Bro Sweets Ain't Crazy About 'Skins Offense

Maybe Jim Zorn's offense is a bad fit for everybody. Following the Thursday night season-opening shellacking by the Giants, some scouts wondered if quarterback Jason Campbell was the exact wrong fit for the West Coast scheme Zorn brought with him from Seattle. The answer, it seems, is a resounding yes.

And the same holds true for running back Clinton Portis, apparently. Based on the post-game comments, some 'Skins fans have had it with Coach Janky Spanky and his inability to get out of the backfield. But, again, that could be a by-product of Zorn's system. At least to hear Portis tell it:

In an interview Wednesday, Portis, Washington's top back since the 2004 season, said he wished he "could go to a team for one week with the best offensive line, or the team with the best scheme, and switch places with their back and see how others would do in this system."

[After the loss to the Giants] Portis was open about his frustration having to dodge "all the people in the backfield, fighting just to get back to the line of scrimmage, and people [are] looking around like, 'Oh, he just missed it.' I'm dodging people getting the handoff, because nobody's really respecting us as a passing team."

It's hard to argue with that logic: Campbell was just 15 of 27 for 133 yards against New York, and managed just 5.2 yards per completion during the preseason. It's much easier to formulate a defensive game plan when the offense is one dimensional. Whatever, Zorn seems unfazed. When informed of Portis' comments earlier this week, he offered this.

"Do I need to say anything to him? It depends on if it was tongue-and-cheek or serious as a heart attack," Zorn said. "I would say this: He has not shown any frustration at all out at practice. He's been everything that we've wanted him to be as we've started the football season." ...

I mean, yeah, it is hard. He's right about that. But it's not because of the scheme or where the passing game is. Those kinds of things, he might be concerned about 'em, but he doesn't have to be concerned about 'em. And I don't see him being concerned about 'em. He hasn't expressed anything like that to me."

To summarize: Clinton Portis is troubled by the sorry state of the passing game, along with just about everybody else not on the 'Skins' coaching staff. Jim Zorn declares that Portis has nothing to worry about; the scheme's not the problem, although he doesn't offer any hint as to what it might be. (My guess: the passing game.)

No need to panic, though: Vinny Cerrato, the man behind the man behind the man, is pulling the strings. No way this ends badly.