Coach Zorn Addresses The Crowd (Updated With Transcript)
Posted by Matt Terl on August 8, 2009 – 5:00 pmCourtesy of Redskins Broadcast Network, here’s Coach Jim Zorn’s pre-practice address to the crowd, in which he talks about the defense being ahead of the offense, lays out the team’s ultimate goals, and accidentally refers to rookie Kevin Barnes as “Keith”.
(UPDATE: Yes, I know the image appears to be some random kid, not Coach Zorn as you might expect. There’s a commercial in the preroll, because it’s RBN footage, and the software has incorrectly guessed that the kid from the commercial makes for the best thumbnail image. I promise you’ll see Coach Zorn, not Random Kid, once the thing gets going.)
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According to Rick Maese’s Twitter feed, Barnes’ reaction to the misidentification was, “I gotta prove myself out there.”
(UPDATE 2: Transcript after the jump.)
Coach Zorn: “Welcome to y’all – glad that you’re here. Listen, I want you to know it’s 2009 and we’re trying to put out the best 2009 football team we possibly can. This is the tenth day of our training camp and we’ve come a distance. We’ve been working out here every day trying to get better. We’re especially good right now, I think, on defense. We’re getting better on offense, I think our run game has really excelled. I think our passing game is still continuning to come, which you’re going to see today.
“But let me give you a view of what you’re going to be seeing today.
“Our players are going to start coming out in about 10 or 15 minutes. We’re going to start warming up. Once we start the scrimmage after our warmup, you’re going to see punts. You’re going to see our new punter, Hunter Smith. If you’ve got a stopwatch, check out his hang time, look at his distance. We’re only going to kick six balls, that’s all we’re going to kick.
“Then, we’re going to start playing offense. You’re going to see our first offense versus our second defense. So, you’re going to see Jason Campbell as we go along. You’re going to see a variety of young players. Then secondly, you’re going to see Colt Brennan with our second offense versus our first defense. So, you’re going to see Colt Brennan today. Then we’re going to come back with Jason Campbell again. Then, you’re going to see a young quarterback who’s trying to make it in his first year out of the University of Missouri, Chase Daniel. And then we’re going to go right to the red zone and start working our red zone plays to try to score on our defense in one play. And that’s going to be the end. So I would tell you this: watch fast because it’s going to happen in about 45 minutes to an hour long.
“Then, we’re going to try and break up after that and sign a few autographs for a few minutes. You may not get everybody, but we’re going to spread the team out and try to give as many autographs as we can. And then we’re going to scoot everybody off the field and then you’ll have an opportunity to bask in what you just saw with the Washington Redskins.
“Now listen, I will tell you this – you’re going to see players out here today warming up that are not going to participate in the scrimmage. We’ve got a tremendous player in Albert Haynesworth and he’s had a superior camp. He’s going to be watching today. You’re not going to see him knock anybody down today. You’ll see that in preseason and during the regular season, but not today. We’re also going to hold back several other players.
“Clinton Portis will be out here, but he will not participate in the scrimmage. You’ll see him, though, and he’ll be out here warming up and doing his thing. There are several other players that have some bumps and bruises that we’d like to scrimmage, but cannot because we’re getting them back into top form – we’ve got a couple of little hamstring problems and things like that. You’ll see them out here, but you won’t see them participate. What we really need to see, and our objective, is to see some of those new young guys like Brian Orakpo, like Keith [actually Kevin] Barnes, like other young players – we’ve got some linebackers we need to see. Our objective is to get those guys out and get them to hit.
“This is a live scrimmage, so it is live on everybody except for our quarterbacks. So, you won’t see our quarterback get tackled. And we’re just going to start out, we’re going to try to go down and score. If we don’t, we’re going to come back and start it again and try to go down and score. If we get into field goal range, you’re going to see our kickers come out and try to kick field goals. If we score, you’re going to see them try to kick extra points. And that’s the scrimmage.
“I just want to thank you so much for coming. I know that this is a new beginning for us in 2009. Our goal is to win the championship. And let me tell you what that entails.
“First, we’ve got to win our division – we’ve got to beat the Cowboys, the Giants, and the Eagles – we’ve got to win our division. Then, we’ve got to win the NFC, the NFC conference championship. And that gets us an opportunity to get to the Super Bowl in Miami this year. If we get to the Super Bowl, our goal is not just to participate in the game because if you lose it, you lose, you’re a loser. We’re going there to win if we get the opportunity to win, I mean if we get the opportunity to play.
“So those are the goals that we have in mind. We want you to be as big a part of it as you are today. We thank you so much for coming. You’re great fans.
“We’ll see you at Fedex Field in two weeks, or three weeks, to play the Pittsburgh Steelers. And we’re going to see you next week in Baltimore when they host us, the Baltimore Ravens. I can’t wait to play this season. It begins today.
“Enjoy the scrimmage and don’t be in a hurry to leave. There’s only one way in here, and there’s only one way out. Stay calm. Act medium.”
Thanks to Intern Seth for transcription work.
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