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Since Joe Gibbs announced his retirement, and Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato took a more prominent role in personnel decisions, the Redskins, surprisingly, have made a series of not-insane moves that should make them better heading into 2008.

The head coaching search was a little shaky early in the proceedings, but by all accounts, Jim Zorn, the guy who eventually got the job, is perfectly suited to run the team. There's still the little issue of implementing the West Coast Offense, which Zorn picked up while working in Seattle under Mike Holmgren.

Former NFL personnel dude Mike Lombardi thinks the WCO is the exact wrong fit for a team comprised mainly of Joe Gibbs players.

Some of the assets he has on offense, like Santana Moss and Clinton Portis are not best highlighted in the west coast offense. Moss is an explosive player, who is best running over routes and deep comebacks, not slants and snags. When the Jets ran the west coast with Paul Hackett, Moss was the change of pace wide receiver he was used for specific routes as Laveranues Coles was the number one wide receiver.

Portis is best when he can run the zone scheme and is not very effective when it comes to pass protection--something the west coast tailback will have to handle.

I agree that Moss is probably better as a deep threat, but the Redskins did draft pass catchers with their first three picks -- two wideouts (Devin Thomas, Malcolm Kelly) and a tight end (Fred Davis). There's no reason to think Moss couldn't take on the role he had with the Jets when he played alongside Coles.

As for Portis, well, he's probably one of the best blocking backs in the league, so I'm not sure how Lombardi concludes he's a liability. Redskins fans concur.

Whatever, there will be an adjustment period for Washington's offense, just like there was in 2004 when Gibbs returned, and just like there was two years later, when Al Saunders' 700-page playbook was hired to magically make Mark Brunell competent. (In related news: Saunders has since been fired and Brunell released.)

The bar is set pretty low, so relatively speaking, I like Zorn's chances.