Analyzing Mike Shanahan at the Midway Point

It's going to take time, VC left the place in such a mess and this is a rebuilding year (let's be honest). To be at .500 midway through the season is a hell of an accomplishment.
QB is unsettled but DMac is as good a stopgap as any and to be realistic, he was either going to show that he had what it took or he didn't, either way it would give the team some time to develop w/o the QB position being the focal point. IMO, we need to draft a QB fairly high to either start next year or 2012 at the latest.
OL is pretty much in shambles -- Trent Williams is a beast and I am hoping he avoids any injuries because we will need him. All the other guys are backup guys IMO and we have to invest some serious money/draft picks on the offensive trenches.
WR is also in shambles -- Santana is pretty good no matter who is throwing to him, Anthony Armstrong still has a lot to prove and it is pretty disgraceful that Roydell Williams and Joey Galloway are our 3rd and 4th. Again, they are stop gaps and we need to spend some money/draft picks on WR. I would like to see KS get Banks involved a little more offensively b/c that guy is dangerous in space.
RB is okay b/c Portis should be back but is no longer the #1 and should split time with Torain.
TE is okay b/c Cooley is a beast and hopefully Fred Davis regains some form. I'm surprised at his lack of production given that by all accounts he had had a phenomenal training camp.

On the defensive side:
DL is looking okay, still not sure about the switch to the 3-4 but it hasn't been disastrous though were are still giving up a ton of yardage.
LB is okay, Fletch is bionic, I don't know how that guy does it and Rak is a monster. Other than that, Rocky is okay, Alexander is pretty decent, so LB should be set for a few years.
CB is where I am worried, DHall is leading the league in INTs I believe? but the cover situation is tough to consider. We have been torched, just torched by top flight WRs (Andre + Calvin Johnson) so I really think the secondary has to be solidified.
FS/SS (see CB)

Overall, the whole team is okay which is good given last year's debacle. Lots of building to do but I feel as though Shanny has the team headed in a good direction. 2 more years in my opinion combined with avoiding any serious setbacks and I could see this team in the Superbowl.

As much as I am not happy with our results right now...i'd say he's performing about as well as can be expected for a good NFL coach in this situation...reaching 4 wins in half the time as last year has to be worth a B.

Could he have done better, of course...could he have done worse?..yes...far worse
If I could, I'd give a B-

I certainly have criticisms of how he has handled the oline and several key players, inability to adjust on offense lately...and in the early 3 games on d...but overall, he's a good coach.
I don't think anyone would argue against that

He's done a good job coaching, even though his personnel moves he's done--whether they are done with Bruce Allen or not-- and the defensive scheme change are still up for debate.

It all starts with the O-line. Rabach is god awful, Hicks is out of position, Lichtenstiger gets beat like a drum, Jamaal Brown looks like he's 50 years old, Heyer will never be more than a back-up, and Trent Williams is solid but making rookie mistakes. You can't tell me Lichtenstiger is better than Dockery.

Re-signing Rabach, bringing in Brown, Hicks, and Lichtenstiger, and repeatedly keeping Dockery inactive are all Shanny's decisions. I give him an A on drafting Williams, and a D- for the rest of the O-line mess. Not that he had much to work with when he took over as HC, but this unit is downright awful.

I agree with article in that the Haynesworth drama was dragged out way too long, and IMO this McNabb situation was a total coaching meltdown, especially Shanny's attempts to explain his decision. Fail fail fail.

Overall he's got us going in the right direction, but he's had more than a few head-scratchers thus far.

I'll give him a C. The jury is still out, though.

