I think Jim Zorn is a great head football coach.

[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by 44Deezel

Seriously. I don't care how bad the O line was, 12 points a game over the last 8 is putrid. How can anyone see signs of greatness in last year's performance?

How do you score points with an OL devastated by injury, against the Giants, Ravens, Steelers, Cowboys, Eagles.

1) Couldn't get production out of the rooks when other teams were doing it all over the league. If the Eagles could get almost 1000 yards from that knucklehead Desean Jackson, Zorn should have been able to get more out of Davis, Kelly and Thomas. Don't tell me they can't read playbooks. They read playbooks well enough to be high draft picks in the NFL. Simplify if need be, and get the guys to produce on the field.

Kelly - injured. Davis - How do you get him into the game when you have a Pro Bowl TE and haven't had time to install a complete offensive package. Thomas - not an issue with "can't" it was a matter of "wouldn't" read the playbook. His attitude appears changed this year. To me his motivation is an issue that should've been handled by the position coach or OC (S. Smith)

2) The running game - 342 carries for a guy who's best run went for 31 yards? The best running teams use multiple weapons out of the backfield. We had good enough talent, but Zorn chose to run Portis into the ground instead of developing weapons out of the other guys.

When the run game was working Zorn fed Portis. Any good coach does that. When the running game was struggling Portis got less carries to not wear him down. Team/carries Steelers/13, Cowboys/15, Seahawks/29, Giants/11, Ravens/11, Bengals/25, Eagles/22, 49ers/29 (this is the only game late in the year where the YPC was low and Portis had a heavy workload). The only opponents during this stretch that had a somewhat balanced workload for their backs were the Giants (Jacobs/Ward), Ravens (Mclain/McGahee), 49ers (Gore/Foster). If Zorn put Betts in and he fumbled in a key situation, the Negative Nancy crowd would be screaming Zorn is a bad coach for putting Betts in.

3) Passing game - weak and uncreative. Like someone else said, where were the no huddle plays? The trick plays? The roll-outs to give Campbell more time to throw? Teams like the Chargers and Dolphins regularly threw to their running backs for huge gains. Our RBs were non-existent in the passing game, making it all that much easier to defend the offense.

It's been said before, Zorn didn't have his whole package in. If you remember correctly Gibbs' retirement and the coaching search was pretty sudden. Our offensive system change was a major overhaul in the passing game. How do you execute a no-huddle when the offense is still being learned? Here's some numbers for you: Redskins - 20% of passes to RB/FB.
Dolphins - 26%
Chargers - 33%

Team X - 18.4%
Team Y - 16.8%

Are the OC's of team X & Y bad OCs? I'm sure you guessed by now who Team X & Y are? X - Cardinals, Y - Steelers.

4) Mike Sellers on the goal-line. I don't care what he says, Zorn gave those carries to Sellers, because he was miffed with Portis. He let his personal feelings get the better of him. Not what great coaches do.

Possibly. Or, he believed his 270+ lb Pro Bowl FB could get in from the 1. For the record though, I agree that was a bad couple of playcalls. Sellers isn't a ball carrier. He's a blocker and decent receiver out of the backfield. But do we say Zorn sucks because he made one mistake at a crucial point? I don't believe so.

5) Nobody else wanted him even as an offensive coordinator. Are we supposed to think the FO knows something the rest of the league doesn't? Why? Because of their stellar track record?

If I remember correctly during the HC search, most of the HC candidates mentioned Zorn as a very good OC candidate. The FO track record over the last 4-5 years is far superior to the first 5 years. We'll find out this season, but if DT & Rinehart gain starting roles, Kelly/Davis produce, and we get solid play from Orakpo and Barnes I'd say the FO is doing pretty good.

I am one who thinks the 6-2 start last year was more of a fluke than an indication of what Zorn can do on a long term basis with a healthy team. I believe other teams figured him out once there was enough film to be studied and he was unable to adjust. There were some first year coaches that did show signs of greatness last year (Harbaugh, Sparano, Smith). Unfortunately, Zorn wasn't one of them (In my opinion).

But I hope you guys are right. I'd gladly eat crow over this one.

I believe you will be proven wrong. IMO the 2-6 finish had a lot more to do with OL injuries/age and the defense's inability to stop people in the 4th Qtr and create turnovers than Zorn's coaching ability.