Yahoo News (AP): Redskins players come to coach Shanahan's defense

[Jumbo]

Redskins players come to coach Shanahan's defense

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/redskin...2577--nfl.html

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) -- Mike Shanahan's players are supporting their coach after he seemingly wrote off the Washington Redskins' season and then said his comments had been misinterpreted.

''I thought he clarified exactly what he meant, how it wasn't portrayed the way it needed to be,'' said co-captain London Fletcher, a 15-year veteran. ''He let us know exactly how he feels about this season, how he feels about the guys in this locker room. Coach Shanahan's a proven winner, a two-time Super Bowl-winning head coach. He's not a person who gives up on a season.''

Fletcher doesn't agree with criticism of Shanahan for his comments.
''To portray him in that light is not fair to him, not fair to this football team. You get a couple of games to go your way, especially in November, you're right in the thick of things.''

Defensive end Chris Baker, who rose from the practice squad in 2011 to being in the rotation this year, said Shanahan's comments about evaluating personnel rang true.
''It's an evaluation period all year,'' Baker said. ''That's exactly how it is week to week. If you're not good enough, they're going to find someone to replace you.''

''The coaches put us in the right plays and put us in the right places,'' said left tackle Trent Williams, another co-captain. ''We're just not taking advantage of them.''

more at link

Relatedly:

Redskins' Shanahan puts new spin on comments

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/shanaha...0258--nfl.html

Shanahan admitted that he perhaps didn't give the ''perfect quote'' and that his words might not have been ''crystal clear'' when he spoke in the aftermath of Sunday's 21-13 loss to the Carolina Panthers, who entered the game with just one win on the season.

''The remaining seven games that we have, each game, is kind of like a playoff game,'' Shanahan said. ''And what you want to do is see how your players respond. ... We will see how they play from now on for the rest of the season, and we'd better get their best shot because they'll be evaluated every game.''

''What you need to do is stop it right away and tell the team what you meant, or what you intended to say, even though it might not have crystal clear,'' Shanahan said. ''I think everybody that knows me since I've been here, it doesn't matter what your record is, we're going to play to win every game.''

[thesubmittedone]

I'm sure this thread will get to as many pages as fast as some, uhm, other ones have.


lol, thanks for posting this though Jumbo. Just might have a calming affect, who knows.

And that second link to an article you provided was written by Joseph White who clearly has an agenda. He was the one who tried to back Mike in a corner at the end of the press conference yesterday and he's the one who seemed most offended by Mike's insistence that his quote was taken out of context. Whatever, Joseph. I'm sure you're just being an honest journalist.

[mAshparie36]

Finally some reasoning.

I don't know what's going on around here lately, but I've just been reading post after post of just overreaction.

The loss sucked yes, but toss Shanahan after 3 years and do the Redskins way of things like always?

I didn't see the big deal about his comments. Throwing in the towel? I read it as "I'm gonna start finding out who is good enough to be on this team"

And even still -- yeah, it's ok to start looking forward to 2013. Without being a complete kool-aid homer, does anyone honestly think we have a chance of competing? Like we're gonna get to the playoffs and just blow through anyone? Atlanta, Chicago, Green Bay, New York??

I'm sorry, I just don't see it. Lets be realistic. We are rebuilding.

[beachboy757]

I had been following certain players twitters, facebook accounts, etc and reading/watching a lot of the interviews since Sunday. If anything, it seems that these tough losses are bringing the team closer together. I haven't seen anything at all that shows these guys are quitters.

Hopefully this article will cool down the flames some.

[PapaLazarou]

Perhaps they should try to follow your quote?

[beachboy757]

Perhaps they should try to follow your quote?

lol. I agree. I was just saying that I never saw the "lost locker room" that a lot of fans were worried about.

[AlvinWaltonIsMyBoy]

Nice to hear. I think Shanny realizes that he made a bit of a mistake, but I think he still has the respect of the guys in the locker room.

My biggest praise of Shanny, is the fact that he handles his business behind closed doors. He doesn't throw his players under the bus (depsite repeatedly being baited by the media), and he will support them publically no matter what. See Rex Grossman and John Beck. This single trait, in my opinion, is the biggest similarity that he has with Joe Gibbs.

[DogofWar1]

A little too tired to read too in depth, but it sounds like Shanahan still has the locker room more or less, which is good news.

