4 NFL teams taking a chance on inexperience at helm

Sep. 11--When Washington Coach Jim Zorn took the Redskins into the Meadowlands last week to face the reigning world-champion New York Giants, he did so as head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Wearing all three hats in this complicated age of the NFL is practically unheard of, but Zorn's case was particularly rare. He had never so much as called a play as a coach or coordinator in 20 years in the coaching profession.

It showed.

Zorn's team looked unprepared, indecisive and at times clueless in a 16-7 defeat. His play-calling and clock-management bordered on amateurish and his next-day postmortem of his rookie performance suggested as much. The Redskins threw for just 125 yards and netted 11 first downs.

"I didn't quite punch myself in the face," Zorn said. "But I was angry."

Now contrast that debut to the one made by Atlanta's Mike Smith against Detroit. When he was hired eight months ago, the folks in Georgia let out a collective "Who?" Smith came from his post as defensive coordinator in Jacksonville, but any connotation of the Jaguars and defense brought to mind the image of Jack Del Rio.

On Sunday, the Falcons overwhelmed the Detroit Lions in a smashing 34-21 unveiling that featured a team-record 308 rushing yards and a 62-yard touchdown strike on the first pass of rookie first-round pick Matt Ryan's career.

"I thought the offense did an outstanding job of setting out and doing what we wanted to do -- and that was to start fast and be able to run the football," said Smith, who will bring his Falcons (1-0) to Tampa Bay (0-1) this weekend. "We've been talking about that from Day 1."

Last week was Day 1 for all four of the NFL's infant coaches, each of whom was wearing the Grown-Up Headset for the first time. It may take a few weeks to get the names of these guys down.

Remember, it's Jim Zorn, not Zook.

And it's Mike Smith, not Jones.

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