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Redskins PR: Quotes - Mike Shanahan


Mark The Homer

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May 19, 2010

Redskins Park

Executive Vice President/Head Coach Mike Shanahan

On if the organization has been contacted by the league regarding recent reports about HGH:

“No, no we haven’t. I haven’t heard anything.”

On his reaction to reading the report:

“I read so many different reports and there are so many rumors and speculation that happens. I always let the due process take care of itself and if there is any validity in those statements then we’ll act accordingly.”

On a player taking a risk by using HGH:

“Those things do happen. I think if you look at sports – and that’s why I think the NFL has been on top of everything – one of the reasons they have been there is it does give you a competitive advantage. Like I said, we’ll let the authorities take care of themselves. No sense commenting to anything unless I know some of the facts.”

On how big of an issue performance enhancing drugs are across the league:

“I think the NFL has done a great job keeping on top of everything. To me, the competitive edge that people have had before – you go back 10, 15, 20 years there’s a lot of stories. I think the NFL has done a great job of implementing its program and we’ll let the due process take care of itself. I’m not going to answer to every type of question that some doctor coming into town and supposedly seeing a player. NFL is on top of all of those things and if there is any validity to it they will contact me and contact our organization which they have not done.”

On if he treats the OTAs as a mini-camp:

“What we did in our first mini camp, we installed what we normally install on offense. We took our first two days, even though it was a three-day mini-camp, and we installed what we would normally do. Defensively, we installed our first three days of defenses and we did the same thing with the second mini-camp. We’ve done the same thing with the first three days of our OTAs. We’ve got a lot of work done with our basics on offense and defense and next week we’ll install days four, five and six both offensively and defensively. Then the next seven workouts that we have, after that we’ll go back and kind of review the installation of each day, one through six and have, obviously, an extra day on the last day. The mini-camp will be a combination of all game situations, two minute, red zone, backed up, all of things you normally go through in the season. By the time we get to camp, they have been through it a number of times.”

On defensive lineman Vonnie Holliday:

“I just like what I saw on film. I think he fits our defense extremely well, 3-4 defensive end, long arms. I have watched him through the years. He is a guy who we feel can fit into our scheme and play it extremely well.”

On when he expects Vonnie Holliday to arrive at Redskins Park:

“He’s going to be here all the time. When we did sign him, I talked to him about missing today. He had something planned relative to a family issue. I told him to take care of that. He was here the last two days, did a great job and he’ll be here minus one day the remainder of the OTAs.”

On if signing running back Brian Westbrook is still under consideration:

“We are still talking to Brian. He is under consideration. I’m sure he is looking at his options. We’ll find out in the near future exactly what happens there.”

On cornerback DeAngelo Hall missing practice:

“He called this morning. He had a family issue that popped up. He was in town and had to take care of it but he has been doing a good job for us.”

On if the rookies who were not here will be involved next week:

“Rookies can be here from this point on.”

On the rookies who missed practice:

“If they haven’t graduated, their class hasn’t graduated, they can’t come until their graduation date.”

On the level of the kickers and the long snapper:

“I don’t think you know until you get into competitive situations. In mini-camp, we haven’t had those competitive situations yet. I think once you get to your four preseason games and watch a guy on a day-to-day basis you get a little bit better feel. Right now, everybody looks good but we’re in shorts and except for you guys watching that’s all the fans we’ve had.”

On if he plans to take the current kickers and long snapper into training camp:

“Right now, that is our plan.”

On if he thinks the players are beginning to understand his coaching philosophy:

“What we do there is we talk about the system that we’re using both offensively and defensively and what this system has done, in my case, over the last 17 years. Defensively, what system we use and what the defense has done over the last 17 years. I think it’s important for the players to know what our goals are, what has been done in the past, what our goals are in the future and what we’ve done with both systems over time. If they do the little things the right way, we got a chance to do something special.”

On how quarterback Donovan McNabb fits into his system and what adjustments he needs to make coming from Philadelphia:

“Every time a person goes into a new system there is a learning curve. I am sure Donovan is going through that right now. You’ll been running a system for 11 years and you know it inside and out. It’s like learning a new language. Some of the principles are the same because the similarities to the West Coast terminology. So that is a little bit easier. There are still different formations, different reads, enough terminology that you feel like you are learning a new language.”

On if he gives defensive coordinator Jim Haslett more autonomy because of his experience:

“Number one, Jim does one heck of a job. We’ve got a heck of a coaching staff to go with Jim. My job as a head coach is to take a look at every area and if you feel like there is a little weakness there or someone needs a little help you kind of jump into that area. I feel very good about the coaches we have been able to get. I don’t think I would have been able to get many of these coaches if I wasn’t out for a year and had a chance to game plan and put a heck of a staff together. Hopefully, I can kind of watch and observe.”

