Shanahan was asked for his assessment of Grossman’s play thus far, and the coach said statistics aren’t always the right measuring stick by which quarterbacks should be evaluated.
“Everybody can see from the statistical standpoint how a player does,” Shanahan said. “Sometimes it can be a little deceiving. Just like in the last game, all of a sudden if we hit that one when we’re up 17-zip and it’s a touchdown instead of an interception, everybody’s mind-set would be different about the quarterback.”
So what does the coach use as a measuring stick?
“All quarterbacks, every quarterback, is going to be judged by if he wins or loses,” Shanahan said. “That’s the nature of the job.”
The coach said “he’s done good,” when asked about Grossman’s play.
Grossman for a second straight week talked about his need to take better care of the ball, but added that he can’t let a fear of throwing an interception diminish his confidence and aggression, however.
Shanahan agreed.
“As a quarterback, you’ve got to have thick skin, you’ve got to understand that at the end of the day, you have to win, and at the end of the day, you have to be very tough on yourself,” Shanahan said. “You’ve got to think perfection and anything less than perfection, you don’t have the right quarterback. But you’ve got to have a guy that’s going to compete, knows when he does make mistakes, he’s going to keep on getting better, keep on pushing himself and grinding, and when you do that, you have a chance to get better as a football team.”