DC Sportsbog: Zorn discusses the Randle El mystery

[Lanky Livingston]

At the end of Jim Zorn's weekly radio spot with ESPN 980, he's asked a question submitted by a fan. Often, it's forgettable. This week, it was on point.

"Why is Antwaan Randle El still returning punts?" was the question submitted by Jerome Travers. That's pretty much the perfect way to ask the question. Zorn's answer was long and not entirely satisfactory; the fact of the matter is, Randle El has been one of the league's very worst returners all season. But Zorn still trusts him, and said he personally made sure Randle El was on the field for the punt he fumbled. His full answer:

"Well, I'm the one that put him in on that very last punt that we fumbled," Zorn said. "I told Danny [Smith] I want Antwaan in there, because of the sure catch. And he just misjudged it. It hit him right up underneath the upper part of the shoulder pad, and he was taking off at the same time he was catching it....

"There was no [disagreement], I just said Hey, I want to make sure I've got Antwaan in here, and that decision obviously failed at that point. But we're gonna make some adjustments and things like that. It doesn't mean that Antwaan is gonna be totally sitting on the bench the whole time, but we're gonna try to get other guys involved. Truly, we just haven't had [options] besides Santana [Moss], with DeAngelo [Hall] going down. That was the guy we were trying to gear up.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2009/12/zorn_will_try_to_get_other_guy.html


In my opinion, this has been Zorn's problem all along...he puts too much trust in the vets, and not enough trust in the young guys. How has Tryon not shown enough yet? He's returned zero punts in the regular season. We are 4-9, at some point you have to just throw him out there. I'm sure it was a similar scenario with the young receivers last year and this year...Zorn just "didn't trust them." Which is kind of BS, if you ask me.

 

[Sarge]

While I've kinda been leaning toward keeping Zorn around to see if this team starts to act like a professional team, crap like this makes me say "Fire his ass!"

El has absolutely sucked in the return department and hasn't done much more as a slot receiver either

 

[servumtuum]

While I've kinda been leaning toward keeping Zorn around to see if this team starts to act like a professional team, crap like this makes me say "Fire his ass!"

El has absolutely sucked in the return department and hasn't done much more as a slot receiver either

Boy howdy, Sarge. You read my mind on this.

One sentence really stuck me though:

"But we're gonna make some adjustments and things like that."

That sounds disturbingly like Vinnyspeak.

Lanky, I'm in complete agreement with your criticism of excess trust in the vets and not enough in the young guys-Think, Thomas, Davis, Orakpo, Ganther, Gano,-hey, JZ, kave you noticed who's making things happen, guy? The young guys-pay attention. ok?

 

[Billfishead]

I guess we'll just have to wait until Monday night to find out what Zorn really meant, because he talks like he's got a bunch of CRAP in his mouth.

 

[Jimbo]

The ONLY "adjustment" he needs to make is put someone else back there. Real coaches even hold vets accountable. We're 4-9 for crying out loud. What have we got to lose, a fumble? Been there, done that.

 

[BobDiamond]

The ONLY "adjustment" he needs to make is put someone else back there. Real coaches even hold vets accountable. We're 4-9 for crying out loud. What have we got to lose, a fumble? Been there, done that.

The hemming and hawing is aggravating isn't it? Oh he just misjudged it, let's put him back out there...?!? Just put someone else back there, Tryon, Thomas, Barnes, Kelly, Mason, Alridge, Hunter flippin' Smith would be better!