Mike Shanahan thinks the Redskins had a playoff-caliber offense last season
The Redskins struggled mightily in 2011, but the team didn’t exactly see it that way. For some reason, it sounds like they thought they were good. Washington finished the season with a record of 5-11, but quarterback Rex Grossman is under the impression that no team wanted to play them. Better yet, Mike Shanahan says he believes the team had an offense that was good enough to make the postseason.
“Well, I think we were a playoff-caliber offense this year,” Shanahan said during an interview with Redskins.com. “But we didn’t have the depth that you need to go through a season. You can’t lose your left tackle, your left guard, your center. You can’t lose your starting running back and tight end, especially your tight end that’s your best blocker in Chris Cooley. And then you lose Santana Moss for four or five games, and a guy like Hankerson who finally gets ready, he goes down.
“And it’s just part of football. There’s no excuses. But what you have to do is you have to build your football team, where you can lose three or four guys on offense, you can lose three or four guys on defense, you’re deep enough to still win football games. And that is what great organizations do.”
Whatever these guys are drinking, I want a sip. Injuries certainly didn’t help the Redskins, but they weren’t exactly the 2001 Rams or 2007 Patriots before the guys Shanahan mentioned went down. There are a few exceptions, but for the most part a playoff-caliber offense features an above-average quarterback. Whether it be Grossman or John Beck, Washington did not have that. If they did, they wouldn’t be trying to trade up in the draft to land Robert Griffin III.
H/T DC Sports Bog and Pro Football Talk
