The typical sports guy/media is lazy and irresponsible

Sonny Jurgensen tries to GET Jim Zorn...

Plenty of fans and analysts have questioned the 3rd-and-5 play call midway through the third quarter, when Jim Zorn dialed up a halfback option to Clinton Portis, whose pass fell incomplete in the end zone. The Redskins then settled for their third field goal. Legendary Redskins quarterback and radio analyst Sonny Jurgensen was among those who questioned the call, but he did so while talking with Zorn during the postgame show.

"Third down, I'm the quarterback, and you call the halfback throwing the ball for me, I'm calling timeout or calling an audible," Jurgensen said. "I'm not letting the halfback throw it. That's what you pay me for."

"Well then, I would have to take you out of the game," Zorn countered. "As soon as you called timeout, I'd say what's wrong with my play, because...."

"It didn't work!" Jurgensen interrupted.

There was a long pause.

"No, but I called it to work. Alright?" Zorn said. "We called it to work. It didn't work. There were a lot of plays out there that didn't work. And I'd take you out of the game. Sorry, Sonny."

Zorn was also asked about that play during his Monday press conference.

"It was a play we had in our gameplan, it wasn't a grab bag," Zorn said. "And we thought if we showed run...because we had been running edge runs with Clinton on the goal line. And I thought, 'All right, here it is.' And Clinton has thrown touchdown passes before. Well what happened was, when we came off the line of scrimmage, we came off backing up, and when the [Rams] saw that, they just played it right down the line. The safety felt that this was gonna be a pass....And so we had to kick a field goal."

Zorn was then asked if he was still happy with his play-calling in the red zone; "Yeah, I am," he said. "I mean, if I could see it now, if I could see every play that was gonna fail before it failed, I'm with you. I wouldn't call it. But I felt very confident, because we work on it. We have to execute it, and I use that word sometimes, but we work on it. It's not a grab bag situation. Now I'm gonna go back and study it more, and I'm gonna be hard on myself as well, which is what I do. And we'll see what happened."

The typical sports guy plays the results and has simplistic lazy beliefs and declarations. That is, is Zorn's halfback pass play works he's a genius or Zorn saw an opportunity in the game and capitalized greatly. I mean cmon. It's a bad play call because it doesn't work.

The typical sports guy showed up again this week when he criticized Ted Ginn for dropping a pass in the final minutes of the Monday Night Football game against the Colts. Nevermind, Ginn had one of his greatest games of his young career on that same night (11 catches for 108 yards) or that he is not a Randy Moss type talent who's game is predicated on snatching balls out of the air in traffic and coverage. That's not his game. He is a speedster with ok hands. Get him the ball and let him run.



In the same night, the typical sports guy, also criticized head coach Tony Sparano for running the ball on 3rd down. The typical sports guy exclaimed that you HAVE to pass the ball on 3rd down in that spot and that if you don't pass the ball and go for the run you are not playing for the win and are playing for a field goal. This is probably the most infuriating assertion for a plethora of reasons. First, Why in the heck would a head coach that is 0-1 and on the verge of 0-2 not go for the win? Of course he is trying to go for the win. Next, Miami had 45 minutes of possession Monday night because of there great ability to run the ball. The Dolphins had 239 yards rushing the ball that night and were running the ball easily and efficiently. Lastly, and most importantly, Chad Pennington made the final decision. Once on the field, he was to read the defense/coverage and then make a decision. He went run. Not sure how you can call out Sparano there. Pennington is said to be the 2nd smartest QB in the league and ALLEGEDLY one of the most accurate passers in the league. Also, don't forget he was second in AFC MVP voting last year...

Sportynation, the typical sport's guy is a dangerous, dangerous person. He is everywhere. It's ok to second guess and criticize, but perspective is necessary. Hindsight is 20-20 and Monday Morning quarterbacking is soooooo old. Let's not be lazy and let's try to think. Let's use our brains and stop being so ridiculous.

This is my Minority Report.