Zornography

Before we resume regularly scheduled Spring Training coverage, we have some Kansas City Chiefs off-season news! With Mike Solari, I mean, Bill Muir as the new offensive co-ordinator, the Chiefs had yet to get someone to "fix the quarterback," which had been the theme of the offense since the end of the 2009 season. Charlie Weis managed to do make some progress at it last year (as far as we know). Despite fading at the end, we are all witnesses to tremendous improvement in Cassel's decision-making last year.* But the job was/is far from finished. Muir had been the Chiefs' offensive line coach for the last 2 years, and previously was an offensive coordinator that did not call plays at Tampa Bay (he mostly worked with the O-line there) and a defensive coordinator (not often these days you see a coach work on both sides of the ball) for the Colts way back in 1989-1990. He will turn 69 during the 2011-2012 season (pessimists read: 2011-2012 lockout). The man is ancient.

*Much better 'Decision' making than the man in the picture.

His age + offensive line coach = Run philosophy.

Chiefs fans had plenty of reason to worry. The Chiefs missed on Mike McCoy and Greg Olson and had to settle on Muir. Clearly this meant Haley was calling the plays, which did not go so well in 2009 (though with two seasons under his belt, could go better in 2011), and either:

1) Haley would have to tutor Cassel himself on top of play-calling and normal head-coaching duties
or
2) Leave it to inexperienced though promising assistant Nick Sirianni and Bill Muir, who, despite his run philosophy I would still rather have than the other old man, the Curmudgeon and Herm Disciple himself, Dick Curl.

So on Tuesday, the Chiefs hired Jim Zorn* to be their QB coach. Zorn served as Baltimore's QB coach in 2010-2011 and was fired after their loss in the playoffs to the Steelers when Flacco threw for only 125 yards. Flacco threw for a career high in yards (3,622), TDs (25), and a career low in INTs (10) in the regular season though, and it looks like Zorn was served up as the sacrificial lamb to save Cam Cameron's job (whose offense, with the exception of Flacco, could be best described as "underwhelming." Ray Rice regressed and the WRs were miserable).

*Just look at that form!

Zorn also served a miserable time as head coach of the Redskins that he obviously wasn't ready for (he was taken from Seattle to be offensive coordinator, which he had never done before, and then promoted to head coach in the same off-season) and he caught a lot of [deserved] flak for it. But before all that, Zorn was the one in Seattle who turned Matt Hasselbeck into an effective quarterback, breaking several all-time Seahawks records that he set when he was the quarterback there.

Zorn was obviously promoted to his level of incompetence in Washington, but "fixing" quarterbacks is his expertise. If anyone can fix Cassel, it's him.