Tribal Warfare
02-15-2011, 10:37 PM
Chiefs hire Zorn as QB coach to help Cassel keep progressing (http://www.kansascity.com/2011/02/15/2658602/chiefs-hire-zorn-as-qb-coach-to.html)
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
I n 2009, Matt Cassel’s first season with the Chiefs, his development was stunted as he worked without the daily input of a designated offensive coordinator or dedicated quarterback coach.
In 2010, while working closely on a daily basis with coordinator Charlie Weis, Cassel guided the Chiefs to the AFC West championship and earned a Pro Bowl spot.
This lesson wasn’t lost on Chiefs coach Todd Haley. After promoting offensive line coach Bill Muir to offensive coordinator to replace the departed Weis two weeks ago, Haley set out to hire a quarterback coach with plenty of experience.
Haley found one Tuesday in Jim Zorn. Zorn was an NFL quarterbacks coach for 11 seasons with Seattle, Detroit and, in 2010, Baltimore. Before that, Zorn played quarterback in the NFL for 11 seasons, mostly with Seattle.
He also gives Haley’s staff a second former NFL head coach, joining defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel. Zorn coached Washington in 2008 and 2009 and was fired after compiling a 12-20 record.
Haley was unavailable to talk about Zorn’s hiring. But he alluded to the importance of finding a qualified quarterback coach when he promoted Muir.
“The development of Matt Cassel is a key ingredient in us continuing to make progress,” Haley said. “To me, now we have a chance to go into a third full year relatively unchanged from a system-terminology standpoint.
“The No. 1 thing from Matt must be understanding protections when it comes to the pass game and understanding the run game in a system like ours in which we’re making a number of checks at the line of scrimmage. So Bill and Matt have had to work very closely together over the last two years and they’ll obviously continue to work even closer.”
Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck and Baltimore’s Joe Flacco are among the quarterbacks Zorn has helped to develop. Washington’s Jason Campbell also reached career-highs in passing yards, touchdowns and passer rating while Zorn was head coach.
Hasselbeck was a three-time Pro Bowler and reached the Super Bowl while Zorn coached the Seahawks during 2001-07. Flacco last season was the NFL’s seventh-rated passer, one notch above Cassel. Flacco threw for 3,622 yards, 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Zorn was fired after the season, which included a 30-7 first-round playoff win over the Chiefs. His departure angered Flacco.
“I’m disappointed and they know I’m disappointed,” Flacco told the Carroll County Times in Maryland. “I don’t think it was a good decision, and they know that. I expressed that throughout the whole time it was going on, I expressed how much I didn’t think it would be good for us. My opinion isn’t going to change.”
The Chiefs went 4-12 and Cassel had one of the league’s lowest passer ratings in 2009, when Haley served as offensive coordinator as well as head coach. The Chiefs that season had no quarterback coach after firing offensive coordinator Chan Gailey during the preseason.
Haley hired Weis last year and part of his job, as Weis put it, was to “fix the quarterback.” Cassel completed only 58.2 percent of his passes but threw for 27 touchdowns and only seven interceptions.
Now it’s up to Zorn to keep Cassel progressing and develop the same comfort level he had with Flacco in Baltimore.
“I think Jim was a great coach, I think he was great for our team,” Flacco said, “I think he was great for me.”
KC talks to Shaun Rogers
The contracts of nose tackles Ron Edwards and Shaun Smith are soon to expire, so the Chiefs did some shopping by visiting with 350-pound free agent Shaun Rogers.
Rogers, who will be 32 next month, was a starter for all of his 10 NFL seasons until last season, when he started one game for Cleveland.
Otherwise, he has been one of the league’s top run defenders.
Rogers also has 37 1/2 career sacks.
The Browns released Rogers after the end of the season.
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
I n 2009, Matt Cassel’s first season with the Chiefs, his development was stunted as he worked without the daily input of a designated offensive coordinator or dedicated quarterback coach.
In 2010, while working closely on a daily basis with coordinator Charlie Weis, Cassel guided the Chiefs to the AFC West championship and earned a Pro Bowl spot.
This lesson wasn’t lost on Chiefs coach Todd Haley. After promoting offensive line coach Bill Muir to offensive coordinator to replace the departed Weis two weeks ago, Haley set out to hire a quarterback coach with plenty of experience.
Haley found one Tuesday in Jim Zorn. Zorn was an NFL quarterbacks coach for 11 seasons with Seattle, Detroit and, in 2010, Baltimore. Before that, Zorn played quarterback in the NFL for 11 seasons, mostly with Seattle.
He also gives Haley’s staff a second former NFL head coach, joining defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel. Zorn coached Washington in 2008 and 2009 and was fired after compiling a 12-20 record.
Haley was unavailable to talk about Zorn’s hiring. But he alluded to the importance of finding a qualified quarterback coach when he promoted Muir.
“The development of Matt Cassel is a key ingredient in us continuing to make progress,” Haley said. “To me, now we have a chance to go into a third full year relatively unchanged from a system-terminology standpoint.
“The No. 1 thing from Matt must be understanding protections when it comes to the pass game and understanding the run game in a system like ours in which we’re making a number of checks at the line of scrimmage. So Bill and Matt have had to work very closely together over the last two years and they’ll obviously continue to work even closer.”
Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck and Baltimore’s Joe Flacco are among the quarterbacks Zorn has helped to develop. Washington’s Jason Campbell also reached career-highs in passing yards, touchdowns and passer rating while Zorn was head coach.
Hasselbeck was a three-time Pro Bowler and reached the Super Bowl while Zorn coached the Seahawks during 2001-07. Flacco last season was the NFL’s seventh-rated passer, one notch above Cassel. Flacco threw for 3,622 yards, 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Zorn was fired after the season, which included a 30-7 first-round playoff win over the Chiefs. His departure angered Flacco.
“I’m disappointed and they know I’m disappointed,” Flacco told the Carroll County Times in Maryland. “I don’t think it was a good decision, and they know that. I expressed that throughout the whole time it was going on, I expressed how much I didn’t think it would be good for us. My opinion isn’t going to change.”
The Chiefs went 4-12 and Cassel had one of the league’s lowest passer ratings in 2009, when Haley served as offensive coordinator as well as head coach. The Chiefs that season had no quarterback coach after firing offensive coordinator Chan Gailey during the preseason.
Haley hired Weis last year and part of his job, as Weis put it, was to “fix the quarterback.” Cassel completed only 58.2 percent of his passes but threw for 27 touchdowns and only seven interceptions.
Now it’s up to Zorn to keep Cassel progressing and develop the same comfort level he had with Flacco in Baltimore.
“I think Jim was a great coach, I think he was great for our team,” Flacco said, “I think he was great for me.”
KC talks to Shaun Rogers
The contracts of nose tackles Ron Edwards and Shaun Smith are soon to expire, so the Chiefs did some shopping by visiting with 350-pound free agent Shaun Rogers.
Rogers, who will be 32 next month, was a starter for all of his 10 NFL seasons until last season, when he started one game for Cleveland.
Otherwise, he has been one of the league’s top run defenders.
Rogers also has 37 1/2 career sacks.
The Browns released Rogers after the end of the season.