Washington Players Supporting Zorn

NFL News - October 15th, 2009 - Written by John

Jim Zorn has had a rough go as the head coach of the Washington Redskins in his second season. Every single team the 'Skins have faced this year has been previously winless, and three of them got their first win of the year, including the still-woeful Detroit Lions. It's going to happen again this week when they host the 0-5 Kansas City Chiefs and the cries for his firing have only gotten louder. It seems as if he is not long for the NFL and rumors have already begun that owner Daniel Snyder is preparing to fire him at the end of the year.

On ESPN's SportsNation poll, only 12-percent of voters say they think Zorn has the ship under control.

But the ones that are around him the most are whistling a different tune. A report on ESPN suggests that many of the Washington players are supporting Zorn, and not for publicity reasons. Three "prominent" players have spoken under the condition of anonymity, telling the sports network they hope to see his job publicly secured for the rest of the season.

"I wish someone upstairs would just say he's going to be our coach for the season," one of the unnamed players told the newspaper. "That way, we don't have to answer any more questions about it and everybody knows we're in this boat together."

The Redskins haven't won a division game and appear to need a miracle to get back in the race. The NFC East is clearly one of the best divisions in the league, with the Giants still unbeaten and the Philadelphia Eagles not far behind, and even the Cowboys can be considered a contender with a slight grimace.

Losing to teams like Detroit and Carolina has a way of making people stop and think, including Hall of Famers Joe Theismann and John Riggins.

"A lot of us have sort of tempered ourselves, to be honest with you," Theismann told ESPN. "The expectations for this team were so much greater coming into the year -- and they haven't come even close to living up to it."

But the biggest blow came from Riggins, who was part of the 1990 Super Bowl Champion team. He blasted Zorn on his Twitter feed, saying, in part, ""You're out of your league, Jim. High school? Definitely. You can coach in high school. You can coach my son in high school any time."

They could've easily been 5-1 after this weekend, yet will be at best .500 when they start a devastating stretch through November. Following the Chiefs, they play Philadelphia, twice Atlanta, Denver, Dallas, and New Orleans.

Excluding currently winless teams, the Redskins have the longest odds to win the NFC this year on Bodog. They are a 50-to-1 longshot to dig themselves out of the hole.

You can also find NFL Betting Lines at Bodog and several other USA Online Sportsbooks.

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