WP: (Jenkins): Shanahan Can Coach Football - Who Knew?

[Mark The Homer]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports...939_story.html

(from print edition page D1 It's Time To Admit It: Shanahan Knows What He's Doing)

By Sally Jenkins



...

... it’s time to acknowledge that Shanahan, that crease-mouthed, dry-toned old-schooler, should be a candidate for NFL coach of the year.

...

“You guys don’t know it, but you’re a lot better than you think you are,” he told the Redskins, and they believed him.

It’s an interesting question why Robert Griffin III, Alfred Morris, Kirk Cousins, Pierre Garcon, Josh Morgan, and company chose to buy into a 60-year-old whose last big season was in 2005, and who seemed to think the season was over in early November. But they did. Whatever the qualifications for coach of the year, Shanahan put himself squarely in the conversation after coaxing a 38-point performance from the rookie backup Cousins, and flipping a team that started 3-6 to the top of the NFC East. But it’s not just the five straight victories Shanahan deserves recognition for, but rather his longer-term combination of guile and good sense, and his close-lipped ability to withstand withering criticism while trying to build a team the right way.

For whatever reason, maybe a strategic one, Shanahan likes to play the clipped, monosyllabic bore in front of the media. His main quality appears to be a hard head, topped by a helmet of hair that looks like steel filaments. But there is a more intriguing Shanahan in there somewhere, or at least an edgier one, a gambler who keeps his cards close. He has a daredevil streak: In the offseason he likes to go to the Caribbean to bungee-jump and parasail. Once, he dove off a 60-foot cliff into the ocean. He also makes annual trips to Vegas for high-stakes poker.

If you think about it, much of what Shanahan has done with the Redskins is all about risk management. He went all-in on drafting RGIII, shoving his chips to the center of the table on a player he believed was a once-in-a-lifetime comet. One of his biggest, and surely most stressful, gambles was on his own son Kyle, betting that the kid was a first-rate offensive coordinator. Shanahan has not batted 1.000 since assuming control of the team, of course — Donovan McNabb was an expensive setback — but he at least had the sense not to double down on his bad bets, which took some guts. He refused to throw good money after bad with Albert Haynesworth. He knew a lousy hand when he saw it.

But we may also be witnessing the validation of Shanahan’s good judgment on less obvious players. Griffin is such a dazzling piece of eye candy that it has been tempting to attribute the reversal of fortune entirely to him.

Lord knows he’s the biggest piece. But his absence because of a sprained knee revealed the subtler aspects of the job Shanahan has done; it’s not just Griffin carrying this team.

The receivers got as open for Cousins as they did for Griffin, without the Pistol formation. And it’s one thing to block for Griffin, another for the young offensive line to perform as it did for Cousins. Shanahan’s confidence in players such as Kory Lichtensteiger, at one time mystifying, now seems merited. We will know still more about Shanahan’s eye in the coming two weeks, with injuries to Tyler Polumbus and Will Montgomery. Shanahan has made a host of sixth- and seventh-round draft picks on whom he will count for “quality depth.” It may not be RGIII or Morris who wins him a coaching award in the end, but a Tom Compton, Josh LeRibeus, Adam Gettis.

If Shanahan has a signature, it’s his faith in the young, seemingly undersized marginal, try-hard player, guys who have a hint of desperation, who play, as he puts it, “like every game is a playoff game.” Such as Rob Jackson, the seventh-rounder who was waived, released, signed to the practice squad and released again, but who kept coming back through work habit and willingness to be a special teams player, until he blossomed into a starting linebacker.

“We’ve got a lot of guys going the right direction,” Shanahan says. “It’s started to turn. We believe in each other and believe we’re going to win. Once you start winning those close games, you expect it.”

No matter how the next two games play out, we can already say that Shanahan has turned a dysfunctional wreck of a franchise, ravaged by years of incompetence, into a contender with a future. The Redskins, for the first time in a decade, are a desirable destination for a reason other than Daniel Snyder’s over-paying checkbook. After watching the elegant teaching job Shanahan has done this season, what agent won’t be happy to place a client in his hands? Right now there are free agents and draft prospects all across the country thinking, “I wonder if he can do that for me?”

For all that the Redskins have mortgaged themselves with cap problems, expenditures and lack of draft choices, Shanahan has done a very good job of what once seemed impossible: dragging them out of their Groundhog Day past and giving them a tomorrow.

[Rocky52Mc]

Great read here! Love the coaching jobs we have in place, all of them.

It's something you can easily look back on in McNabb and be like, wow, you were playing a bit overweight. A bit not caring for your career, a bit depressed. And it showed. What Shanahan has pulled out of the young guns, it's awesome.

HTTR

[Oldfan]

Sally wrote: "If you think about it, much of what Shanahan has done with the Redskins is all about risk management."

Sally, risk management is not about the willingness to take high risks which you were writing about.

I'd give Mike an A coaching an offense, but he seems to be a gut level decision maker where risks are concerned. That doesn't impress me.

