Mike Shanahan Tells All on ESPN 980 (RGIII, McNabb, Manning, Haynseworth) Link included w/ Audio

[MartinC]

Yeah don't know.  Banned?

Yep. Shame really - I enjoyed the debates I had with over the years but sometimes his posting style went over the ragged edge.

out of everything I posted you pick three words to take issue with?

I think he is related to my wife 

[grego]

not that those were the best examples you could have come up with

Edit. Damn siri. Or whatever this thing is

[Tsailand]

Nope... Norv got several jobs after being fired.

 

You know, since getting fired by Dan, Norv has 8 more seasons of head coaching, with a 65-63 record and 3-3 in the playoffs.  And (I think) been an OC ever season he wasn't HCing.

 

Not saying we want him back, just saying there's a reason he keeps getting work, and he'll probably be a HC again one more time before he retires. 

 

[Tsailand]

Some posters here keep wanting to count Shanahan's record including the Redskins debacle but not including the Elway years...

 

Well, when he came here, he didn't have the black mark on his record that is coaching for Dan Snyder. He was 91-69 post Elway and pre-Snyder.  How many coaches under 60 with that kind of regular season record are willing to come coach in this clown show?

[Darrell Green Fan]

out of everything I posted you pick three words to take issue with?

 

 

 

 

Yeah that's a fair question, you did give 2 sides.  My post was more directed at the posters who are dead set on how bad Shanny was in Denver and here.  You just provided the perfect quote to address so I ran with it.  But you're right, it wasn't fair to post that as if this was your entire position. Sorry about that.

[Burgold]

Some posters here keep wanting to count Shanahan's record including the Redskins debacle but not including the Elway years...

You're saying we shouldn't care about Shanny's Redskin years on a Redskins' board?  Of course, we include him. The Redskins years were his most important years (as far as I'm concerned)

[Chachie]

Below is the list of Redskins head coaches hired by Daniel Snyder who have gotten another NFL head coaching job after leaving this dumpster fire:

 

 

.

 

 

I have always said that Shanahan got screwed from day one. Many people tell me that Shanny wanted McNabb. Shanny did NOT want McNabb.

 

Snyder told Mike he could have the keys to the car and by getting McNabb, he immediately showed Mike that he really didn't have the keys to the car. From then on it was doomed.

[Jericho]

I believe some of it, others not so much. I think Shanahan was more involved with McNabb then he wants to let on. He was taking over a poor team that had Jason Campbell at QB. He did not want Campbell. So what was the plan at QB? Shanahan, a veteran coach, probably wanted to "win now". And the only viable option available through free agency or trade was McNabb. Even the draft was pretty barren. The only top prospect was Sam Bradford, and he ended up going #1 overall. Am I really going to believe he had nothing to do with McNabb?

[grego]

Yeah that's a fair question, you did give 2 sides. My post was more directed at the posters who are dead set on how bad Shanny was in Denver and here. You just provided the perfect quote to address so I ran with it. But you're right, it wasn't fair to post that as if this was your entire position. Sorry about that.

Thanks, dg. That's nice of you.

My negative comments about Mike are partly driven by frustration with media heads who fawn over Mike while ripping the redskins. But I get it.

His politician/car salesmen personality demeanor sometimes annoys me.

But I don't think he's a bad coach. Just not the great coach he's generally portrayed as.

[Darrell Green Fan]

Some posters here keep wanting to count Shanahan's record including the Redskins debacle but not including the Elway years...

 

Well, when he came here, he didn't have the black mark on his record that is coaching for Dan Snyder. He was 91-69 post Elway and pre-Snyder.  How many coaches under 60 with that kind of regular season record are willing to come coach in this clown show?

 

Every coach under Snyder has under performed based on his body of work elsewhere I do believe.  Check that Norv was a few games better here but most of that came in Snyder's first year, before had had the change to set up and implement his dysfunctional structure. I just don't believe it's an accident. 

[grego]

I have always said that Shanahan got screwed from day one. Many people tell me that Shanny wanted McNabb. Shanny did NOT want McNabb.

Snyder told Mike he could have the keys to the car and by getting McNabb, he immediately showed Mike that he really didn't have the keys to the car. From then on it was doomed.

How do you know that?

Some posters here keep wanting to count Shanahan's record including the Redskins debacle but not including the Elway years...

Well, when he came here, he didn't have the black mark on his record that is coaching for Dan Snyder. He was 91-69 post Elway and pre-Snyder. How many coaches under 60 with that kind of regular season record are willing to come coach in this clown show?

