Haynesworth, Despite Own Imperfections, Pulls Curtain on Zorn & Skins Staff

[Bulldog]

Albert Haynesworth is a guy that has had and continues to have his own problems. Stomping Andre Gurode, a tragic traffic accident where Albert was allegedly the aggressive driver, a nasty divorce, etc.

And he didn't come to camp in the best shape of his career as anyone from Brian Mitchell to Joe Theismann will tell you.

But thank God SOMEBODY on the team has finally called out Zorn and his bumbling staff for the boatload of mistakes they have made in helping to create the current mess. The national media excoriated Cerrato and he is gone, but the other part of the problem is now coming into clear focus.

Haynesworth comments confirmed what I and many others thought already about this group of Keystone Cops:

1. Haynesworth blew the doors off the lax management style of Jim Zorn and the staff since the start of last season in noting that different players reported to practices late and to date few if any were held accountable. That rings true when one considers how disjointed and out of sync the team looked throughout the last 22 games under Zorn in going 6-16. No sense of urgency, no discipline, a multitude of mental and execution mistakes, younger players who seemingly can't learn the playbook. All of this points to a Club Med atmosphere at Redskins Park.

2. The Redskins acquired Haynesworth (and others such as Orakpo and Landry) and simply failed to adequately plan for and adapt their systems to put them in the best possible position to succeed on the field. No team can be successful when your highest paid free agent and #1 draft choice are BOTH added to the starting 22 as 'plug and play' performers. The DC with bulldog like obstinacy continues to refuse to admit that talent HAS at least in part to dictate what kind of system you run.

Dan and Vinny have been severely criticized and justifiably so for failing to obtain value in a number of the personnel decisions that have been made.

But Zorn and his staff in several notable cases have failed to get the most out of certain players that do have talent.

And THAT in my opinion will be clearly shown when the next HC is hired and a too complacent staff is replaced by one that is hungrier to do what is necessary to win, not merely trying and re-trying what is comfortable and familiar.

 

[Sarge]

Looks like it was Fat Al that had the issue here. Of course if he got called out and others have been able to slide, then it's on the coaches

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/25/haynesworth-sent-home-disciplinary-reasons/

The Washington Redskins couldn't even get through Christmas Day without controversy.

Coach Jim Zorn sent home defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, the team's highest-paid player, "for disciplinary reasons" after Haynesworth arrived late to Friday's team meetings.

Zorn and Haynesworth had a lengthy discussion on a field adjacent to where the rest of the team was going through warmups before Haynesworth left the facility.

"I think all that will be kept between Albert and I," Zorn said of the discussion. "He wasn't belligerent or nasty to me and I was not nasty to him. It was just something that needed to be done. It was a difference in logic maybe and differences of priority."

 

[Bulldog]

the point though is that if players were habitually late for practices over the past 2 years under Zorn then he is simply playing politics here to chastise a player that blasted how the team was using him.

it is the lack of accountability that has been the most frustrating to watch.

Antawn Randle El continuing to return punts despite muffing a number of attempts and failing to provide the team with decent field position.

Clinton Portis showing up out of shape for camp and the preseason. Once again, no consequences.

A flat refusal of Zorn and the staff to play Fred Davis and others earlier in the season when the offense was struggling because they 'weren't ready' and yet when they get on the field due to injuries, they all of a sudden play well??????

What the **** is going on behind the scenes with this team?

 

[Yusuf06]

I don't disagree with your point BD. However, I think it's a little more complicated than you made it appear in the OP. From Haynesworth's own comments about the mattter he says "guys" which can often mean "one person" especially when trying to portray yourself in the best light possible. More likely than not, I suspect Haynesworth's "guys" amounts to Portis doing whatever he wanted, as has been well documented.

Haynesworth also mentions his not being the best fit for our scheme, falling asleep in a meeting or two, and being late on a couple of other occasions. In short, he appears to suffer from the primadonna syndrome that many of us, me included, worried about when the deal was announced.

Of course Zorn isn't a good coach. But everyone in D.C. knows Zorn is a dead man walking and is about as relevant at this point as Paulie Shore/Martin Short. All Haynesworth's tirade shows is that he's an overpaid malcontent incapable of putting the team first by playing within the scheme and keeping his mouth shut as well as Snyderatto's incredible incompetence in bringing in said malcontent and poor fit.

And if you think it'll all be OK once Zorn is gone, just wait until the new HC/DC gets a load of Fat Albert after he gets away with throwing the coaches under the bus.

**And yes, I have so got to get around to changing my sig.

 

[Whiskeypeet]

Its been a two-fold problem with this team over the years. FO acquires players that don't fit the system and the coaching staff never changes to schemes to fit the talent.

Under Gibbs/Williams these same problems existed. IMO its mostly on the FO for acquiring guys that the coaches have no use for...but all the same you certainly would like the coaching staff to figure out how to use guys like Haynesworth, Landry, Orakpo, etc. to their highest potential.

Time to gut this entire methodology of team building. Obviously it doesnt work. I would think one of hte #1 priorities in hiring the next HC is finding a guy that has a plan to utilize the talent on the roster properly. If the team can't find such a HC then they might as well start dumping some of these guys.

 

[Jimbo]

Al is used to a guy like Jeff Fisher, who is much more demanding than Zorn. Fisher has a "tough but fair" reputation and I think that's exactly the type of coach he needs. Going from a guy like Fisher to a guy like Zorn certainly has to be frustrating but His Royal Fatness needs to be more self-disciplined as well.

As I mentioned before, if you're gonna call coaches out you have better be prepared to be a leader and be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

Also, everyone seems to forget we TOLD Haynesworth we were gonna let him "wreak havoc" along the DLine like he did in Tennessee, and then apparently didn't give the memo to Blache. Blache also seems to disregard that Al makes players around him better, another fallacy.
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[Whiskeypeet]

Blache also seems to disregard that Al makes players around him better, another fallacy.
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You point is that Al doesn't make those around him better?

 

[Lanky Livingston]

No, I meant Blache thinks he doesn't, which is a fallacy. Sorry, I'm no wordsmith like Om.
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[Bulldog]

Blache's approach of 'bend but don't break' conservatism was appropriate when the team simply lacked the talent in the front seven to be more aggressive and attack the individual matchups.

But the landscape has changed and Blache has not.

Orakpo, Haynesworth, Carter and a rejuvenated Griffin this year CAN win their matchups and create problems for an offense.

Using a more aggressive approach the Redskins would get more turnovers and games against Dallas and Philly may have ended up as victories instead of close fourth quarter losses.