Shanahan's Self-Serving Ploy

Shi no Tenshi said:
If any of them were still wearing a brace on their knee for off-season surgery on a twice torn ligament, I would agree. I can see the point of doing so for Reed, as he has a concussion that has stuck with him a bit, and Doughty as well for having two this season.

The others don't have the history to require that sort of intercession though.
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I thought the brace was intended to be worn all year, period. Wearing the brace is indicative of the plan only, to me.

I wish there was a sarcasm font because my entire post was tongue-in-cheek. I have never seen anything like this in football previously. If you don't play healthy players for fear of injury in this game, you'd better never let them out of the locker room to begin with.
 
Chris said:
I thought the brace was intended to be worn all year, period. Wearing the brace is indicative of the plan only, to me.

I wish there was a sarcasm font because my entire post was tongue-in-cheek. I have never seen anything like this in football previously. If you don't play healthy players for fear of injury in this game, you'd better never let them out of the locker room to begin with.
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I know you were being fairly sarcastic, but there is a mote of truth it what you were saying :p
 
tshile said:
If Shanahan is to come back, one change I want is Allen to be GM and have final say on players.

I don't want Shanahan blowing the whole increase in cap space in a win now mentality with no check and balance for the future well being of the franchise.
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Allen has never been know as a talent evaluator. He had a very good scouting department in Tampa, and was know for his knack with the financial end of the business. Good business manager, not so good general manager.
 
Too many theories out there on the reason(s) behind this benching to really get an accurate reading on what's going on behind the scenes, obviously. I will say that I don't believe for one minute that the only reason Shanahan is pulling RG3 is to save him from potential injury. In fact, I'm more inclined to believe we're trying to up Cousins' trade value by putting him on display while at the same time attempting to redeem Kyle's offensive plan and show that his scheme does work with QB's who aren't so dependent on the read option.

Shanahan's notorious ego just makes me think this goes way deeper than simply trying to protect our franchise QB and that there are some self-serving interests involved in this decision.
 
at this point this might be the only decent decision shannhan has made, there is no point in keeping rg3 in there right now. none. and this travesty of an Oline should be looking at it as an insult to their manhood, that they arent trusted to protect the starting qb enough. but again lets be honest if anyone other than TW is still starting on this Oline next season then someones head needs to roll.

I actually hope that Shanny just quits, but I dont think he does for the reason Boone posted. no matter how he spins this, his "legacy" is not untarnished, if he quits its even worse than if he is fired, and to an egomaniac like the rat faced napoleon, that would be unacceptable.

I really dislike him at this point, but as far as shutting down Rg3, I think its the right thing to do for the future.
 
Special K said:
Shanahan's notorious ego just makes me think this goes way deeper than simply trying to protect our franchise QB and that there are some self-serving interests involved in this decision.
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We are also about to face 3 defenses who have given up alot of points this year and have fewer sacks than we do on the season. I'm guessing they have some game plans ready and Cousins might just embarrass RG3 before the season is over.

I bet a lot of fans are pissed and 2nd guessing all the RG3 must start game 1 BS if he lights it up.
 
I don't know Ryman..I tend to agree with Madden on this...it's weakness defined. It absolutely screams "I quit" and I think if people thought we looked bad before just wait until the team goes out KNOWING their coach has officially quit on the season and probably his career. I think Mike getting any more than a consultant or OC job is a massive pipe dream, he's completely delusional no matter what happens the rest of this season.
 
I think you're severely underrating how easily all of this will be dumped on snyder and the dysfunctional redskins.
 
Nah Shanahan wasn't exactly a well liked guy before he came here and oversaw this mess. That isn't going to change now, it'll only be worse because now he doesn't have the benefit of hiding information...social media has changed all of that. The truth WILL come out which is why he started backpedaling in Wednesday's PC. He's in full damage control mode now, that PC was almost comical, he's painfully transparent at this stage IMO.
 
I don't think Shannahan is out to do anything but try to salvage his career and maybe his son Kyle as well. I can't say that I blame him. Cut all the media bullshit aside.
1) The Skins gave up a bunch of nice picks to get Griffin
2) It was and still is a huge gamble.
3) Prior to the Griffin injury against the Ravens, everything was running wide open. Smartest guys in the room were Shanny and Son with Allen. They didn't seem to look like coaches that were having an issue with anyone....
4) The entire offseason was miserable for all parties involved. Mike being told he should have known better than play Griffin after the first knee injury...
5) Griffin was overexposed by the media making an already awkward divide wide open for the world to see.....And here we are Shanny probably felt the media was out to get him in any scenario where the team imploded or Griffin injurers his knee again.
I'm not excusing the coaches they are there to coach and somehow they lost the team from all angles. I won't use hindsight to support a valid statement here. I was on board ever since the Thanksgiving win over Dallas. I still love the key players on offense Griffin,Morris,Helu,Young in the backfield. Garcon,Reed and T.Williams on the line. That's a pretty good foundation especially with Cousins as the wildcard if he plays decent the next 3 games.
 
