Jim Zorn's play-calling is increasingly coming under fire for being far too conservative. Some analysts have claimed that he calls far too few big plays, preferring to throw a bunch of screens and dump-off passes.
But his newest critic might be a bit surprising: Jason Campbell.
The Skins QB spoke to the LaVar and Dukes show and had some telling comments about the offense, as transcribed by the Sports Bog.
He said that everyone on the team could point the fingers at themselves for Sunday's loss, and he specifically included the coaches.
Campbell was asked about the offense, responding:
"You know, there's things that I feel like we can do, eventually I feel like we will get to and get to doing 'em. One thing about it, you have a quarterback that has a strong arm and everything, likes to get the ball deeper downfield and hit those deeper and intermediate routes. And I think right now coaches, they watch the film, they just want to make sure if the time's gonna be there to hit those deeper routes, or are we having an understanding of how far we're supposed to get on the depth of routes....
"I think from coach's perspective, he probably just thought maybe this is not the time to try to put ourselves in position where we lose yardage, let's just try to keep things where we're moving in the pocket just because of the heat and the pressure that they bring."
Later, he was asked specifically about taking more chances downfield. He said that every quarterback wants that, but when asked whether he felt he was getting enough, he responded with an "ummmm." Pretty telling.
The NY Times' Fifth Down Blog noted that the Skins were at the bottom of the league in deep passing attempts despite having a well above average success rate.
Is Coach Zorn far too medium?
Campbell continued, "[Coach Zorn] knows there's things he wants to get to, calling things. And he understands players and what we have to do is that trust thing, we have to be able to trust each other, no matter what's called or no matter what's on the field."
Does Campbell trust Zorn to make the right calls? Does Zorn trust Campbell to make the big throws?
The answer to those questions (which both trend toward "no") are going to determine the Skins' chances this season, as well as the future of both the Coach and the QB.
