Analyzing Mike Shanahan at the Midway Point

I should clarify: I actually agree with you on the benching point. Benching McNabb in general I wouldn't have a problem with if he isn't playing well / games out of reach so avoid the possibility of injury. The timing was my issue, with less than 2 minutes in a 1 possession game.

C, the jury is still deliberating. The team still have some of the same problems as last year; weak offensive line with thin backups, poor third down conversions, poor defense on third and fourth down situations and sporadic offense. Is Shanahan completely to blame? I would say NO. He inherited a dysfunctional team and is doing a fair job to turn it around, BUT I have to question his methods. What little talent and team unity is being completely torn down by some of these head scratching soap-operas. The decision to keep Larry Johnson, Willie Parker through training camp as competition for Clinton Portis and then eventually letting Johnson and Parker go, is a head scratcher. Starting Joey Galloway and releasing Devin Thomas, is a head scratcher. Starting Kory Lichtensteiger over Derrick Dockery, is a head scratcher. The whole fiasco with Albert Haynesworth, is a head scratcher. The handling of Donovan McNabb is the biggest head scratcher of all. What coach in his right mind sits down his healthy starting quarterback when the game can be won. I don't care how bad of a game he is having. Would the Colts sit Manning, would the Patriots sit Brady, would the Chargers sit Rivers...hell no. I'm starting to see why the fans in Denver turned on him!

While I agree completely that MS benching McNabb with 2 minutes to go and the game on the line is baffling, I can tell you that there are a lot of Broncos fans (perhaps a majority) who would love to trade coaches with us...

Benching McNabb was a horrible decision. Even with that, we are 4-4 so I don't see how I could give anything lower than a B relative to last year.

Some of the people here giving Cs and Ds are always going to give low grades and will never be satisfied. No point trying to convince them otherwise.

While I agree completely that MS benching McNabb with 2 minutes to go and the game on the line is baffling, I can tell you that there are a lot of Broncos fans (perhaps a majority) who would love to trade coaches with us...

good point

This is a great thread!!!

The posts are insightful and well written and the differences of opinion very interesting. At the very least Shanny has made it fun :)

I gave Shanahan a "D" and here is my humble opinion as to why.

I know what we were getting when we got Shanahan. And unfortunately it wasn't someone that was going to completely rebuild and start from scratch, and sacrifice a losing season in order to be better in the future. I know what I just said is easier said than done (hell just about everything we say here is), but I still think we got someone that wants to try to win now, while trying to rebuild (which I think is a bit impossible).

Now, Shanahan's accomplishments with the team should not be overlooked. He and Bruce Allen have brought professionalism to the front office. I think they have been a welcome change in attitude and discipline to the team, that was lacking after two horrendous years with Zorn. However, I think this is the key to evaluate Shanahan. Zorn's short tenure was awful, as was Vinny's long tenure. And I feel that as fans it is easy to criticize any criticism of Shanahan, because compared to what we had he is leaps and bounds better.

I also like to mention that I think Shanahan's work with the Redskins alumni was genius. He drafted our Left Tackle of the future, and made some nice acquisitions that are working out well. The change to the 3-4 I see both as a positive and a negative. You can't ignore the fact that the team is taking the ball away more often and led the league recently in takeaways. The defense is more aggressive and physical than it ever was with Blache. And I think it has brought the best out of Landry, Orakpo, and Hall.

To wrap up, here is my criticism. I feel that the Haynesworth drama and the latest McNabb drama could have been handled differently. I really hope he didn't spend two draft picks to evaluate McNabb. If so, he should've just used those picks to improve the offense in other ways, and stick with Campbell. We probably would have a losing record right now, but for the sake of rebuilding I would be fine with this (probably not, but in the long run yes). I feel that the change to the 3-4 was unnecessary. While yes, it may be a trend, we didn't have the personnel for it and that wasn't the biggest issue with our team. I feel that any efforts into change our defense into a 3-4, should've gone into improving the offense. And improve it not for the sake of winning right away, but maybe set it up to win in the future.

So we move on to the second half of the season. I truly hope that at the end of the season I am eating crow and taking everything that I say back. But at this moment, I feel that we are middle of the road team, with a lot of question marks for the future.

Look, I don't expect this team to dramatically improve this season. But it would be nice if we looked were heading in the right direction. Currently I have mix feelings about Shanahan. I know we won half of our games, but we still tend to play down to our opponents. I expect Mike to make the necessary changes and be well prepared for the second half of the season.

Good post Ruhskins.

I gave Shanahan a B-. The reason why is in a very short time Shanahan and Allen brought back winning and respectable play to Redskins football field. Allen and Shanahan arrived and cleaned house. It sent the message to all the remaining players that the free ride is now over.
I am most glad about that. We finally have a FO that can bring in good players and Vinny is gone! I hated Vinny from the day we hired him.

Major issues:
1) I also have a major problem with the way Shanahan has handled the player issues. At first it I thought Shanahan has a very large ego. But I soon realized the reality is Shanahan is actually insecure and really cares about how he is perceived in the press and publicly. I have no respect for any leader that try's to make points with player issues in public and especially in the media. While I agree with what he was trying to do, it is his process that failed. Player issues should be handled privately and behind closed doors, with minimal comment in the press. The McNabb benching has been terribly mismanaged. The large amount leaks in the press also are very disturbing and are still happening today.

2) Defense/Hasslett/Shanahan - have severely misused the personnel on defense. We are currently ranked 31st out of 32 teams in the NFL. We have been at the bottom all year. I am ok with this is long as we are trying to make positive change and I feel like we are trying to. But the choice of players being played at certain positions on defense is incredibly wrong and frustrating. There has been change and movement in the starting lineup, but not once have they tried the most logical ones.

D-line : Carricker, Kemo and Hanynesworth
OLb's: Orakpo, McIntosh and Wilson
ILB's: Fletcher, Alexander, Blades and Riley
Not once even in the preseason have they tried this, Why?

Andre Cater should only be used in four man lines and only on real obvious pass situations. He is a major liability in the 3-4 and anytime against the run. His 11 sackes from last year were along time ago have no chance of repeating itself in this defense.