Washington Redskins coach Jim Zorn confirmed today he has relinquished the play-calling duties to offensive consultant Sherm Lewis but said he has not made a decision on the starting quarterback for next Monday’s game against Philadelphia.
Zorn said it was “strongly suggested” to him by Vinny Cerrato, executive vice president of football operations, that he give up the play-calling to Lewis, a veteran NFL assistant who was hired by the Redskins 13 days ago.
“This is not an easy thing,” Zorn said.
Lewis will be in the coach’s box and relay the play call to Zorn, who will radio it in to the quarterback.
Asked why he agreed to the change, Zorn said, “Because I want to stay here and win.”
Zorn then was asked whether he was given an ultimatum — hand off the play-calling duties or be fired.
“I dont have that answer,” Zorn said.
Before joining the Redskins, Lewis was in retirement, calling bingo games. Now he’ll be calling the plays on “Monday Night Football.”
“The reason I complied with this is because of the lack of scoring,” Zorn said. “Its been several weeks [of struggles], and I want to win, too. If this has to be done this way and this is going to be the key, I’m certainly willing to give it a try because were 2-4 and to not score the last few weeks is very frustrating, to say the least.”
Zorn later addressed the thought process that led him to agree to the move — and the opinion of former coach Tony Dungy, who intimated Zorn should not have given up the play-calling even if it meant he was fired.
“I tried to soul-search all those things, but there are a lot of people involved,” Zorn said. “This is a big organization. It has some strong leaders, and I hope I’m one of those strong leaders. Sometimes, we have to do things that are uncomfortable. My comfort level is not there, but I also look at the production. This is not an easy thing. The production hasn’t been there.”
Of the quarterbacks, Zorn said a decision “definitely” will be made by Thursday, the first day of full-scale Eagles preparations. Jason Campbell was benched at halftime in the Kansas City game, and Todd Collins didn’t distinguish himself after an opening 42-yard pass to Santana Moss.
“I want to really make sure I do the right thing,” Zorn said. “It’s a hard decision. Jason will not back down. He’s a competitor, and that’s what I like about him. I can easily go back to Jason and say, ’Listen, you know you have to perform [better] in the game.’ There are definitely some things he could have done better.”
Zorn also said left tackle Chris Samuels (neck stinger) has been ruled out for the Philadelphia game.
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