HTTR 24-7.com: Defensive Dysfunction: How Mike Shanahan Can Fix His Achillies Heel

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The Redskins are in a super weird position right now. The team seems like they’re teetering on the edge of disaster, with lots of in-fighting between the coaches. The plus side is that the player seem to be a relatively good spirits, or to at least be putting on good appearances. With the kind of organization disarray it seems like we have, it’s actually refreshing to see the player’s haven’t given up on the season and are still going to work; that much we can say has changed since Mike Shanahan took over in 2010.

But an underplayed part of how this team is built, as an organization, is how differently the offense and defensive staffs seem to gel. In the front office, Bruce Allen isn’t the personnel guy, but I don’t think he’s ever pretended to be. He’s the contract guy, the guy that works trade and does PR. And that’s fine; he knows it’s not his strong suit, so he leaves the personnel decisions to Director of Player Personnel Morocco Brown and Director of Pro Personnel Scott Campbell, both of whom have some solid buzz that they can step up and become general managers themselves (even though ultimately, Mike Shanahan is the decision maker.)

And for all intents and purposes, our offensive coaching staff is as solid as they can be. Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan is being buzzed about as a potential head coach candidate—while the Redskins want to keep him here, it seems like if Shanahan got the right offer, he’d be more than inclined to step up. There’s been some bumps in the development of Robert Griffin III here and there, but ultimately we’ve seen an exciting, innovative offense that takes advantage of it’s quarterback.

Bobby Turner is still the running back’s whisperer, a guy who can seemingly coach anybody. Ike Hilliard doesn’t have much of a track record, but considering he lost his best receiver, he’s done a solid job of developing the talent he has to work with. Chris Foerester hasn’t gotten enough credit for developing Trent Williams into an emerging elite talent, and he’s helped shaped Will Montgomery and Chris Chester (two guys who were largely liabilities in 2011) into top performing offensive lineman. Sean McVay helped transform Fred Davis into a Pro Bowl caliber tight-end in 2011, and now Logan Paulsen even looks like a good tight end prospect (which is to say nothing of John Embree getting production out of the tight ends a year earlier) and was thought to be one of the brighter offensive minds in Tampa Bay. As was Matt LeFleur the quarterback coach, who was thought to be the next Kyle Shanahan when he was on staff in Houston.

The Redskins have a solid core of veteran coaches and young offensive minds, and they all seem to be working towards one goal. There’s no jockeying for position, no trying to steal a job from someone else. They have one goal; win. They have some work to do themselves as far as penalties go, but the offense, players and coaches, on the whole, look like a much more confident, competent group.

The defense, however, is a complete mess.

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Defense is simple. Bring in Rex Ryan and butt out of the defense. Let Ryan chose his position coaches.

If Ryan isn't available, hire Eric Mangini and let him chose his position coaches. Those are the only options that are acceptable.

Good article. Slowik needs to be gone from this team. His name is associated with defensive failures. Shanny needs to talk with Gibbs maybe set up by Snyder. He needs to go the Gibbs way, he handles the O and gets in a top flight D coordinator and they pick the staff have a large input on the players and are mostly autonomous. Think Gibbs/Pettibone and Gibbs/Williams.

One of your best summaries and write-ups to date, NLC. I think it's a fair assessment, and on the D issues, properly indicts Shanahan past and present, and makes the big point that the D staff issues are not a one, or even two, coach-related matter. Virtually the whole staff is suspect. Cronyism, whether from the owner or coaches, has GOT to cease on this team. Things must be done pragmatically and with a hard-but-more-intelligent-less-ego nose (ala Coughlin) if we are ever to work out of this organizational mess, two decades in the making.

And the fact that Kyle (who I want to keep, despite that he's not perfect--posters can be amazing ), he is also certainly not the frequent-doof that many of our message board professional NFL play callers cast him to be at times, and we may really lose him next season. Among other reasons I hope not, I think he's a good fit with RG3.

Re: Shanny's role in the D problems and other matters, I endorse ideas (and have held them for awhile) as put forth by OF and others that suggest that while we made a move forward on getting an Allen as a GM, another and better long-term forward move would be to have a GM that hires and has say over the job security of all coaches, answering only to Dan. I like a clearly delineated and stepped hierarchy.

To me, barring the rare wunderkind who can do it all (GM/HC/Personnel), that would be an owner who stays out of the way other than establishing a clear and detailed, fully agreed-to-by-all, mission statement and specific goals (with help), opening the checkbook, and checking-in regularly with the GM on progress, then the GM, then the HC, with each side of the ball being fairly autonomous (your DC runs the D), then assts. etc. with a strong and empowered personnel department. I think any signs of internecine strife among any staff suggests the attention the GM, then flowing on down.

Mangini would be my first choice. Rivera if he's let go by Carolina. There are other good choices, but I would stay away from Ryan, personally.

