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News | Washington Commanders - Commanders.com

Jim Zorn Post-Game Press Conference

On if he thought about taking quarterback Jason Campbell out of the game during the first quarter:

"No, especially because I thought he was into the game. It was really frustrating for us all. I started looking at the game plan and looking at what else could go wrong that I was calling. It's really on me. I'm the play-caller here. I felt very frustrated trying to get that sequence, I couldn't get it started."

On feelings of team efforts:
"Here's what I love about our football team: everybody maintained their poise. In the locker room, we didn't have any yelling. We just came in and said, 'here are our adjustments, here is what we are going to do.' We felt like our game plan was sound. We came back in the second half and we started really moving the ball on these guys. Offensively, it was like two different halves. This is what I want people to see, we had more heroic efforts. Number one, Shaun Suisham came in because our punter (Hunter Smith) pulled his groin, which is why he came out. For him to be the soul kicker we had I thought he a great job. I thought we covered things fairly well. Our special teams, we had to come through. But our defense had a tremendous day. If you don't look at what we did on offense in the first half, our defense shut them down, it was just incredible. They got a few things on us but I thought we were very active and we played with passion on defense. We hung in there even when they moved the ball a little bit, and I was really proud of what they did. I'm proud of Greg Blache and our defensive players. I can't wait to watch it (the video) because it was a great effort. That is what kept us in the ball game. Then, our offense did a nice job in the second half."

On what changes he saw from Jason Campbell during the second half:
"He just kept standing strong. The thing that I kept telling Jason Campbell was, 'just get back in line. Don't all of a sudden create something new that is going to let the game plan, go or you're going to try to do something on your own. When the play is called just read and throw. When the play is called run the show.' He is the general out there keeping the offense going. I thought our boys were very poised. Clinton {Portis} ran hard and Mike Sellers blocked hard. We blocked the edges very well in the second half and somewhat in the first half. They (the Buccaneers) did a wonderful job with some of their schemes to take us out in the first half. I just kept looking for that rhythm, and the play selection that was going to get guys unleashed since we had a difficult time in the first half."

On if he thought it was a tough decision to go for it on 4th down:
"It was a hard decision. We were outside of my comfort level with Shaun Suisham as our punter and I didn't want them to come after him. We didn't pooch punt it very well the first punt, so I had all these things going through my mind, but I had the right play. It was a suggestion by offensive assistant Chris Meidt, and actually a fourth or third down play that we call. The guy that was covering Chris Cooley jumps Santana [Moss] and that left Chris uncovered. It took a lot for Jason [Campbell] to be able to find him because it was a heroic effort."

On the catch made by wide receiver Santana Moss:
"They were all over him with double coverage. They took him out early. When we started running the ball they started bringing their safety up in the box. If you want to see a great move by a wide receiver watch what he did to the corner. It was going to be tough on him because they were playing him tight, trying to play the safety over the top, but the play action pass held the safety inside and Santana just had his way with that guy. It was a great throw. I don't think he had to move, that ball was right on the money. It's our playmakers making plays, it's the execution of that play, and it was great all the way around."

On the performances of defensive end Jeremy Jarmon and cornerback Justin Tryon:
"Last week Jeremy got 17 plays and we felt like he had a great effort when we got him involved. One of the things that make it easy for Jeremy coming in was everyone else putting in their downs allows Jeremy to come in fresh and ready to go. That's going to help us as we go further along in the season. We put Justin Tryon inside. One of the things we did differently is we put DeAngelo Hall at the corner position and left him there. In the early games we were putting DeAngelo inside, now we put Justin inside. His cushion tightened way up, and he did a nice job today."

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