fatness
Footballguy
The first big Shanahan post-mortem, done by Mike Jones, Jason Reid, Liz Clarke, Dave Sheinin and Mike Wise. Worth reading.
This story is based on interviews with nearly 20 people inside the Redskins organization or close to it, who insisted on anonymity so they could speak more freely about the problems bedeviling the franchise.
As training camp began in 2010, the coach wanted to make an example of Haynesworth. He put the 350-pound tackle through a daily conditioning test. Haynesworth continually failed, sparking a battle of wills between the two that lasted the rest of the season. Haynesworth was gone the following year, taking with him approximately $35 million.
The less-remarked upon story at the time, though, was that Snyder had supported Shanahan despite the cost and embarrassment of the Haynesworth signing. It set the tone for the two strongheaded men’s relationship, in which Snyder largely complied with Shanahan’s requests, large and small.
Both McNabb and Griffin were benched with 3 games left in a season.Shanahan, with Snyder’s support, decided to give McNabb a chance — at the discount price of a second-round draft pick and a conditional pick the following year. The team finalized the trade in April 2010. Almost immediately, Kyle Shanahan clashed with the new quarterback.
Not long after the Shanahans arrived, alliances formed on the coaching staff — fueled by a perception that Mike Shanahan would look out for his son’s interests before those of other coaches. Indeed, Shanahan’s first draft choice (offensive tackle Trent Williams in 2010), biggest free agent signing (wide receiver Pierre Garcon in 2012) and biggest move (the trade to move up in the 2012 draft to select Griffin) all benefited the offense. "If Mike has several million to spend, do you think he is going to help build the defensive coordinator’s unit or give that money to his kid?” said one team official familiar with the roster’s salary structure.
Shanahan has mostly allowed his son to craft the offense as he saw fit, watching offensive meetings sometimes on a closed-circuit video feed and approving Kyle’s game plan but rarely making broad changes.
This wasn’t the case for the defense. Shanahan, in his second year into the job, began sitting in on coaches’ defensive meetings. According to a former coach, staff members stormed out several times, furious after Shanahan had changed that week’s defensive game plan.
Haslett, the defensive coordinator and a former NFL head coach, also had part of his play-calling duties on the defense usurped by Shanahan, according to two coaches and a veteran player.
One of Shanahan’s first calls came in September 2011, during a game at Dallas. With the Cowboys on their own 30 with 2 minutes 20 seconds to play, Shanahan called an all-out blitz — “Cover-0,” as it is known — and it backfired, resulting in Dallas quarterback Tony Romo finding wide receiver Dez Bryant for a 30-yard gain. Dallas eventually kicked a field goal for an 18-16 victory, and Haslett was left to shoulder the blame.
Shanahan had concerns that Griffin had no experience in a pro-style offense and with the number of draft picks it would take to move up from the draft’s sixth slot to get him, a team official said. But Snyder was sold. Griffin had won the Heisman Trophy at Baylor in 2011, and he was young and black, charismatic and bright, exciting and polished — the perfect fit for Washington and the new Redskins. For Snyder, a lifelong Redskins fan who had grown up to buy the team as a marketing man, Griffin was a dream — and he made no secret of his wishes, according to a team official.Shanahan, knowing he needed a quarterback, relented.
So when Griffin arrived at Redskins Park, Shanahan immediately put limits on who could even speak to the rookie. Only Shanahan, his son and quarterbacks coach Matt LaFleur could contact Griffin to discuss football. Shanahan limited his media availability to once during the week — two fewer times than Griffin faced reporters as a junior at Baylor — and after games. Kyle Shanahan stood on a balcony and timed Griffin’s Wednesday news conferences; if the meeting surpassed 10 minutes, the coordinator complained to Wyllie, the team’s communications director. Requests for one-on-one interviews were declined even if Griffin was willing, and if a reporter wandered too close to Griffin’s locker, it was common for Wyllie to interrupt the chat.Even Griffin himself rolled his eyes, occasionally telling reporters to quiet their laughter, lest Wyllie hear it and, following instructions, end the jocularity.
But when the 2012 season started, Griffin’s parents began to question privately Shanahan’s desire to protect his quarterback. The 6-foot-2, 217-pound Griffin was hit often during the Redskins’ home opener against Cincinnati, and Kyle Shanahan kept calling zone-read plays — in which the quarterback had the option of running with the ball or handing it off. The plays effectively used Griffin’s speed and evasiveness as a ball carrier, but his parents let it be known they believed they put him in unnecessary danger.
A month later, family members were specifically irked when Griffin ran a receiving route as part of a trick play — and was leveled by Pittsburgh safety Ryan Clark.
There is a lot more.Two and a half weeks later, Griffin injured his right knee in a win against the Baltimore Ravens, forcing Shanahan to sideline him the following week. When Griffin returned Dec. 23 against the Philadelphia Eagles, Shanahan watched a clearly hobbled Griffin return to the sideline. Shanahan told his quarterback he was considering pulling him from the game. According to a member of the coaching staff, Griffin looked at Shanahan and replied that he either believed in him or he didn’t. Interpreting the words as a warning that his long-term relationship with the quarterback could be in jeopardy, a team official said, Shanahan called a running play to test Griffin. The quarterback ran the play to Shanahan’s satisfaction, and the coach left him in the game.
Two weeks later, according to a person familiar with the discussion, the Shanahans sat with Griffin before Washington’s playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks and went over plays they would and wouldn’t use. The men agreed to leave the zone read mostly out of the game plan, relying more on Griffin’s passing, according to this account. But when the offense took the field, Kyle Shanahan called one zone-read play, then another. The play-calling deeply affected Griffin’s trust in the Shanahans, according to one person in the quarterback’s camp.