The one thing I'll disagree with NLC on (therefore, insert obligatory insults here- NLC, your mama's a such-and-such and you smell like one too) is the idea that you could hire Morris and let him convert to a 4-3 if he wanted. The next D-coordinator really has to be a 3-4 guy. Too much building has been done towards it and too much rebuilding would have to be done to switch it. If the DC you want isn't able to coach the 3-4, then be assured, there are other candidates who can.

The argument in the OP is unsound because it is based on a hidden premise which is false.

The hidden premise is that the offensive and defensive units of a football team are independent of each other. They are not. Those units must be designed together, so that they compliment each other to achieve the goal of winning football games.

The performances of offenses and defenses interact. A defense can be designed to make itself look good on the points against stat. A different scheme can be designed to help the offense look good on the points scored stat. Or, a third can be designed to help the offense win football games. It's the head coach's responsibility to choose the option that will win football games. It would be unwise for Mike to delegate that responsibility.

If Mike doesn't have a grip on the defense, as the OP suggests, then he should be fired for gross incompetence.

For an example of what can happen when the offensive and defensive strategies are not coordinated, we only have to go back to Zorn and Blache. Jim Zorn wanted to play the ball control/field position game on offense while, on defense, Blache was playing a passive, bend don't break making it easy for the opponent's offense to play the ball control/ field position game.

Incredibly stupid.

The argument in the OP is unsound because it is based on a hidden premise which is false.

The hidden premise is that the offensive and defensive units of a football team are independent of each other. They are not. Those units must be designed together, so that they compliment each other to achieve the goal of winning football games.

The performances of offenses and defenses interact. A defense can be designed to make itself look good on the points against stat. A different scheme can be designed to help the offense look good on the points scored stat. Or, a third can be designed to help the offense win football games. It's the head coach's responsibility to choose the option that will win football games. It would be unwise for Mike to delegate that responsibility.

If Mike doesn't have a grip on the defense, as the OP suggests, then he should be fired for gross incompetence.

This assumes the narrow minded viewpoint that there is only one way to build a football team (basically the one way a certain coach who resides in New England has designed his football team). Even Coach Gibbs left the defense to his defensive staff; Gibbs said the only thing he used to tell Richie Pettibone, basically, is "stop em". The defense was built and designed by Pettibone and Bobby Beathard with minimal input from Gibbs.

The premise is that by interfering in the defense, Mike has built a coaching staff that is disjointed and is not working towards a common goal and is in-fighting about future jobs instead of winning football games, and the best way to fix said problem is to allow whomever his new DC is to have autonomy over what coaches he hires and what scheme would be best to run and what players would be best to run it. There is no shame in a coach admitting something is not his strong suit.

---------- Post added November-16th-2012 at 03:59 PM ----------

Defense is simple. Bring in Rex Ryan and butt out of the defense. Let Ryan chose his position coaches.

If Ryan isn't available, hire Eric Mangini and let him chose his position coaches. Those are the only options that are acceptable.

I think that's kind of unfair to say. There's plenty of capable and up and coming defensive coordinator that aren't those two guys. Those two guys are certainly the biggest names, but that doesn't make the te best fits here, and in both cases, I think they'd be both be hesitant to come to this team to be d-coordinator under Mike Shanahan rather than put themselves in a position to become head coach again in the future.

Mike Shanahan is way to arrogant to ever admit that he was wrong. This is why I think he may be left out of the Hall of Fame when it's all said and done. Hall of Famers adapt, and win regardless of circumstance (See Gibbs, Joe and the strike year in 1982).

There is certainly no shame in admitting wrong, but Shanny will never do it.

Rivera if he's let go by Carolina.

People keep saying they want Rex Ryan as defensive coordinator, but I'd really like his defensive coordinator Mike Pettine. I think he's got the right mentality, he's not a hapless yes man, until this year I think he's coached phenomenal defenses. And yeah, Rex is apart of that, but the guy just seems like a better fit for us. Plus he's coordinated a 3-4 and a 4-3, and I'm at the point where I don't give a damn what defense we run, I just want it to be better.

Mike Shanahan is way to arrogant to ever admit that he was wrong. This is why I think he may be left out of the Hall of Fame when it's all said and done. Hall of Famers adapt, and win regardless of circumstance (See Gibbs, Joe and the strike year in 1982).

There is certainly no shame in admitting wrong, but Shanny will never do it.

I agree that Shanahan has frustratingly not adapted at all on the defensive side this year.

But he has shown the ability to adapt and change course in other regards. Our QB situation is one that comes to mind.

Mangini would be my first choice. Rivera if he's let go by Carolina. There are other good choices, but I would stay away from Ryan, personally.

The one thing I'll disagree with NLC on (therefore, insert obligatory insults here- NLC, your mama's a such-and-such and you smell like one too) is the idea that you could hire Morris and let him convert to a 4-3 if he wanted. The next D-coordinator really has to be a 3-4 guy. Too much building has been done towards it and too much rebuilding would have to be done to switch it. If the DC you want isn't able to coach the 3-4, then be assured, there are other candidates who can.