On giving more defensive input because Jim Haslett taught it so well to him:

“What you want to do as an offensive coach is you want to understand defenses as well as anybody because an offensive coach has to understand all of the different defenses in the league because you are going against different coordinators. Just like a defensive coach has to know all of the offensive schemes. I don’t care if you are talking about the Wildcat or you’re talking about a base offense or the spread offense. The more you can communicate with coaches and the more you can sit down in the offseason and get somebody’s philosophy and how they think on game day sometimes it helps you.”

On how common it is for a player to seek treatment from an outside doctor:

“I don’t know. Some guys do it. I’ve had guys that had five or six people working on them all the time with massages. They had their own work out people. Everybody is a little bit different in how they take care of their body.”

On if Vonnie Holliday is an example that a defensive end can get sacks in a 3-4 defense:

“Bruce Smith was pretty good with sacks and he was in a 3-4 defense for a lot of years playing that defensive end position. You got to play within any scheme. I think Holliday has done that. He has played the run extremely well and like you just mentioned, 5.5 sacks last year in Denver playing a limited amount of plays. I’ve observed him both in a three-man front and a four-man front. I think he fits into what we do very well. I was impressed with his first two practices.”

On impressions about tackle Trent Williams after meeting him and seeing him in practice:

“You can see he is an excellent athlete. He’s going to be a great tackle. He can play either left or right. He’s that type of athlete. It doesn’t take you long when you are going against some of the best outside linebackers in the league that the guy can compete on this level and he can compete. Saying that, there is always going to be growing pains. It’s going to be a learning experience for him everyday. I like the way he has handled himself. He’s come out here and he has competed very hard the first three days. He picks things up very quickly. We threw into the fire right away, working with the first unit. I have been impressed with him thus far.”

On his early impressions of wide receivers Malcolm Kelly and Devin Thomas:

“Devin Thomas has been hurt through most of the mini camps and OTAs. It’s good to get Devin back and watch him in these OTAs because I didn’t get a chance to watch him except for the first day in our mini-camp. Malcolm, it’s like all of the receivers, learning the system, getting the chance to show their skills. It’s going to be an interesting question here over the next two months, three months. We got a number of wide receivers that are competing for a position. I like what I have seen thus far.”

On his impressions of the safety position:

“In our scheme, strong safety and free safety are interchangeable depending on the formation. They’ve got to play both unlike what they have done in the past. I’ve been impressed with our safeties. We’ve got some depth there. They have worked extremely hard to learn our system and I like the way they have handled themselves.”

On fullback Mike Sellers:

“I like Mike, what I have watched on film, him as a blocker, as a receiver. He’s a big guy. Very seldom do you have a fullback that can match up with those linebackers both in the running game and the passing game. I like the way he handles himself on special teams. He’s been a leader on the field. Hopefully, at his age, he doesn’t lose any of that expertise I have seen thus far.”

On if Donovan McNabb has showed him anything he had not seen before:

“Not really but I didn’t know him at all. I just always liked the way he handled himself in tough situations. I know the press can be pretty tough on you when you are a quarterback no matter what team you are with. He’s been in a situation that I think has handled himself as well as any quarterback I’ve seen. I liked the way he’s played. You love his winning percentage. You love how he has handled himself through the playoffs. Everybody is going to knock has he won the Super Bowl, until you do it you are going to keep on getting that question. You get it as a head coach. You get it as a quarterback. He’s striving to get that just like I am.”

On if Doug Williams will join the Redskins’ front office:

“To honest with you, I haven’t really talked about that. Doug is a guy that I have met. Obviously means a lot to this organization. When you take a look at our general manager, he knows him quite well. I have not talked about that with him thus far.”

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May 19, 2010

On fullback Mike Sellers:

“I like Mike, what I have watched on film, him as a blocker, as a receiver. He’s a big guy. Very seldom do you have a fullback that can match up with those linebackers both in the running game and the passing game. I like the way he handles himself on special teams. He’s been a leader on the field. Hopefully, at his age, he doesn’t lose any of that expertise I have seen thus far.

Purely speculating but I won't be surprised to see Mike being cut by the start of regular season. The Dennis Morris pick and that comment makes me believe his days are numbered.

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Purely speculating but I won't be surprised to see Mike being cut by the start of regular season. The Dennis Morris pick and that comment makes me believe his days are numbered.

Yea, that and the fact that Sellers was awful last year. I'd love to see Morris make the team over Sellers. For every time Sellers does something incredible (run over someone, leap over someone, etc) he fails at something routine (misses a lead block, jumps to get the 1st down and fails, etc.) He's pretty valuable on teams though, so hopefully we find someone who can fill his role there.

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Thanks for putting this up. Is it just me or does he not seem dead sold on Kelly?

It wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement but hopefully there isn't too much to read into it. I don't think he wants to compliment Devin or Malcolm too much individually and get them complacent. It does sound like he was more excited about Devin but it's hard to tell too much from a sentence or two.

