Cerrato explained that every head coaching candidate they had listed Zorn either first or second on their list of possible offensive coordinator hires. The Redskins reasoned that, rather than miss out on an offensive coordinator that was coveted by all their candidates, they should hire Zorn.

Cerrato said that, after interviewing Zorn for the coordinator job, he and Snyder found themselves comparing head coaching candidates to Zorn. They didn’t feel any man was more impressive. Further concerned that Zorn would only be in Washington for a season or two before another team wanted him as their head coach, Cerrato and Snyder changed course and asked Zorn if he wanted to interview for the head coaching position. A day later, they hired him.

Squib kicks

A whole new Coughlin
Tony Dungy was asked if, in his experience, Tom Coughlin should expect perceptions of him to change since he won the Super Bowl. “I think that’s definitely true,” said Dungy. “You want to remain the same but the perception of you does change. People think that because you win, you finally do have the answers and it’s not really that different than it was before the game. When you think how close it comes too, for instance, if New England didn’t have 12 guys in the huddle on a critical play in the fourth quarter (of the AFC Championship) we might have lost that game. It shows you how close it is.”

Who knew?
One interesting aspect of the Patriots adding Dom Capers to their staff this week: he was a very likely candidate to replace Pete Carroll in New England back in 2000 before Bill Belichick got that job.

Zorn will give Campbell tough love
Sounds like Redskins coach Zorn is going to give quarterback Jason Campbell some tough love. First, Zorn mentioned Campbell’s tendency to drop his arm a little when he throws checkdowns – not major but a little more glib than you normally get from a head coach in a press conference. Next, he pulled the rug out from under any excuse of Campbell having had seven offensive coordinators since college at Auburn.

“That’s the way it goes. I can’t change that. He can’t change that. What we can do is not major on that. It can’t be a reason he can’t do something. He should be able to do everything now that he’s had so many offensive coordinators.” Zorn also said there will be no competition between Campbell and Todd Collins for the starting job despite Collins’ terrific work in relief of Campbell at the tail end of the season. “I don’t want him to feel like, ‘Gosh if I make one mistake I’m pulled.’ He’s gonna play 16 games, he’s gonna lead us into the playoffs and that’s that.”

Quinn may sit some more
Romeo Crennel was asked if last year’s first-round pick, Brady Quinn, could sit for another season behind Derek Anderson. “Sure. If he has to. Look around the league and a lot of things happen (at quarterback). Philip Rivers sat for a couple years and once he got in, he did pretty good. We evaluate every situation, every day, and we’ll do what’s best for the Browns.”

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