I'd go along with all the above. At least with the defensive performance this season there's an opportunity for a clearout - at least two out of the three (the Slowiks, Morris and Haslett) have to go, and I wouldn't be sorry to see the back of all of them.

I agree that Shanahan has frustratingly not adapted at all on the defensive side this year.

But he has shown the ability to adapt and change course in other regards. Our QB situation is one that comes to mind.

I agree. But I think the HoF will look at his record in Washington and unless he shows a whole new level of adaptation, he won't get in.

Defense aside, Im still not sold on the offense being all that great.. Every year, with a new QB, we come out of the gate a win 2 or 3 games. Then teams get film on us and we're done producing points.. Now that teams have seen our gimmick O and started shutting it down ,RGIII gets sacked or knocked down nearly every series when the O-line has to "protect" and he has to pass from the pocket like a normal QB.. They might be decent at run blocking, but protecting the passer is far from ideal.. It'll be a very refreshing breath of air if they can get back to scoring points here in the next couple weeks, but until that happens I think both of Shanny's "achilles heels" are still in jeopardy..

I will be keeping an eye on this one.

I think you might get your wish, Jumbo. Word around here is that Rivera is toast. I personally think he should get another season. It appears Panther fans aren't quite as patient as us Skins fans.

Nice write up, NLC. Shanny needs to hire someone and get out of the way. If Slowik is on our staff next year, I will be on the fire Shanny bandwagon before training camp starts.

Am I reading this right? Does Raheem Morris have just one month experience as an NFL DC?

Wikipedia:

In December 2008, it was announced that Morris would take over as defensive coordinator for the Buccaneers for the 2009 season after Monte Kiffin announced that he would be leaving the team to join his son, Lane Kiffin, at Tennessee.[2] Just a month later on January 16, 2009, head coach Jon Gruden was fired by the Buccaneers and Morris was named the team's head coach.[1] Morris had also interviewed for head coach with the Denver Broncos before being hired by Tampa Bay.[3]

Am I reading this right? Does Raheem Morris have just one month experience as an NFL DC?

Wikipedia:

You certainly are, I brought that point up countless times when people were arguing that Morris was the DC in waiting.

You certainly are, I brought that point up countless times when people were arguing that Morris was the DC in waiting.

I suspect that you are the wrong one to ask, but why is he even in the conversation?

Tampa's defense was horrible last season, weaknesses of this defense is his part the secondary -- so IMO he'd be a curious choice. He seems to have a lot more personality than Haslett but otherwise not sure what he would add.

OF, to the best of my memory, Raheem was first floated on the board as a potential Haslett replacement by some (I don't if "all") of the HTTR 24/7 gang during the off-season, and then more prominently after our victory in NO as a guy who deserved the credit for shutting down their passing attack. This was followed for a few weeks with an increasingly strong suggestion he was that likely successor to Haslett for various reasons (including claimed player/Shanahan approval).

Many posters seemed to support and/or reinforce this idea. Then with our d sucking so bad in every pass-defense way week after week, the talk among everyone in that regard, died down. If I have misstated anything, I trust someone will correct me.

I suspect that you are the wrong one to ask, but why is he even in the conversation?

Because a few of the board insiders implied that he only took the secondary coaching job, because he was giving a nod/wink that'd he'd be the DC in waiting. The only reason he wasn't this year was because they wanted to give him a year to learn the 34.

I was the idiot who argued that it was ridiculous notion.

Defense is simple. Bring in Rex Ryan and butt out of the defense. Let Ryan chose his position coaches.

If Ryan isn't available, hire Eric Mangini and let him chose his position coaches. Those are the only options that are acceptable.

i'd not mind rex on the team but.... do you really think shanny and rex's egos can co-exist on the team? the jets are more of a circus than the skins ever were, and rex is part of that.

but mangini? blah. would rather have ron rivera

OF, to the best of my memory, Raheem was first floated on the board as a potential Haslett replacement by some (I don't if "all") of the HTTR 24/7 gang during the off-season...

I don't understand this. We aren't talking about an entry-level job. There has to be a minimum experience requirement. I don't know what that might be but one month sounds a tad shy.

OF, to the best of my memory, Raheem was first floated on the board as a potential Haslett replacement by some (I don't if "all") of the HTTR 24/7 gang during the off-season, and then more prominently after our victory in NO as a guy who deserved the credit for shutting down their passing attack. This was followed for a few weeks with an increasingly strong suggestion he was that likely successor to Haslett for various reasons (including claimed player/Shanahan approval).

Many posters seemed to support and/or reinforce this idea. Then with our d sucking so bad in every pass-defense way week after week, the talk among everyone in that regard, died down. If I have misstated anything, I trust someone will correct me.

He is part of the problem. Tampa's passing D last year was ranked 21st, but heck, even that would be a great improvement from what we currently have!

I was the idiot who argued that it was ridiculous notion.

Lots of people argued it, but nice pretension. And don't be so parsimonious regarding your fulsome resume supporting your contention that you're an idiot.

(there is now way I could resist that :evilg: )