Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Redskins vs. Ravens)

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Ruhskins

I'm just curious to know how much of Hall's attitude may be fueled by the coaches. I'm not saying that the coaches cater to his bad habits, but I feel that for instance, Haslett has made an emphasis on getting more turnovers. And well, Hall has been the one that has been producing those turnover.

My point is, if he was such a BIG problem, wouldn't Shanahan or Haslett get on his face about it? I know Hall has a lot of flaws, and what makes him a playmaker (at times) also is his Achilles' heel. But if he was such an issue, wouldn't have Haslett or Shanahan stepped in and done something about him?

I won't easily dismiss what happened last night, but at the same time, our coaches would have been REALLY stupid to follow on his request in the heat of the moment.

Well, if you're a coach, what can you do? I feel like you can cut a player for a horrible lack of professionalism, but in general, if you expect production out of a player, they'll put up with a lack of professionalism. I feel bad for citing him again, but what did Haynesworth in is that there was never any expectation for him to produce by this coaching staff. So his lack of professionalism got him in the doghouse. Whereas McNabb got a lot longer (and I don't know if McNabb's problem was a lack of professionalism -- maybe it was).

Whether or not the coaches are correct to expect any on field production from Hall is a different debate entirely. I'm trying not to hijack SS' thread into a debate on the value of Hall's onfield ability. We've had that debate too many times already, and this is a Smack Down thread about things that went wrong/need improvement. So I feel a DeAngelo behavior/professionalism discussion belongs here, whereas an assessment of his abilities should happen elsewhere.

As long as the coaches expect on field production, I think they'll put up with him. That would have gone for Haynesworth and McNabb too. If they stop believing in his on field ability, then this professionalism issue becomes his defining characteristic.