STEVE DeSHAZO: Can Zorn add zip to Skins?

Date published: 7/20/2008

THE FINAL LETTER of the alphabet is Z, which may be fitting for Jim Zorn. He wasn't exactly the last man we expected to succeed Joe Gibbs--but he wasn't in the top 10, either.

Speaking of succeeding, few observers expect much from his rookie season with the Washington Redskins, who open their training camp today. External expectations aren't quite zero (theme alert), but don't expect them to zoom to the zenith of a rugged division.

(OK, enough alliteration.)

Seriously, though, Zorn was the splashiest off-season acquisition for a franchise that usually dominates February. Maybe Daniel Snyder is inverting his thinking, starting from the back.

When you think of Z, few famous names leap to mind. Zorro? A fictional character. Emile Zola? French novelist. Flo Ziegfeld? Broadway follies producer. Richie Zisk? Journeyman batter from the 1970s.

Snyder hopes Zorn can become a brilliant but underappreciated artist like late musicians Warren Zevon and Frank Zappa.

If Zorn earns his stripes (like a zebra, perhaps?) maybe the Redskins actually can challenge the defending Super Bowl champion Giants, division winner Cowboys and improved Eagles.

If so, zounds! (Sorry, couldn't help myself.)

But there hasn't been this little preseason buzz about a decent Redskins team since Gibbs arrived for the first time in 1981. No one outside the beltway seems to think Washington (a 2007 playoff team that didn't lose any key personnel) will improve on last season's 9-7 record, much less return to the postseason.

Can he continue Gibbs' unfinished business of rebuilding the Redskins into perennial playoff contenders? We'll soon find out.

Fortunately for Zorn--who has never been more than a position coach in the NFL--the spotlight is much dimmer than it was for Gibbs' almost messianic return in 2003, or Steve Spurrier's arrival two years earlier.

(Let's not kid ourselves, though: The Redskins are and always will be the stars of D.C. sports. As great a hockey player as Alexander Ovechkin is, he'd have to score 75 goals, cure cancer and find Osama bin Laden to approach the popularity of Clinton Portis.)

There will be none of the Gibbs hoopla at Redskins Park over the next month, and little of the zoo-like drama from other NFL camps. While the Brett Favre saga plays out in Green Bay; while Terrell Owens and Adam (Don't Call Me Pacman) Jones share the spotlight in Dallas; while the proud Steelers face the sad prospect of a sale by the Rooney family, Zorn will spend the next month doing what he does best: quietly teaching.

We'll see if he can tailor his West Coast-style playbook to the abilities of Jason Campbell, who's absorbing yet another offensive system. Campbell's development--more than the Redskins' won-lost record--should be Zorn's measuring stick for his rookie season as coach.

That type of realistic but intangible expectation has been rare in D.C. lately. But when you start at the back of the alphabet, there's nowhere to go but forward.

Steve DeShazo: 540/374-5443
Email: sdeshazo@freelancestar.com

Date published: 7/20/2008