Redskins, Zorn Will Be Tested Early
The Washington Redskins had better be very good, very early under first-year coach Jim Zorn.
Their schedule demands it.
The Redskins will play three NFC East road games in their first five games of the season. After the NFL's season opener against the Giants, the defending Super Bowl champions, at Giants Stadium on Sept. 4, they'll play at Dallas in Week 4 and at Philadelphia in Week 5.
This is about the time that Joe Gibbs, if he hadn't retired from coaching, would be talking about this being the toughest schedule he's ever seen.
The difficult five-game stretch to open the season also includes home games against the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals.
Things get easier from there, with the Cowboys coming to town on Nov. 16, the Giants on Nov. 30 and the Eagles on Dec. 21.
But the Redskins' rookie head coach already knew that he'd gotten no favors from the schedule-makers, who cut short Zorn's offseason by having his team play in the Hall of Fame Game to open the preseason and in the opening game of the regular season. Zorn said at the recent league meeting that the challenge had been set and he hoped to be able to meet it.
Now he knows just how challenging it will be, particularly early on.
By Mark Maske |
April 15, 2008; 2:23 PM ET
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Redskins
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Posted by: Anonymous | April 15, 2008 2:38 PM
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Posted by: Anonymous | April 15, 2008 2:46 PM
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Posted by: Vic | April 15, 2008 2:49 PM
Somebody please call Dexter Manley out of rehab please... we need another pass rusher!!!!!!!!
Posted by: scoop | April 15, 2008 2:50 PM
this blog still exists?
Posted by: wow | April 15, 2008 2:55 PM
0-10 in his first 10 coaching games. This includes pre-season.
Posted by: wow | April 15, 2008 5:50 PM
I have a conspiracy theory of sorts that has to do with the schedule makers favoring Giants and screwing Redskins. Week 3 byes?, shortened offseason, etc. This is just the latest chapter. The hole in my theory is that England game for the Gints. Other than that we always seem to get a pretty raw deal. Do owners exert any control over schedules? I could see The Danny alienating everyone to the point of making this happen. I know maybe i am peranoid and maybe Gibbs exaggerated but it is hard to believe one could have all 3 divisional opponents away by week 5 and think that's fair. If I were a computer programmer for the league and writing the scheduling program there would probably be constraints to prevent that because it is so discriminatory. I wouldn't have any crap in there to favor rookie coaches. We're in a very tough division where the teams will give each other losses every year---making it real hard to make it as a wildcard so stacking odds againts one team to put them at a divisional disadvantage early can go a long way to eliminating them.
One positive--it'll probably take time for the offense to jell. At least we get the same teams on our turf with some greater familiarity with the system where we can be more sure of winning our side of the hom-and-homes.
Posted by: Sean | April 15, 2008 6:10 PM
I forgot to mention what a screw job it was to ADD a preseacon game to our schedule and steal a practice week (that was NOT a scheduler--thats a league decision)
Also, this is weird but we lost one of the advantages of returning from a bye week ---playing a team that didn't have one. We play DAL and they are off too. Seems like the whole NFC East has that deal (playing a team off bye week that was also off) but it is not common for other divisions.
Posted by: Sean | April 15, 2008 6:22 PM
If the Giants are given an advantage, that works for me. Honestly, the Redskins have had few excuses to underperform rhese many years, as valuable as the franchise is, and yet the Gints were able to steal a championship this past year.
They should have won it for Gibbs, although I am no fan of the team. The fact that they did not soils the only good move Snyder made since he arrived.
Posted by: Positively Half St. | April 15, 2008 9:17 PM
You guys are looking at this all wrong. Getting these guys early is a good thing. These games tend to get more heated as the season rolls along so, they might catch one of them on a bad week. If they win their two early home games and only one of the three divisional away games then they are 3-2 with no divisional road games left. That wouldn't be so bad guys and it is not a far fetched scenario.
Posted by: croftonpost | April 15, 2008 9:53 PM
Prediction:
Redskins go 6-10 and Zorn gets fired in January.
Posted by: DeadKings08 | April 15, 2008 10:15 PM
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