We take you now to the huddle of the Washington Redskins' offense.

Quarterback Jason Campbell has listened to the play that has been sent in by head coach Jim Zorn, "2 Jet X Dagger Y Shallow Cross."

Campbell nods, leans into the huddle and says, "Far Right Slot 2 Jet X Dagger Y Shallow Cross. On three. Break."

Got that?

No?

OK. "Far right slot" is the formation. A receiver or tight end will line up about a yard off the line of scrimmage, in a slot between the right tackle and wide receiver.

You'll notice Zorn didn't say that.

"Quarterbacks have to know that's the formation that goes with that play," Zorn said.

"2 Jet" is the pass protection. The X receiver is running a dagger route, while the Y receiver will run a shallow cross."

Got it now?

Oh, you're wondering about how those two jets protect, the dagger route and the shallow cross.

We all are.

Zorn was willing to recite a play from the Redskins' offense and talk about the genesis of the vocabulary. He wasn't willing to diagram the play or explain it.

Coaches. Can't live with them. Can't live without them.

Zorn came to the Redskins after spending six seasons as the quarterbacks coach for Mike Holmgren and the Seattle Seahawks.

"All through my playing and coaching career, I've tried to think of words that mean something," Zorn said. "Mike always liked words that denoted fast: arrow, lightning, speedster. Not feather, Chevy or easy, things like that.

"I've come up with some words that actually didn't make it. Banana. Who would say banana? Who would ever think of '2 jet banana'? That sounds so goofy. You don't want to start laughing when you're in the huddle."

Much has been made of the number of words used to call a play in Zorn's offense. This is not unique to Zorn. It is a characteristic of the West Coast offense, which is heavy on words.

Zorn, though, is growing weary of the idea that only high-level Scrabble players can grasp his play calls.

"The quarterbacks have to process a lot," Zorn said. "For the players, it's a matter of listening in the huddle. Really, it's about listening. It's concentration more to me than real smarts.

"You learn the language. You hear it every day. You hear it at night. You hear the coaches talking about it. The language is coming at them all day long."

Lorenzo Alexander heard a lot of language last season. He began the year at defensive tackle. and when the Redskins ran out of offensive linemen, Alexander moved to guard/fullback/blocking tight end.

When Far Right Slot 2 Jet X Dagger Y Shallow Cross was recited to him, Alexander smiled and shook his head.

"If you're not used to hearing that stuff, it's long," Alexander said. "You've got to find the part that applies to you and go with it. That's how I learned it last year."

Alexander still might have to learn this language. He's been told to concentrate on defense now. But once the season begins, he might be pressed into duty on offense again.

Alexander is the rare player who can switch back and forth and experience a minimum of confusion when a play is called.

He's smart and also gives the game his total concentration when he's on the field and in meetings.

But he still prefers the language of the defense.

"A typical defensive call might be just three words," Alexander said. "Tiger Over Single. That tells you the front, who is blitzing, where the strength of the formation is going to be.

"We make adjustments before the snap, but if the offense doesn't do anything special, we might not say a thing."

Meanwhile, the players on offense are chattering away. A tackle might see a blitz coming and warn the guard next to him. The guard will pass it to the center, who will bark out an adjustment for everyone to hear.

"[Right tackle] Jon Jansen might say, 'Ice'," Alexander said.

And that means?

Alexander smiled again, then used a few words to dodge the question.

"Every team its own terminology," he said.

Now, isn't that a dagger straight to your Y shallow cross?

FURTHERMORE: Zorn declared free safety LaRon Landry "out" for the preseason game against Indianapolis Sunday. Landry's "tweaked" hamstring has kept him out of practice for a week and will sideline him for at least four more days. . . . Running back Ladell Betts rested his bruised thigh during today's workouts.