I think part of the reason is many say "two time super bowl winning coach" but ignore his four years here cuz we are dysfunctional.

Kind of the same thing in reverse.

[whitejimmy]

I think Mike is just trying to distance himself from the McNabb signing by throwing Snyder under the bus.  Notice in the interview that he didn't exactly say that he didn't want McNabb and Snyder forced the move.  He said he looked at a weak pool of available talent after Manning and Bulger fell through.  Shanny should have just owned up to a bad signing.  He had authority over the roster and no one should believe he could be bullied by Snyder.

[Darrell Green Fan]

I had heard the name Mark Bulger before.  I totally believe the part where he preferred Bulger but they had to go to Plan B when it was clear he would not be available until after OTA.  The big question I had with the interview was how can  a man who had it in his contract that he had full control not really have full control if his story on McNabb is to be believed.  I mean this is not some wimp guy like Norv, Shanahan isn't the type to be pushed aside when he was supposed to have full control. 

 

But again knowing what I know about Snyder it would not surprise me if he did just that.  It was Shanny's first year, what was he going to do walk after he just got here? 

[Chachie]

How can so many people blame ANY previous coach we've had when things ALWAYS stayed as bad after any of those coaches left?

 

Wow. Amazing how thick-headed we Redskin fans can be. Look no further than Snyder/Cerrato/Allen... but mainly Snyder. He's the constant. Successful head coaches come here and DIE. It's been sitting on our faces for 20 years, folks.

 

Stop blaming coaches who have clearly been solid commodities their entire careers. Just stop the madness.

 

(I'm obviously excluding Zorn and Spurrier but hey- Snyder hired them. Back to Snyder.)

[Jumbo]

Yep. Shame really - I enjoyed the debates I had with over the years but sometimes his posting style went over the ragged edge.

 

I think he is related to my wife 

 

 

 

Oldfan's most recent departure was on his own. Over time, he had received a couple temp bans during his tenure. Keep in mind his age--late 70's or early 80's. We had some fine PM exchanges and of course he butted heads a few times. He struggled often with rule 5 and would go from feisty/stubborn/prodding to insulting in 2 seconds, but would usually step back a bit after an in-thread warning, though often in a cantankerous manner.

 

He was also well-informed on classical logic and classical debate, and I enjoyed that in his threads along with a few others, though the forms would be abused depending on his mood. As a poster, I miss certain highly valued aspects of his contributions, and he definitely was one of those "colorful" ES'ers. I keep thinking he may return one day. 

[grego]

I still don't get how Bulger fell through. If he was outright released the day after we signed McNabb, and he preferred Bulger, you'd think Bulger would have come cheap.

How can so many people blame ANY previous coach we've had when things ALWAYS stayed as bad after any of those coaches left?

Wow. Amazing how thick-headed we Redskin fans can be. Look no further than Snyder/Cerrato/Allen... but mainly Snyder. He's the constant. Successful head coaches come here and DIE. It's been sitting on our faces for 20 years, folks.

Stop blaming coaches who have clearly been solid commodities their entire careers. Just stop the madness.

(I'm obviously excluding Zorn and Spurrier but hey- Snyder hired them. Back to Snyder.)

Why do you think shanny didn't want McNabb?

[Burgold]

I still don't get how Bulger fell through. If he was outright released the day after we signed McNabb, and he preferred Bulger, you'd think Bulger would have come cheap.

Why do you think shanny didn't want McNabb?

Doesn't pass the smell test, does it? Not even in allergy season.

[darrelgreenie]

I apologize for the tangent.

 

Cheers to Oldfan, hope he's alright.

 

[Chachie]

Why do you think shanny didn't want McNabb?

 

1. He showed it repeatedly while he was here with his commentary on McNabb's play and the way he benched him a couple times. 

 

2. He's hinted at it a few times before this article. 

 

I'm aware that they tried other options before landing Donovan but that's why I suspect Shanny just didn't "fight it." He figured the guy's he tried for didn't pan so he allowed Snyder's "precious" to happen. He shouldn't have and he gets some blame but it wasn't his move. Snyder pulled the carpet out from under him repeatedly regarding Griffin too.

 

I'm not saying Shanny would have won a Lombardi here if he'd had full control. I'm saying he was NOT as bad a coach as his time here indicated. He was a good, solid coach who was lied to and McNabb was the first indication of that. He also got caught between the owner and that owner's franchise player in Griffin. Snyder was willing to listen to a starry-eyed rookie instead of a long-time NFL head coach. I'm willing to bet Schottenheimer and Turner were also victims of the meddling owner. I'm not saying they'd have won Lombardi trophies here either but they'd have been better if Snyder weren't tying their hands.

