Zorn's Redskins flat in season-opening loss to Giants

By Les Carpenter

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.

Just a few miles across the river from the Broadway lights, a show holding some promise opened in a little northern New Jersey town. The show's new director, a man known as an understudy with a touch for theatrics, was going to bring a certain flair to Thursday night with a sizzle that would make people back in Washington forget the old director, once glamorous whose act had gone stale.

Jim Zorn's opening night as the coach of the Washington Redskins will not play to rave reviews. Not after a 16-7 loss to the New York Giants that was as listless as the score sounds.

No bravos for innovation. The plays were mostly the same ones the Redskins ran last year and generated just 11 first downs, three by penalty. No standing ovations for the quarterback tutored by Zorn. Jason Campbell barely had time to throw the ball and finished with just 133 yards passing.

Even the one player on the field who has baked under the hot lights of a Hollywood stage, new Redskins defensive end Jason Taylor, had little impact.

The only solace the Redskins could take in their beating at the hands of the Giants is it is was just the first night of a 17-week run. There's always time to make improvements.

Many will be needed.

Of course it had to be Zorn's luck that his predecessor, Joe Gibbs, was on stage in St. Paul, Minn., speaking before the Republican National Convention, a moment that had little chance of flopping the way Zorn's first night in the spotlight did on Thursday evening. Very little went right as the Redskins fell to their rivals in the NFC's East Division. Making matters worse was the fact it came on a night in which the Giants celebrated their Super Bowl victory back in February, by rolling a giant replica of the Lombardi Trophy onto the field and having former star Michael Strahan hold up the real thing, rallying the 79,742 in the Giants Stadium stands as the Redskins had to stand in a tunnel and watch.

Things pretty much fell apart from there.

Somewhere in the middle of training camp, Zorn decided on the first play he would call as an NFL head coach. The choice was significant because Zorn is an offensive-minded coach known for innovation. And as a longtime study of Seattle Seahawks Coach Mike Holmgren, who is one of the best offensive minds in the game, Zorn's first play would be something spectacular, something to remember.

Earlier in the week, after the Redskins ended their final full practice before this game, Zorn said people should not draw too many conclusions from his first play.

"Everyone has to run a first play," he said.

And yet even as the words came out off his mouth they seemed hollow. Every coach who values his own play-calling puts great care into the first play he ever gets to call as a head coach.

Of course there is also another team involved.

Then when the moment came Thursday night, before a filled stadium and millions more watching on national television, the first play never really came to materialize. Campbell took the snap, moved to his right and then before he had a chance to perform whatever magic his coach had devised several weeks before, he was met by the flying body of Giants defensive end Justin Tuck who had zoomed past Washington's befuddled right tackle Stephon Heyer. Campbell had enough time to curl the ball against his body before Tuck threw him to the turf.

So much for the first play.

And the first series, the first quarter, most of the first half and even the game.

Few Redskins teams have probably looked as miserable as this one did for the first 26 minutes on opening night. The Redskins' offensive line — a worry given a mix of players considered to be too old or in the case of Heyer, too young — was helpless against the surging Giants defense. Whatever hope Zorn had of weaving imaginative pass plays with the predictable runs of the past few years was gone. Washington was simply trying to survive.

And barely doing that.

Several times in the first few minutes the Redskins were simply lucky they didn't fumble given the way New York's defensive players swarmed all over them. The idea of attempting a pass became laughable in the face of the ferocious Giants pass rush.

Meanwhile New York chopped through Washington's defense to build up a lead of 16-0 late in the first half that should have been much larger were it not for the ineffectiveness of Giants quarterback Eli Manning who found his receivers to be wide open but often lobbed the passes in such a way that they had to stop and wait for the ball to land in their hands. This led to New York having to settle for three field goals and kept the Redskins just close enough to have hope.

There was a brief glimmer of how good the Redskins offense could be. It came in the moments before halftime when kick returner Rock Cartwright took a kickoff to near midfield. Emboldened by the fortuitous field position, Washington was able to spread out its receivers and run the plays it hoped it would be able to this year. The result was a quick drive and a touchdown pass to wide receiver Santana Moss for a touchdown that made the score 16-7.

After that it seemed Zorn wanted to try nothing dangerous lest the decision backfire and the game roll out of hand.

Mostly the West Coast offense that Zorn had supposedly pushed to another generation as Holmgren's assistant in Seattle and with which he dazzled Redskins owner Daniel Snyder and Executive Vice President Vinny Cerrato, became a recreation of Gibbs's. Nothing but lots of handoffs to running back Clinton Portis. The risk was low but with the overmatched offensive line unable to hold up there wasn't much more Zorn could do.

The show is only as good as its cast.