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Thanks for putting this up. Is it just me or does he not seem dead sold on Kelly?

Meh, as ambiguous as he is at times to the press, I took it as an challenge to ALL the wide outs that they'll have to step up through camp and do something not seen around these parts for a long time; actually EARN a spot in the 53.

For the record, now we finally have both a knowledgeable play caller who'll spread it around, and competent pro QB executing those calls; I fully expect Kelly to show just why he was rated by many as the best wide out coming out in '08, and just why we took that calculated gamble on his knees.

Hail.

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Yea, that and the fact that Sellers was awful last year. I'd love to see Morris make the team over Sellers. For every time Sellers does something incredible (run over someone, leap over someone, etc) he fails at something routine (misses a lead block, jumps to get the 1st down and fails, etc.) He's pretty valuable on teams though, so hopefully we find someone who can fill his role there.

The Sellers hate is absurd. The guy has been stellar for this team for a long, long time. A guy has one bad season and all of a sudden it's par for the course? Nonsense.

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I absolutely love the way Shanny answers questions take the Doug Williams question.

On if Doug Williams will join the Redskins’ front office:

“To honest with you, I haven’t really talked about that. Doug is a guy that I have met. Obviously means a lot to this organization. When you take a look at our general manager, he knows him quite well. I have not talked about that with him thus far.”

Long story short. I've met him. Bruce Allen knows him.

Thank you for the breaking news. lol

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Thanks for putting this up. Is it just me or does he not seem dead sold on Kelly?

That's the vibe I picked up from reading it. Seemed like he likes Devin and was looking forward to him more than he was Kelly, but hasn't had much chance to see him much in realtime because of injury.

I hope that I'm just reading too far into it, because I really think Kelly is the perfect type of WR that we need, especially in the redzone and keeping drives alive. When you see his comments about Trent Williams just above and though he didn't say much he had very good things to say still, only to seemingly leave Kelly out in the very next question.

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The Sellers hate is absurd. The guy has been stellar for this team for a long, long time. A guy has one bad season and all of a sudden it's par for the course? Nonsense.

Agreed. He's not the only guy who had a terrible season last year. I agree that he's inconsistent, though -- I remember him being the culprit more than one time on a busted block -- and could be on the chopping block in a scheme that demands more speed.

BD

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Agreed. He's not the only guy who had a terrible season last year. I agree that he's inconsistent, though -- I remember him being the culprit more than one time on a busted block -- and could be on the chopping block in a scheme that demands more speed.

BD

He got his money, and the effort was completely lacking last year.

That's why there's so much "hate".

He was blocking for a guy that lobbied for him to get a big contract in Portis, and then when the chips were down, he gave up on him and didn't put in enough effort. Look at the Carolina game, where Sellers didn't even try and we ended up getting a safety. Yes, the stretch play was a bad call but Sellers needed to at least block.

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He got his money, and the effort was completely lacking last year.

That's why there's so much "hate".

He was blocking for a guy that lobbied for him to get a big contract in Portis, and then when the chips were down, he gave up on him and didn't put in enough effort. Look at the Carolina game, where Sellers didn't even try and we ended up getting a safety. Yes, the stretch play was a bad call but Sellers needed to at least block.

But he worked out with the same training staff that was also horrible last year. AH gets the spotlight for being the 100 million man, but a similar nose drive happened here. If he's working out, hopefully he's ready to play as well.

That said the effort better be there when it's time to play.

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I'd agree that he definitely sounds more excited about DT than MK, which says a little something, considering he's been able to see MK work and not really DT till the last Mini-camp. Let's hope that means big things for him! And that MK steps it up and impresses.

One thing is, it seems all of the "hopefully his knees don't shatter" talk has completely faded from ES, which is slightly funny, looking back. Obviously its still a slight concern, but he seems to be fine. Lets hope some production comes along with that.

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The Sellers hate is absurd. The guy has been stellar for this team for a long, long time. A guy has one bad season and all of a sudden it's par for the course? Nonsense.

I agree with this 100%. Sellers does everything you ask, and more. Great on special teams, great blocker and wants the ball in his hands. I don't think the Redskins have utilized him as an offensive weapon as much as they should have.

Lets also not forget that he too struggled last year due to the poor line. He's supposed to be the lead blocker yes, but he too relies on the line to keep guys from coming through.

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I agree with this 100%. Sellers does everything you ask, and more. Great on special teams, great blocker and wants the ball in his hands. I don't think the Redskins have utilized him as an offensive weapon as much as they should have.

Lets also not forget that he too struggled last year due to the poor line. He's supposed to be the lead blocker yes, but he too relies on the line to keep guys from coming through.

Agreed with this too. Sellers is a utility guy a tough, hardnosed football guy who can block, catch, run, play fullback,H-Back, Tight end. He is my favorite player right now. Not flashy. Plus at 280 he is a beast. Imagine if he added 20 more pounds and became what he is at 300. Can you say wow!

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