Wildest theory yet...

Shanahan wants to showcase Cousins to the next team where he will be coaching. As per an off the record agreement with Dan Snyder, Shanahan convinces the next owner to give up a 2014 1st rounder for Cousins.
 
The argument this move is solely to protect Griffin is BS.

Last week the 3-9 Redskins were playing the 9-3 Chiefs, the best team left on the schedule.

It was a meaningless game as Washington was already out of the playoff picture.

Why didn't we sit him then?

Now, we are facing a couple of the worst defenses in Atlanta and Dallas and THIS is the time Griffin will be the most at risk?

Shanahan orchestrated this so that his son could start his preferred choice at qb and from his perspective validate Kyle and his system over the last 3 weeks of the season.
 
Eh, I don't know.

Don't get me wrong, what you say is perfectly possible.

But the team has given up 24 sacks over the last 5 weeks.
Griffin is running around for his life, some of that is on the line some of that is on him, and there's a really good argument that he could easily get hurt and ruin his second straight offseason
In addition to that, there's some very compelling analysis showing that Griffin is developing bad habits due to the way this season has developed

I think it could go either way.
 
Ok, agreed about Griffin's performance and the hits he had taken.

But if the point is to protect him Shanahan should have sat Griffin down after the club went to 3-8 and the competitive part of the schedule was over.
 
Well, I think you're conflating multiple philosophies.

Shanahan has openly stated he believes every game is important and that, when the team hit 3-8, Griffin should be out there learning.

Between 3-8 and 3-10 Griffin got hammered even more than he was previously. He's also playing badly, and plenty of criticism has popped up about bad habits. And the drama got significantly worse.

Shanahan said when he announced making him inactive, that he was weighing the importance of in-game reps for a 2nd year QB (which he said was important at 3-8) vs watching him get sacked and the importance of making sure he was available for the 3rd offseason after missing the 2nd.

These aren't conflicting philosophies. They're different. It's completely plausible for him to change course the way he did. He's not contradicting early statements/stances.

He could also be completely full of shit and trying to show his son knows what he's doing and place the blame of the whole season on Griffin.
 
Shanahan is a hard guy to trust.

His statement last week that he rarely tells the truth regarding the team but he was now being 'honest and open' about the current issues was a classic.

Tom Loverro had it right when he said Shanahan's presser was right up there with Nixon's 'I am not a crook' speech.
 
If so, Shanahan is delusional.

He is done in the NFL.

By next Spring he will be a 62 year old coach who hasn't won a playoff game since 2005 and whose defenses have been consistently poor.
 
After reading Jason Whitlock's article on BSPN, I'm thinking Mike might be making a last gasp effort to vindicate himself by starting Cousins. I'll explain in a minute.

Think about it. Sure Cousins is your #2 guy, and you probably want to showcase him, but why not just start Grossman instead of taking the chance on Cousins getting injured? It's because you feel you legitimately have a GOOD chance to beat Atlanta and Dallas with Cousins at the helm. Sitting Griffin does two things. It humbles him into working even harder to mature as a pocket passer during the offseason, a la Cam Newton, and it ensures he's healthy in order to mature.

Showcasing Cousins isn't the ONLY reason he's starting these last three games. Within the framework of the team, the FO and the league, Mike would show he was right to sit Griffin should Cousins light it up and win at least two out of three. Will it save his job? Probably not since he's made too many mistakes, IMO, to justify being kept around for Year 5 but he will achieve a sense of vindication to himself, the team and, perhaps, the league if the team can rally around Cousins and Captain Kirk is able to do what RG3 couldn't, i.e., complete passes, avoid sacks and extend drives with his arm.

However, should Cousins produce the exact same results as RG3 then all bets are off. There will be no vindication for the Shanahans and Mike will get his deserved canning. He will, however, have done a huge favor for the next coach by allowing him to develop a HEALTHY Robert Griffin III. Any way you slice it, sitting him is the right thing to do.
 
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