[LD0506]

Ok, maybe it's just the homer in me but dayum that still sounded a trifle snarky. Who knew? A hell of a lot of people that understand the game and appreciate just what a trainwreck he inherited knew Sally. What is it, you haven't been paying any attention since he arrived, or your bile choked brain just couldn't let any of this through before? She has been dragged around to giving some praise this year because of results but still can't "get" the fact that this season was made possible by the last two. But oh, I forgot, negativity = objectivity, so those that saw something good being built here were just blissfully unaware children that don't comprehend the game at all.


Maybe if we make the SB the WP et.al. be forced to write something grudgingly complimentary about Dan Snyder too

[sebestian]

Its very refreshing to finally see what competent football people are able to accomplish when they are given the authority to do so. Of course we all have a boss aka Snider, however imagine or jobs for a moment. If the owner of the bank I work for comes to me and says, that guy we are going to fire because he is not worth the money(Ryan Clark), and will just replace him with someone from another bank because I can offer him more cash(whoever, its not important). I studied to be a branch manager and have been successful at it because my boss gives me the parameters I can work within, however the autonomy to perform that job that is required for the organization(my branch) to be profitable.

In other words get the right people to make the decisions and give them the ability to do so, and an organization becomes great see 1980-90's Skins.

I am so proud of this team, however I may be more proud that we are seen as an real professional organization.

From a long suffering fan,

Thank you Bruce Allen, Mike Shanahan and Daniel Snider.

[jgbkab1]

I admit that I was skeptical about Shanahan turning around this franchise. The Haynesworth fitness test and the Donnie Mac trade had me scratching my head. I'm glad that Mike saw the bigger picture even though I didn't. Kudos to Shanny for turning my beloved team around and taking them from the bottom to the top...the right way.

[tibbidoe]

I can honestly say that I am as proud of this as team I have ever been. I was pretty young the last time we were good, so I didn't fully appreciate it like I can now. We have more young talent now than we've had total since Dan Snyder bought the team (I don't know how ever-the-top that thought is, but it sure feels accurate).

The offense has a chance to be something special that will stand out years from now, the defense has a few nice pieces to build around in the draft/FA next offseason and we have a money combo at LS/K.

We get some more depth on the OL (or get some production out of a combination of Compton/Gettis/LeRibeus) and fix the secondary and we'll be a serious task for the rest of the league for a long time. The fact that we are in position to make at least a little bit of postseason noise this year is just gravy. Obviously, I hope we can make a deep run this year. But, if we don't or even if we miss out entirely in 2012, this team has given us fans more hope for the near future (and beyond) than we've had in what feels like forever.

Hail to the Redskins
Hail to the players and staff for the effort they're putting in

[SWFLSkins]

I still say his "evaluating to see who is here next year and beyond" has been vastly underrated.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Great read here! Love the coaching jobs we have in place, all of them......

Steady now ..... we don't want any more extensions for certain DC's and STC's to name but two.



---------- Post added December-19th-2012 at 08:44 AM ----------

I still say his "evaluating to see who is here next year and beyond" has been vastly underrated.

I still say he was one VERY lucky man to get away with that, which he probably wouldn't if 10 hadn't been here.

But it's all a moot point and the NO bound B&G Express is back running at full steam!

Hail.

[SWFLSkins]

I still say he was one VERY lucky man to get away with that, which he probably wouldn't if 10 hadn't been here.

But it's all a moot point and the NO bound B&G Express is back running at full steam!

Hail.

The cards were all red, so yes he was flush with that 10 on the turn.

[Koolblue13]

I still say his "evaluating to see who is here next year and beyond" has been vastly underrated.

Seemingly giving up on the season and then naming RG3 the captain of the team was a very shrewd move.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

The cards were all red, so yes he was flush with that 10 on the turn.

We shall have to agree to disagree on this one my good man and just sit back and relish the whirlwind ride we now find ourselves on.

Hail.

[DCsportsfan53]

: raises hand:

Me, I knew. I also knew how bad the situation he walked into was and that there wasn't a chance of it being fixed in a season or two. Some people just refuse to acknowledge the enormity of the task he undertook. Yes there were mistakes, there are with any and every coaching staff but we should have all seen that we were FINALLY a professionally run team again and that, with a little luck, it would pay off.

[thomasroane]

Damn good article! The Browns game validated the roster decisions made by Shannhan and the Personnel office. RG III may be the catalyst but the turn around with the Redskins is bigger than him. I think it's great that the rest of the team got some recognition. I'm sure they don't resent their QB Phenom, but it's human nature to want their great efforts to be recognized by their peers. This team has done a helluva job overcoming a lot of adversity (injuries, suspensions, salary cap punishment, etc) Some of their wounds were self-inflicted because the Front Office wasn't blessed with the 20/20 hindsight powers that fans like Oldfan seem to possess. (Even the Hoodie strikes out once in a while and he's largely considered the best in the business.) As a whole though I don't see how anyone could say that the Redskins aren't headed in the right direction.

[SWFLSkins]

We shall have to agree to disagree on this one my good man and just sit back and relish the whirlwind ride we now find ourselves on.

Hail.

I would rather be the right one than wrong in this case and I am sure you agree with that. I agree he got lucky, and yeah RGIII being named captain played in as well. It could have easily backfired, but it sure seemed to light a fire under the team's asses.