Sports Radio Interviews is a streaming independent sports blog which provides analysis on breaking sports news, upcoming games, and sporting events from a sports radio perspective. SRI articles frequently appear on SportingNews.com.
Jason Campbell (right) improved statistically under Jim Zorn, but that might not be enough to keep Campbell a Redskin.
Well, the regular season wasn’t more than 12 hours old and the Washington Redskins made the first kaboom in the offseason, firing head coach Jim Zorn. This wasn’t out of nowhere, but more of a when-will-it-happen decision by owner Daniel Snyder. Rumors of Zorn getting fired swirled all season, particularly after he lost his play-calling duties this season to a guy working in a bingo hall earlier in the year.
Reasons are plenty as to why this happened (losing games might have been the worst of them), but Zorn’s shaky relationship with quarterback Jason Campbell didn’t help. The truth is it didn’t help either one that much. Zorn is now gone and Campbell will become a free agent (unless next season is uncapped, which is looking more and more likely) who’s about to test the waters as soon as he can. Washington tried to trade up last April to draft Mark Sanchez and tried to trade for Jay Cutler in the offseason, so the writing seems to be on the wall.
Campbell did improve under Zorn. Even though he might have had one of the league’s worst offensive lines, he established personal bests with 3,618 yards passing, 20 touchdowns, a 64.5 completion percentage and an 86.4 quarterback rating. These are not the numbers of a bad quarterback, but can he take the Skins where they want to go yearly, the playoffs? Can he become an elite QB in the NFL? The whole Zorn hiring seemed weird, first as offensive coordinator and then quickly promoted to head coach. Snyder was sure Zorn was the hire to make Campbell his elite NFL QB; maybe it’s time to go back to square one. Campbell was the 25th pick in the 2005 NFL draft and has not lived up to Snyder’s standards as a franchise guy.
Campbell joined The Sports Junkies on 106.7 the Fan in Washington, D.C., to talk about Zorn’s firing, the chances of Mike Shanahan becoming the next head coach, and his impending free agency.
On whether he’ll be back next season:
"We haven’t really went that deep yet. My main thing I kept telling (my agent) was let me focus on the season, let me get through the season. One thing we both talked about is this a lot of may come to down things where I may not even have a say so. If you become a restricted free agent then you know it’s pretty much up to the Redskins whether they bring you back or not. A lot of stuff is out of my control and out of my hands so I can’t spend a lot of time worrying about it."
On whether people should assume Mike Shanahan is the next head coach of the Redskins:
"Well, that’s what all the speculation has been about the last three, four weeks. I don’t know how true it is or what’s going to come of it. I am pretty sure we will find out something here this week. But you know whoever it is; you kind of know its going to be an experienced head coach, a guy with a lot of background."
On Jim Zorn getting fired:
"It’s something that didn’t shock anyone. Because all the guys already felt that was probably going to happen. Based on everything going on and everything being said over the last couple of weeks that wasn’t anything that was shocking. You know we all told each other yesterday this would be the last time we would all be together as this team anyways, you know coaches and players. So we just wanted to try and go out there yesterday and finish on a strong note. We played a good game but we still came up short. We knew that wasn’t going to be a shock, we knew the Redskins were probably going to go in a different direction. It wasn’t anything that caught us off guard."
On whether he felt the offensive players felt accountable to Zorn or if they deferred to coordinator Sherm Lewis:
"We just kept moving forward. We just kept playing. The situation we knew, they were going to do something. You know we were getting staggered as an offense. People were kind of keying on what we were doing so we didn’t know what kind of change they were going to make. I thought Sherm Lewis was coming in here to be a consultant at the time. You know he was only here two weeks and named offensive coordinator. It kind of caught some guys off guard. At the same time everyone was like let’s not get caught up in the speculation and everything that’s going on. Let’s find a way to make this work. It was the same thing the coaches said, ‘Let’s make this work. We are still going to run our same offense; we are still going to have the same guys putting together our gameplan.’ My main thing was, J, don’t get caught up in what’s going on, my job was to make sure I got the play into the huddle, got it called, got to the line of scrimmage, without getting a delay of game."
