Larry Brown Sports

Assuming the Colts don’t shock everyone and decide to take Robert Griffin III instead of Andrew Luck with the first overall pick in the draft next month, Griffin is going to wind up with the Redskins. It’s no secret that Washington traded with the Rams because they’re salivating over the Baylor product. The question now becomes whether or not Griffin is a fit with the Mike and Kyle Shanahan offense. Donovan McNabb, who had some experience with the system, doesn’t seem to think it will work.

When asked if he thought Griffin would be a goof fit for the Redskins on ESPN First Take, McNabb immediately said, “No.” He then said that Washington offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan brought his offense over from when he was with the Texans and tries to force the quarterback to adapt to the system.

“A lot of times ego gets too involved when it comes to being in Washington,” McNabb said according to Pro Football Talk. “Here’s a guy coming out who’s very talented, mobile, strong arm, we’ve already heard he’s intelligent, football mind. Are you going to cater the offense around his talent, and what he’s able to do, or are you going to bring the Houston offense with Matt Schaub over to him and have him kind of be embedded in that?”

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The Redskins were on the Baylor campus Wednesday checking out the pro day of likely their next quarterback, Robert Griffin III. The Redskins’ contingent, which included owner Dan Snyder, head coach Mike Shanahan, his son and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, and GM Bruce Allen, flew into Waco on Tuesday and evidently soon after made their way to a local Hooters. Can’t imagine a more awkward fit than Dan Snyder going to Hooters.

According to one Waco-area Skins fan, that wasn’t the first restaurant/bar they went to Tuesday night. On a Redskins message board, the fan wrote a first person account of meting the team’s brass at another watering hole that night, where they were meeting with Griffin. (Among the more interesting details, the fan recounts a conversation he has with Allen: “He talked about how excited they are about RG3 and how Griffin is glad it wasn’t Cleveland that moved up to number 2.” Yikes, Cleveland just can’t catch a break.) The thread became quite popular also turned up the above Hooters photo. Shanahan and Snyder can say they went for the wings, but we all know nobody goes to Hooters for wings (except Pacman Jones).

Oh, and Griffin looks like he’s going to be really good.

Helmet knock to Hogs Haven via DC Sports Bog
Photo via ExtremeSkins

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

With the passing of Al Davis over the weekend came many stories about how he changed the game of football for the better.  Davis was glorified by players, fans, and writers and much of the praise he received is deserved.  While Davis left behind a legacy of positives — as we outlined in our piece on Saturday — the fact that he was not a very well-liked figure across much of the league has been somewhat lost.

On Wednesday, Rick Maese of the Washington Post dug up a 13-year-old NY Times article that reminds us Davis had as many friends as he did enemies when he was alive.  One of those enemies was Mike Shanahan, who was the head coach of the Raiders for just over a season in 1988 and 1989 before a feud about money became too much for both men to handle.

In 1994, Shanahan was the offensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers.  Prior to a game with the Raiders, he was working with quarterback Elvis Grbac, who says Shanahan ordered him to throw a ball at Davis’ head from about 30 feet away.

“I can’t do that,” Grbac said he replied. “If I hit him, do you know what he could do to me?”

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The Washington Redskins hope to have a new punter joining them this season.  Sav Rocca, a 37-year-old former rugby player from Australia, spent the last three seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles.  He has yet to arrive in Washington, however, as he is currently held up in Australia waiting for his work visa to be processed.  With the regular season creeping up fairly quickly, Mike Shanahan needs his punter to report to camp.

We all know Shanahan has a reputation for ruling with an iron first.  Mark Schlereth has plenty of personal experience working with Shanahan and he thinks he’s a control freak.  When you consider what he did to Albert Haynesworth at the end of last season and the decision he made to bench Donovan McNabb, that isn’t hard to believe.

Now, Shanahan has a simple message for his Australian punter: Marry an American.

“He’s got a job here in the U.S.,” Shanahan told reporters as passed along by Shutdown Corner. “Eventually they’ll let him go or, at least, I’m hoping they let him go. If not, I told him to get married to an American and that’ll make it easier.”

Shanahan is obviously joking and doesn’t expect Rocca to marry an American just so he can get his visa more smoothly.  Or is he?  The Redskins aren’t exactly filled with game-changers heading into the upcoming season, so Shanahan could be starting to get a little nervous.  Yes, even over a punter.

An NFL coach needs to be in control at all times, especially in this day and age. There are dozens of assistant coaches, offensive coordinators, defensive coordinators, and positional specialists, but it’s always important to have someone sitting at the top of the food chain. But how much control is too much? According to Mark Schlereth, look no further than Mike Shanahan and you’ll find the answer.

Schlereth shared his thoughts about the coach he played six seasons and won two Super Bowls under on Mike and Mike in the Morning on Friday, via Pro Football Talk. “I would say the one criticism I have is a lot of times he’s such a control freak that he doesn’t allow his coaches to coach,” Schlereth said. “I think that’s an issue. You have to have a system of checks and balances where you can argue, you can fight and you can say, ‘We’re not going to do it that way.’ I don’t know that he still has that in the place that he is now, or at the end of his tenure in Denver.”

There is certainly evidence to support Schlereth’s claim.  We all know Albert Haynesworth is a piece of work, but Shanahan has done things like bench the defensive tackle for being a minute late to practice and give up on Donovan McNabb in the fourth quarter of a close game — moves that probably haven’t helped improve team chemistry for the Redskins.  Changing quarterbacks in a close game can’t exactly make life easier on the offensive coordinator, but that’s okay because Washington’s OC is Shanahan’s son.

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It appears there’s at least one guy out there who feels Donovan McNabb’s pain.  Much has been made over Mike Shanahan’s decision to bench McNabb in favor of Rex Grossman with the game on the line last weekend.  While Shanahan has denied it, several reports indicate the Redskins coach is unhappy with McNabb’s conditioning and his lack of effort during practice.

According to former Denver Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer, that’s just Mike being Mike.  Plummer said he thinks Shanahan’s expectations tend to be too high, especially for his quarterbacks.  Out of Bounds passed along Plummer’s thoughts on the McNabb situation:

It just seemed like every game I could have completed these four more passes or these five more shots here and it would have been perfect. And that just wasn’t my personality… But Shanahan wanted perfection and he wore a lot of us down there.”

“I think Shanahan is still searching for John Elway,” Plummer said. “Somehow, someway, he thinks there’s going to be another guy like John Elway.”

“He coached a team to almost perfection (with Elway) so he wanted that again, he wanted that every time we went out there. It’s just not realistic.”

Maybe it’s just me, but it sounds like Shanahan’s mentality is consistent with that of all the great coaches in sports.  Does Bill Belichick ever truly seem satisfied?  How about Bill Parcells?  Mike Ditka doesn’t seem like the positive reinforcement type, does he?  You get the point.  Some guys need a pat on the back to keep them going and some coaches aren’t going to give it to them.  If that’s what McNabb is looking for, his stay in D.C. will likely be a short one.