OWINGS MILLS — Weeks after Joe Flacco sounded off over the firing of quarterbacks coach Jim Zorn, the Baltimore Ravens’ quarterback met today with coach John Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron at the Ravens’ training complex.
Flacco had lobbied Harbaugh and owner Steve Bisciotti to retain Zorn, but his request wasn’t granted.
Zorn was hired by the Kansas City Chiefs as quarterbacks coach earlier this week.
Flacco made it clear that he wasn’t happy with the firing.
"I’m not happy about it, they know that I’m not happy about it," Flacco said last month. "It’s not news to them. They know I’m not happy about it, and my feelings aren’t going to change. I’m not going to be happy about it, for a long time.
"This year will be what it is. We’re going to be successful this year. I would have just liked him to be a part of it. He would have liked to be a part of it, and I think it would have been good for him to be a part of it."
Flacco said he took the dismissal of Zorn personally following his career-best season with 3,622 passing yards, 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions for a 93.6 passer rating.
"I also feel like a little bit like I’m being attacked," Flacco said. "You fire the quarterback coach. Usually when you fire a position coach, it’s because you’re not really happy with how that position did. And when I look back on my season and our season as a team, I mean, we won 13 games.
"I felt like I had a pretty good year and you’re firing the quarterback coach? It’s kind of an attack on me, I feel like.
You know, it is what it is. It’s not that big of a deal for me to feel like it."
Zorn wasn’t regarded as a great fit for the staff because of his unorthodox drills.
He was fired following a meeting with Harbaugh that lasted several hours.
Privately, Zorn was often described as quirky or odd in terms of his coaching style. He did get along well with Flacco, though.
And there was a disconnect between the former Washington Redskins coach, a West Coast disciple who believes in short, quick passes, and Cameron, a follower of the Don Coryell philosophy built on a physical running game and a vertical passing game.
"I’m disappointed and they know I’m disappointed," Flacco said. "I don’t think it was a good decision, and they know that. I expressed that throughout the whole time it was going on, I expressed how much I didn’t think it would be good for us.
"My opinion isn’t going to change. I think Jim was a great coach, I think he was great for our team. I think he was great for me. That’s how I feel about it."
Flacco denied the existence of communication issues between Zorn and Cameron.
"No, not really," Flacco said. "I think Jim was a great coach."
Heading into his fourth NFL season, this will be Flacco’s third quarterback coach in the past three years.
"Things will go just great," Flacco said. "We’ve got a bunch of guys who want to win football games and we’re going to win football games. That’s what we do, on a year to year basis. We’d like to win a little bit more than we have the last couple of years, but, hey, that’s how it goes sometimes.
"I guess Cam is going to take more of a role in the quarterback room, he’s always in the quarterback room. He’s going to have his influence. He’s the offensive coordinator. We’re going to do things the way he wants them. And I still wish Jim would have been part of that."
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