a slow and deliberate process that transcends to the QB appearing overly slow and deliberate in the field of battle. If the pace picked up, slow and deliberate becomes calculating, though fans saw little of that.

There was a running back named Clinton Portis. Portis rhymes with tortoise. Portis hit the line with much power though more slowly and deliberately as time went on until his softy head got scrambled between two opposing helmets.

An XXXXL player named Haynesworth showed with as many $ signs behind his name as X’s on his size label. He appeared to be slow and deliberate too with so much weight on his ankles that they weakened before opposing teams could exact anymore damage.

Well, one by one, injured players hit IR list and stood on the sidelines if they could.

General Zorn was left on the battlefield confronting Giants with the outcome being predictable. Next thing you know, the Redskins will have to face the Cowboys for Zorn’s last stand to be memorialized forever.

Post Script: In the end, the Executive in charge of football operations who recruited ZOrn, Coach Zorn and his assistance, and many key players were fired and replaced by Coach Shanahan and a developing new regime. Stay tuned--put your wagons in a circle and plan for another attack by the Redskins.