Listen to Jason Campbell with The Sports Junkies on 106.7 the Fan in Washington
Sports Radio Interviews is a streaming independent sports blog which provides analysis on breaking sports news, upcoming games, and sporting events from a sports radio perspective. SRI articles frequently appear on SportingNews.com.
Jason Campbell (right) improved statistically under Jim Zorn, but that might not be enough to keep Campbell a Redskin.
Well, the regular season wasn’t more than 12 hours old and the Washington Redskins made the first kaboom in the offseason, firing head coach Jim Zorn. This wasn’t out of nowhere, but more of a when-will-it-happen decision by owner Daniel Snyder. Rumors of Zorn getting fired swirled all season, particularly after he lost his play-calling duties this season to a guy working in a bingo hall earlier in the year.
Reasons are plenty as to why this happened (losing games might have been the worst of them), but Zorn’s shaky relationship with quarterback Jason Campbell didn’t help. The truth is it didn’t help either one that much. Zorn is now gone and Campbell will become a free agent (unless next season is uncapped, which is looking more and more likely) who’s about to test the waters as soon as he can. Washington tried to trade up last April to draft Mark Sanchez and tried to trade for Jay Cutler in the offseason, so the writing seems to be on the wall.
Campbell did improve under Zorn. Even though he might have had one of the league’s worst offensive lines, he established personal bests with 3,618 yards passing, 20 touchdowns, a 64.5 completion percentage and an 86.4 quarterback rating. These are not the numbers of a bad quarterback, but can he take the Skins where they want to go yearly, the playoffs? Can he become an elite QB in the NFL? The whole Zorn hiring seemed weird, first as offensive coordinator and then quickly promoted to head coach. Snyder was sure Zorn was the hire to make Campbell his elite NFL QB; maybe it’s time to go back to square one. Campbell was the 25th pick in the 2005 NFL draft and has not lived up to Snyder’s standards as a franchise guy.
Campbell joined The Sports Junkies on 106.7 the Fan in Washington, D.C., to talk about Zorn’s firing, the chances of Mike Shanahan becoming the next head coach, and his impending free agency.
On whether he’ll be back next season:
"We haven’t really went that deep yet. My main thing I kept telling (my agent) was let me focus on the season, let me get through the season. One thing we both talked about is this a lot of may come to down things where I may not even have a say so. If you become a restricted free agent then you know it’s pretty much up to the Redskins whether they bring you back or not. A lot of stuff is out of my control and out of my hands so I can’t spend a lot of time worrying about it."
On whether people should assume Mike Shanahan is the next head coach of the Redskins:
"Well, that’s what all the speculation has been about the last three, four weeks. I don’t know how true it is or what’s going to come of it. I am pretty sure we will find out something here this week. But you know whoever it is; you kind of know its going to be an experienced head coach, a guy with a lot of background."
On Jim Zorn getting fired:
"It’s something that didn’t shock anyone. Because all the guys already felt that was probably going to happen. Based on everything going on and everything being said over the last couple of weeks that wasn’t anything that was shocking. You know we all told each other yesterday this would be the last time we would all be together as this team anyways, you know coaches and players. So we just wanted to try and go out there yesterday and finish on a strong note. We played a good game but we still came up short. We knew that wasn’t going to be a shock, we knew the Redskins were probably going to go in a different direction. It wasn’t anything that caught us off guard."
On whether he felt the offensive players felt accountable to Zorn or if they deferred to coordinator Sherm Lewis:
"We just kept moving forward. We just kept playing. The situation we knew, they were going to do something. You know we were getting staggered as an offense. People were kind of keying on what we were doing so we didn’t know what kind of change they were going to make. I thought Sherm Lewis was coming in here to be a consultant at the time. You know he was only here two weeks and named offensive coordinator. It kind of caught some guys off guard. At the same time everyone was like let’s not get caught up in the speculation and everything that’s going on. Let’s find a way to make this work. It was the same thing the coaches said, ‘Let’s make this work. We are still going to run our same offense; we are still going to have the same guys putting together our gameplan.’ My main thing was, J, don’t get caught up in what’s going on, my job was to make sure I got the play into the huddle, got it called, got to the line of scrimmage, without getting a delay of game."
Listen to Jason Campbell with The Sports Junkies on 106.7 the Fan in Washington
The Bills announced Monday that all of their coaches were free to seek jobs elsewhere. The status of anyone who remains on staff will be determined by the new head coach.