Him losing the locker room was my biggest concern, and that fear has been somewhat laid to rest. Now hopefully they work hard the next two weeks and come out and put the Eagles right back on the endangered species list.

[Painkiller]

it's becoming apparent to me, that people heard what they wanted to hear out of Shanahan's initial presser after the game. He talked about evaluating and seeing who wants to be on this team long-term, which is not the same thing as conceding 2012. Shanahan could have done a better job of phrasing, but he did not ever say he was giving up. I wasn't sure what to think after his initial comments, but I think he clarified them well on Monday and it's time for everyone to move on.

[s0crates]

I don't know why I'm admitting this, but the first time I read the title I read it as though the players would actually be coaching the defense. I thought to myself, "I know Haslett is bad but you cannot let the players coach themselves."

In seriousness, its encouraging that the team is sticking up for Shanny, as it shows that he has not lost the locker room after all.

[techboy]

I don't know why I'm admitting this, but the first time I read the title I read it as though the players would actually be coaching the defense. I thought to myself, "I know Haslett is bad but you cannot let the players coach themselves."

I did it too. The really sad thing is, maybe it's early, but my mind didn't immediately reject the idea.

I thought, well, maybe they're doing so badly that London Fletcher's starting to take over in the meetings...

[Wyvern]

Frankly, I think some of this resulted from the reporter, Joseph White Jr. He probably wanted a nice negative story about Redskin failure, and ran with the negative interpretation of how Shanahan's words could be construed. He didn't do any follow-up before running the piece.

He writes well, but his slant about Shanahan comes out in his articles..I note the the following bit: "Stung by the reaction to his words, Shanahan took to the podium Monday and his postgame transcript out loud - then made a rambling attempt to explain it."

This guy may cover Washington sports -- but if you check his twitter page, it reveals a lot about his mindset regarding the Redskins. He's always finding that 'negative nugget.' Frankly, I think he over-reached on this one.

I listened to post-casts of the Shanahan press-conferences after the game, and the next day -- carefully. I think Shanahan's mis-construed statement was prompted by some reporter's (probably White) question of what did it mean after his team just lost a 'must-win' game. There was a quasi follow-up question by that reporter (no doubt fishing for a juicy negative thing to hang on Shanahan and also trying to characterize this as the Redksins going into a 'mode') where Shanhan noted they were still in it statistically, but my sense is he was emphasizing how this would be a period revealing those who were willing to give 110% the rest of the way. He never said he was going to play the backups, the younger players, etc. Apparently no one else saw much of a story in this. Because the rest of the presser was a business as usual -- discussing what happened during the game, decisions made during the game, player status etc.

I thought Shanahan's presser of Nov. 5, reinforced my impression of his original remarks. For coach-speak, Mike gave an adequate explanation. Frankly, I think Mike was being more guarded than rambling -- he was obviously miffed that some reporter(s) decided to blow up that sentence into a pronouncement of his abandoning his season, giving up on his players, etc -- without calling him to see if they had correctly captured what he meant.

In my opinion, while well-written, this work was not very professional by Mr. White, especially his follow-up piece. Apparently, he doesn't worry about the discord he might have created in his rush to slap out some story that can sell. He should have called Mike to confirm, or perhaps asked the question more directly during the Nov 4 presser.

[LetThePointsSoar]

Finally, some sanity. It never ceases to amaze me how much the media is starved for negative attention. Hopefully the team uses this as an "us against the world" motivation and comes out fired up after the bye.

[KingGibbs]

While this is all Kumbayaish, it still doesn't take away the fact that Shanny hasn't even come close to delivering, considering his resume. I fully supported him until I saw how flat the team was on Sunday. I say that because the team didn't respond to his "must win game" urgency. That's more telling than any words.

[LetThePointsSoar]

While this is all Kumbayaish, it still doesn't take away the fact that Shanny hasn't even come close to delivering considering his resume. I fully supported him until I saw how flat the team was on Sunday. I say that because the team didn't respond to his "must win game" urgency. That's more telling than any word could offer.

We knew going into this year it would be an up and down kind of year. It's a young team that has taken some very tough breaks the last few weeks without much reprieve. I think what will be much more telling is how they come back from the break. If they continue to come out flat after a bye week, and the added preparation? Then I might be inclined to agree with you. But IMO it's far too early to start throwing daggers just yet...