Despite losses, Zorn still looks ahead

The goal for every offensive line is to be together long enough to become cohesive, leading to sound pass protection, efficient run blocking and an ability to create consistent scoring opportunities.

And then there are the Washington Redskins.

“We’re trying to patch,” coach Jim Zorn said Monday.

He might as well be talking about the entire organization.

As the Redskins try to forget about their 2-6 first half, the realization is beginning to set in: They will have a difficult time conducting full-pads practices, much less winning another game this year.

Everywhere on the field, Band-Aids are being applied to the ever-changing offensive line and, because of Chris Horton’s long-term injury, the secondary.

Everywhere off the field, tourniquets are being applied with the offensive playcaller change and the general tumult produced by owner Dan Snyder’s treatment of Zorn.

But even after losing Horton (toe) for four to six weeks and possibly being without running back Clinton Portis (concussion), Zorn remained undeterred Monday even though his major talking point - “We’re moving forward” - has been struck from his stump speech.

“We’ve absolutely had our share [of injuries], but one of the things we’ll do is we’ll be competitive,” he said. “We will go out and compete and put out the best guys we can get in this program, and they’ll give their best effort. These guys want it. Just based on what we did in the second half [Sunday], we didn’t have any kind of doubt that we didn’t put people on the field who didn’t want to play hard and go for it.”

That the Redskins scored on two second-half possessions to crawl within seven points shouldn’t push under the rug the memory of a first half marred by penalties, a turnover and a sideline brouhaha caused by LaRon Landry’s hit on Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan.

In their current form, the Redskins enter the second half of the year with an offense that is 29th in scoring and a defense that is being exposed after padding its stats against soft competition.

Things aren’t bound to get better. The seven teams last year that started 2-6 or worse finished with a combined 24 wins, including 4-11-1 Cincinnati, 2-14 Kansas City, 2-14 St. Louis and 0-16 Detroit.

“All I can tell you is you don’t worry about what’s going on. You’re just trying to win,” receiver Santana Moss said. “Every week, you have to lace them up and try to win. You’re not going to play just to play. Therefore, I hope every guy in here regardless of the situation at the end of the season, their main focus is to win.”

Said defensive tackle Lorenzo Alexander: “We have to go out and play for pride, for the fans and for ourselves to get some respect around the league and really try to finish out strong.”

A strong finish at this point only would hurt the Redskins’ draft stock. If the season finished today, they would draft somewhere from No. 6 to No. 8 - they’re tied with Oakland and Tennessee.

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