Who will the Bills’ new head coach be? Here are five coaches the Bills should strongly consider, if they cannot lure Bill Cowher into take the job:
Brian Billick — The former head coach of the Ravens led them to a victory in Super Bowl 35, and had an 85-67 record in nine seasons with them. Billick knows what it means to be part of a successful and stable organization, and could bring that insight to a Bills franchise that sorely needs it.
Jim Fassel — Never understood why he has not gotten another job, after a successful seven-year tenure with the Giants, which included an NFC championship in 2000. Fassel is a highly-regarded quarterback teacher, and the Bills need to develop a franchise quarterback. Fassel has not been an NFL head coach since 2003, and he would love to get back in. Buffalo could be a nice fit both for him, and for the Bills.
Perry Fewell — The Bills announced that Fewell, the interim coach, would interview for the head job. Fewell may be hurt by being part of Dick Jauron’s staff, but there is no question the Bills played better under Fewell than under Jauron. Not only did the players respond to Fewell, he knows the strengths and weaknesses of the core players. Hiring him would retain some continuity for a team that will clearly make major roster changes.
Ron Rivera — He may get to the Super Bowl as the Chargers’ defensive coordinator. He has already been to the Super Bowl as the Bears’ defensive coordinator. Chicago’s defense has not been the same since Rivera left, and the Chargers’ defense improved immediately once he became coordinator. That is strong evidence that Rivera should be a candidate. And in Buffalo, where the weather turns nasty late in the season, a team built around defense is not a bad thing. Look at the job that Rex Ryan, another defensive guy, has done with the Jets in his first season as head coach. Perhaps Rivera could have a similar impact.
Marty Schottenheimer — Over a long NFL career, he has proven he can turn a loser into a winner, and guide a team to the playoffs. So what if Schottenheimer has never been to a Super Bowl. With the Bills making their last playoff appearance in 1999, Schottenheimer would become a legend in Buffalo if he built the Bills into a playoff team.
Clifton Brown is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at cliftonbrown@sportingnews.com.
The Bills announced Monday that all of their coaches were free to seek jobs elsewhere. The status of anyone who remains on staff will be determined by the new head coach.
Who will the Bills’ new head coach be? Here are five coaches the Bills should strongly consider, if they cannot lure Bill Cowher into take the job:
Brian Billick — The former head coach of the Ravens led them to a victory in Super Bowl 35, and had an 85-67 record in nine seasons with them. Billick knows what it means to be part of a successful and stable organization, and could bring that insight to a Bills franchise that sorely needs it.
Jim Fassel — Never understood why he has not gotten another job, after a successful seven-year tenure with the Giants, which included an NFC championship in 2000. Fassel is a highly-regarded quarterback teacher, and the Bills need to develop a franchise quarterback. Fassel has not been an NFL head coach since 2003, and he would love to get back in. Buffalo could be a nice fit both for him, and for the Bills.
Perry Fewell — The Bills announced that Fewell, the interim coach, would interview for the head job. Fewell may be hurt by being part of Dick Jauron’s staff, but there is no question the Bills played better under Fewell than under Jauron. Not only did the players respond to Fewell, he knows the strengths and weaknesses of the core players. Hiring him would retain some continuity for a team that will clearly make major roster changes.
Ron Rivera — He may get to the Super Bowl as the Chargers’ defensive coordinator. He has already been to the Super Bowl as the Bears’ defensive coordinator. Chicago’s defense has not been the same since Rivera left, and the Chargers’ defense improved immediately once he became coordinator. That is strong evidence that Rivera should be a candidate. And in Buffalo, where the weather turns nasty late in the season, a team built around defense is not a bad thing. Look at the job that Rex Ryan, another defensive guy, has done with the Jets in his first season as head coach. Perhaps Rivera could have a similar impact.
Marty Schottenheimer — Over a long NFL career, he has proven he can turn a loser into a winner, and guide a team to the playoffs. So what if Schottenheimer has never been to a Super Bowl. With the Bills making their last playoff appearance in 1999, Schottenheimer would become a legend in Buffalo if he built the Bills into a playoff team.
Clifton Brown is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at cliftonbrown@sportingnews.com.