[MattFancy]

I still don't get how Bulger fell through. If he was outright released the day after we signed McNabb, and he preferred Bulger, you'd think Bulger would have come cheap.

Why do you think shanny didn't want McNabb?

 

That was my point with the post yesterday. That something was fishy there. Now I'm not sure when exactly Bulger asked for his release or to be traded out of St. Louis. But it is really weird that the day after we traded for McNabb, Bulger got released. You would think the Skins would have some sort of intel that he was going to be cut. I wonder too what we were even offering. I mean if the Rams knew Bulger didn't want to be there and they were going to cut him anyway, I can't imagine they were asking for any more than what we traded away for McNabb.

 

So did the Skins not really do their homework on Bulger? Kinda sounds like it. Though if they wanted him bad enough, I'm sure they could have gotten him.

 

Then like I posted yesterday, it's not like Bulger had some great 2010 season or anything. He rode the bench all season in Baltimore behind Flacco and didn't even see one snap. Then, he ended up retiring in 2011. Who knows if Bulger would have even been any better than McNabb at that point anyway. Just seems like another one of Shanny's "well he wasn't my guy" type of deals.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

1. He showed it repeatedly while he was here with his commentary on McNabb's play and the way he benched him a couple times. 

 

2. He's hinted at it a few times before this article. 

 

I'm aware that they tried other options before landing Donovan but that's why I suspect Shanny just didn't "fight it." He figured the guy's he tried for didn't pan so he allowed Snyder's "precious" to happen.

 

Did you miss the part where Shanahan told Sheehan that Snyder never meddled in personnel decisions?

 

Sheehan just elaborated some more. He said that Shanny told him Dan didn't meddle in personnel decisions.

[...]It was today right after the Schefter segment so around if I recall 1:20 or so. Sheehan even elaborated on it some, saying Dan isn't in the draft room telling them who to draft, etc. But yeah Sheehan outright says that Shanny outright told him that Dan didn't meddle in personnel.

Not to mention, Shanahan apparently didn't have a problem with bringing McNabb on board, as he was their Plan B...he just had a problem with the price paid (which is suspect in itself).

[whitejimmy]

How can so many people blame ANY previous coach we've had when things ALWAYS stayed as bad after any of those coaches left?

 

Wow. Amazing how thick-headed we Redskin fans can be. Look no further than Snyder/Cerrato/Allen... but mainly Snyder. He's the constant. Successful head coaches come here and DIE. It's been sitting on our faces for 20 years, folks.

 

Stop blaming coaches who have clearly been solid commodities their entire careers. Just stop the madness.

 

(I'm obviously excluding Zorn and Spurrier but hey- Snyder hired them. Back to Snyder.)

 

 

Well, yeah, Snyder does meddle with star players, but Shanny loses credibility by not owning up to ANY mistakes in what became a disaster here.  He blamed Snyder, RG3, and James Andrews for every mistake and didn't own up to ANYTHING.  

 

In truth, I think RG3 deserves a lot of the blame (Shanny's account of their deteriorating relationship rings true to me), Snyder some (undermining the HC), and Shanny some (bad signings).  

[RedBeast]

Who cares what Shanahan said? What good does it do going over all of this a billion times. Guessing and conjecture? We can't change yesterday. Focus on tomorrow.

Three sides: side A, side Z...and the one side we will never know? The truth.

[Darrell Green Fan]

How can so many people blame ANY previous coach we've had when things ALWAYS stayed as bad after any of those coaches left?

 

Wow. Amazing how thick-headed we Redskin fans can be. Look no further than Snyder/Cerrato/Allen... but mainly Snyder. He's the constant. Successful head coaches come here and DIE. It's been sitting on our faces for 20 years, folks.

 

Stop blaming coaches who have clearly been solid commodities their entire careers. Just stop the madness.

 

(I'm obviously excluding Zorn and Spurrier but hey- Snyder hired them. Back to Snyder.)

 

 

My position entirely.  

 

I agree that Shanny deserves some of the blame, and he did own up to several mistakes.  But I'm pretty sure if you guys got fired you would not come back and spend 2 hours ripping yourself, no you would be more apt to set  the record straight.  Especially if your boss was the problem and he (as do I) firmly believe that was the case here. 

