…Redskins coach Jim Zorn said Shaun Suisham was not made a scapegoat for the 33-30 loss to the Saints on Sunday. I blogged on Suisham, and other topics, earlier today so I won’t re-hash my feelings here. Zorn said this was his decision, though it was one he said had a consensus. Have to take him at his word on that one.
On making Suisham appear to be a scapegoat, Zorn said, “I would never use that word. That would be vindictive as a scapegoat. As we’ve gone along there have been frustrations along the way in those situations. It was my decision. I didn’t just go, ‘Hey, I’ll cut Shaun today.’ I tried to look at all the issues involved.”
And one of those issues were the fact that all three of his misses impacted losses. Of course, so did poor line play in some cases or over-aggressive safeties.
Of the failure in pressure situations, Zorn said, “That’s a large part of it. Those particular situations, especially the last one. That’s hard. I suspect he’ll be on a team this week because he was 18 for 21, but that’s a combination that hurt us in a real critical way.”
…QB Jason Campbell texted Suisham after Sunday and talked with him after he was cut. For a kicker, he had his fans in the locker room.
…Zorn was asked if he would keep the play-calling setup the same next season. Um, only one problem with that question. There’s a decent chance he won’t be here. He knows that as well as anyone.
Still, he said, “I’d have to re-evaluate it. I’m excited about the way things are going, but I’d re-evaluate it.”
Yes, re-evaluate. Translation: That’ll be someone else’s problem.
…Quinton Ganther will start at running back. It’s official.
Zorn on what he likes about Ganther: “His burst through the hole. He does a nice job as he runs the runs that are called, pressing the hole and then bursting through it. It’s not easy to break down and it’s not hard to see that burst.”
…Rock Cartwright wasn’t happy about being demoted — again. We’ll have more about that in Thursday’s paper, but one snippet was this one: “It’s kind of hard for a running back to get in a rhythm when you have five carries in the first series and then you don’t carry the ball again until the second half. It’s hard to produce that way. Going into the game and telling a back you’re going to take two series and this guy is going to take two series, it’s kind of hard to get hot. When you’re doing running back by committee, you’ve kind of got to go off of feel, who’s playing better. When you get somebody five carries in the first half and they don’t play no more until the second half, of course you can’t expect somebody to go out and be fresh right then. I mean, i can’t control it so i’m not going to worry about it. I’m just going to do my part on special teams. I’m glad to be back with my guys on special teams. I’m going to go back to being the No. 1 guy on kickoff returns, hopefully. So I’m looking forward to the opportunity.”
…Cartwright on Clinton Portis possibly walking away and leaving $7 million on the table: “First, I’m going to say that CP is well off. He has made a lot of money in this league. I think he has had a great career. I want him to come back, but ultimately that’s his body and his brain. He knows how he feels and how he doesn’t feel. … I think CP would be fine if he walked away. He’s had a great career. He’s 160 yards away from 10,000 yards. That’s a great accomplishment. He might want to come back and get that and then hang it up after that, we’ll see.”
Our take: Even Portis would find it too difficult to walk away from $7 million. And I thougth it was funny how fast his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, tweeted about Portis’ return in 2010. So he’s thinking the same thing. But, though Portis loves to play, I’m not sure how much he wants to put up with all the other stuff about the NFL, like offseason workouts etc. Still, that’s a lot of cash to put back in Dan Snyder’s pocket.
…DeAngelo Hall on the Raiders receivers: “Sometimes they run full speed, they’re wide open and they still can’t catch it.”
And this: “I’m faster than all of them. Eighty percent of me can keep up with those guys.”
Sadly, after comments like this, he might not play Sunday.
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