I gave him a straight up C. Personally, I don't think he will be here past 2012, and that isn't an indictment of him or his coaching. The bad moves by Redskins Park continue even with a new GM/HC. Bringing in a Pro Bowl QB behind a terrible line was sheer stupidity. WE all thought it was JC, but the line even makes Donovan look real bad. Not trying to exonerate Donovan from his crappy play, but damn, he doesn't have a decent line or Wr corp. How can a QB excel? Bradford has a better line that Donovan, and probably just as good of a WR corp. I think Shanny is an above average coach, who won two SBs with a stacked deck, playing in the weakest division in the NFL. Even post Elway he had a load of talent, but didn't do much with it. He will skip town out of frustration as there simply are too many holes to fill. You have to also wonder how many of the quality players are going to want to stay with this circus for the remainder of their careers.

It all starts with the O-line. Rabach is god awful, Hicks is out of position, Lichtenstiger gets beat like a drum, Jamaal Brown looks like he's 50 years old, Heyer will never be more than a back-up, and Trent Williams is solid but making rookie mistakes. You can't tell me Lichtenstiger is better than Dockery.

Re-signing Rabach, bringing in Brown, Hicks, and Lichtenstiger, and repeatedly keeping Dockery inactive are all Shanny's decisions. I give him an A on drafting Williams, and a D- for the rest of the O-line mess. Not that he much to work with when he took over as HC, but this unit is downright awful.

I agree with article in that the Haynesworth drama was dragged out way too long, and IMO this McNabb situation was a total coaching meltdown, especially Shanny's attempts to explain his decision. Fail fail fail.

Overall he's got us going in the right direction, but he's had more than a few head-scratchers thus far.

I'll give him a C. The jury is still out, though.

How is he going in the right direction? He just disenfranchised his star QB, who will split come the end of the season. Grossman sucks, and drafting a QB without a new o line in place would just be as bad of a waste as it was getting McNabb. The guy in essence just shot himself in the foot.

You mistakenly identify mcnabb as shanahans star qb. Mcnabb just isn't very good. Shanahan doesn't want him. If he keeps playing like he has been, I dont want him either. If the new CBa allows Shanahan to franchise mcnabb we will. And we can probably trade him to Arizona for something of value.

Why bother getting him then and wasting picks? We could have just kept JC for the same results and kept two draft picks to help shore up our leaking offensive line. And if Shanny didn't want him, why did they acquire him? Like it or not, he is the best we have. Just dumb all around.

Why bother getting him then and wasting picks? We could have just kept JC for the same results and kept two draft picks to help shore up our leaking offensive line. And if Shanny didn't want him, why did they acquire him? Like it or not, he is the best we have. Just dumb all around.
Buyer's remorse. It's can happen with players who the coaches have never worked with personally. Arch Deluxe had no relationship with Grilliams or anything, they just studied his film and thought he was wtfawesome. The rest is history.

Ex-NFL QB Jake Plummer is playing a new sport these days - Shutdown Corner - NFL* - Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Ex-NFL-QB-Jake-Plummer-is-playing-a-new-sport-th?urn=nfl-282499)

This is what Jake Plummer had to say about Shanahan:

The grind of playing for an uber-perfectionist like Shanahan wore on Plummer during his time in the Rockies.

"I had a coach that, regardless of how well I thought I was playing or how well the majority of fans across the country thought I was playing, it was never good enough for him," Plummer said, not bitter but very matter-of-fact. "And that kind of gets frustrating."

"It just seemed like every game I could have completed these four more passes or these five more shots here and it would have been perfect. And that just wasn't my personality... But Shanahan wanted perfection and he wore a lot of us down there."

Plummer didn't sound surprised by the current circus unfolding in Washington, D.C., between Shanahan and Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb(notes).

"I think Shanahan is still searching for John Elway," Plummer said. "Somehow, someway, he thinks there's going to be another guy like John Elway."

"He coached a team to almost perfection (with Elway) so he wanted that again, he wanted that every time we went out there. It's just not realistic."


BooHoo, your a grown man. Why do you need a pat on the back for doing what's your paid to do? As a Marine, I'm always telling my guys/gals "If I accept how you are, I'm failing you. If I push you for more each day, you will improve and be better". Coach is the same way, don't except someone's best. Push them and their best will get better.