[Califan007 The Constipated]

Not sure if this article was mentioned/linked....the writer is all over the place at times--I guess he figures there are enough targets to shoot at in all this--but it's kinda funny nonetheless lol (my comments in parenthesis):

 

****************************

 

On Wednesday, just as Jay Gruden was impotently ("impotently"?) declaring Robert Griffin III the team’s 2015 starting quarterback, the man he replaced, Mike Shanahan, was carpet-bombing the Washington Redskins organization, confirming--or trumping up?--the story most people believed anyway: Owner Daniel Snyder is an incompetent puppet master who has little control of his marionettes.

 

This is politics 101 — diss the other guy to make yourself look better. You’ll see Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton doing this to President Obama over the next 21 months. Why did Shanahan do this now, more than a year after he was fired? The old coach seems to want back in, and why not? He’d be the third-oldest coach in the NFL and has one playoff win in 14 seasons since John Elway retired. Who wouldn’t want him?

 

So, maybe to get back in the good graces of the NFL, or whatever the motive, Shanahan decided one year was long enough to keep quiet about his time in Washington. He went on D.C. sports radio and Ether’d the team, particularly Snyder--though he heavily criticized Griffin too. Here’s Shanny talking about a meeting he had with Griffin days after that year’s Super Bowl, when Griffin was tending to a massive knee injury:

 

“Griffin actually mentioned what plays were acceptable and unacceptable, and when he started talking about what plays were acceptable and unacceptable, and that he wasn’t a rookie anymore and wanted to voice his opinion, the term unacceptable is used by Dan, the owner, quite often. So I had a little bit of a smile when I heard some of these complaints.”

 

A quarterback wanted input into which plays worked best? The nerve of him!

 

(Griffin used the word "unacceptable"...that's the big evidence that Snyder was behind Griffin's talk with him? As I haven't listened to the entire iinterview, can someone tell me if Shanahan gave more to back up his claims than RG3 using the word "unacceptable"?

 

To continue...)

 

Shanahan was also aghast--AGHAST!--at the leaked story that came out near the end of his time in Washington which said he wanted to quit before the playoff game against Seattle in 2012 due to the handling of Griffin. As if that EVER would have happened. Who could have ever leaked that story and would have had the motivation to do so? Hmmm, it’s a mystery!

 

But here’s what I don’t get: If Shanahan wanted to quit in 2012 and had two years remaining on his deal, why did he have to listen to Griffin, Snyder or anyone in 2013? If Jay Gruden is on the puppet strings, fine. He’s Jay Gruden. But Mike Shanahan is saying he’s his own man...

 

[...]It takes two to tango and two to ruin RG3’s career by bringing him back too early. The Shanahan of 2015 acts as if he was powerless to stop RG3’s “all in for week 1″ campaign. But he also makes himself out to be the lone voice of sanity in an organization that can barely tie its own shoes. No matter what he says, Griffin started Week 1 because Shanahan said so. If he had wanted to play Kirk Cousins against Snyder’s wishes, then he should have done so and taken the consequences.

 

(and a bit more...)

 

He wanted Marc Bulger. Instead of giving up draft picks for Donovan McNabb, Shanahan wanted the Rams QB. Say what you will about McNabb--and I have--but Bulger never played another down in the NFL after getting released by the Rams in 2010. So, let me translate Shanahan’s comments on this subject: “They were stupid for bringing in a QB past his prime, while I, a football genius, preferred bringing in someone who would never play another down in the NFL. Those fools!”

 

He delivered this quote — which, I warn you, is so dripping with ego that you may accidentally get some on yourself and suddenly develop the attitude of a Wall Street trader:

 

(Shanahan) - “Hey, Dan, for a quarterback to come to me, a veteran coach, and share these things, number one, he can’t be the sharpest guy to do something like that, or he’s got to feel very good about the owner backing him up.”

 

I wonder if RG3 looked Shanahan in the eyes. That would have been the ultimate insult for him, a veteran coach.

 

Speaking of veteran coaches, I guess that’s what you can call Jay Gruden now that he has a year under his belt. But his decision to name Griffin the starter for a Sept. 13 game on Feb. 18 is so mind-numbingly baffling that it all but confirms Shanahan’s stories.

 

(Mind you, Gruden also said that Griffin would actually have to show improvement and stay ahead of his competition in order to actually BE the starter on Sept. 13th...)

 

 

 

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/02/mike-shanahan-rg3-starting-washington-redskins-qb-robert-griffin-jay-gruden-2015