Following a disappointing loss to the Carolina Panthers last
week, Mike Shanahan seemingly threw in the towel on the 2012 season. In his post-game press conference, Shanahan
said he would use the rest of the season to evaluate the players and determine who
“is going to be on your football team for years to come.”
Shanahan spent a good deal of time last
week back-tracking, but while he was talking about evaluating player’s futures,
a lot of people began to think about his.
The Redskins may not be mathematically
eliminated from the playoffs, but they face an uphill climb. The team is only 14-27 under Shanahan and, barring
an incredible run to finish the season, he will have failed to lead the
Redskins to the playoffs in any of his three seasons. At this point, many would have expected more
progress.
It is not as if the Redskins have been
quietly bad either. Albert Haynesworth,
Donovan McNabb, and John Beck all served as black-eyes to the
organization. While Shanahan did not
bring in Haynesworth, he clearly mishandled the situation. Bringing in his son, Kyle, to coach the
offense felt like nepotism at its worst and Kyle has done little to prove
otherwise. Defensively, the Redskins
have been trying to convert to a 3-4 defense for three years and still look as
if they lack to personnel to run it successfully.
While Shanahan may have whiffed on a
lot since coming to Washington, he finally got things right with Griffin. Now the Redskins have one of the most
electrifying players in the game and someone they can build an offense
around. Shanahan deserves some credit for
gambling so much on a player who already looks to be paying off nine games into
his career.
Changing coaches now could also hurt
Griffin’s growth as an NFL player. If
Mike goes, Kyle is going with him. A new
coach will bring a new offense. True, a
coach with any sense at all will base his offense around Griffin’s skills and
make it as easy a transition as possible, but never the less, they will bring a
new system with them.
At one time, Jason Campbell was also
thought to be the future franchise QB, but he never was
able to get comfortable because he had to learn a new offense almost every
year. Daniel Snyder is not about to let
that happen to Griffin.
While it is true that the Redskins have
not seen much progress in terms of wins and losses, there has been
progress. The team was a mess after the
Jim Zorn era. The Redskins have started
to build through the draft rather than buying over-the-hill talent. They have committed to a slow and steady
approach, now is not the time to start over.
A lot of frustration came boiling over
last week in the wake of Shanahan’s comments, but what was your expectation for
the season? With an $18 million cap
penalty that prevented the team from fixing glaring personnel flaws as well as
a rookie quarterback, the outlook for the season was glum. Griffin has been great and helped the
Redskins to a 3-3 record to start the season, but they were overachieving; the
team is not yet ready for the postseason.
I would argue that the fairest measure
for Shanahan will be the 2014 season.
The cap penalty will carry over to next season and the Redskins will not
have a first round draft pick thanks to the Griffin trade. This will continue to handcuff Shanahan’s
ability to make this team better. The 2014
year will be Shanahan’s fifth and final year of his initial contract. It will be the ultimate test to see if
Shanhan has truly improved this team. If
the Redskins are still a basement-dweller, then it’s time to move on.
Two more years, however, may be too
long for Snyder. Things will have to get
a whole lot worse this season for Shanahan to be in any real trouble, but you
do wonder how long Snyder can remain patient.
Cap penalty or no, Shanahan is going to have to show a reason why he
should remain coach or he will not be around to evaluate his players anymore.
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