Quote:
Originally Posted by NLC1054
But all indications were that it wasn't just the on the field stuff. I'm not chastising you, I'm just saying, it's not just the team around him. It's not just the drops.
It was the way he played, but probably more so, it was the way he acted. If you know Mike Shanahan, you know how big a deal practice is to him, that he's a no hit guy who takes care of his players, but he wants the tempo of practice to be good as well.
He spoke of having those days in practice where the ball never hit the ground. All indications are that they never had that. Then there's issues with him coming out either last or late for practice. Than there's the wristband stuff that's pretty much been widely confirmed by anyone who has a source in the building.
So it seems to me that Mike Shanahan (and Mike alone; as someone pointed out, Kyle didn't think he'd be a good fit in the offense and was against the trade to begin with) thought he was getting one player, and ended up with another. He thought he was getting a consummate pro, the hardest worker on the team, and a playmaker that had all things he wanted.
What he seemed to get was a slightly image conscious, kinda lazy (or at least not up to Shanahan's standards) quarterback who benefited greatly from being in a system in which Andy Reid allowed him to improvise more than he was required to be precise, and despite having a lot of time to get better, he either couldn't process it or didn't put the work in to do it.
I also don't really buy that Kyle didn't do enough to try and maximize what Donovan was good at. All these screen passes and the checkdowns to the running backs seem like it was "give him a high read, a low read, and then a checkdown". That's pretty much what they ran with him in Philly.
It was a mutual thing, this whole nasty break up. But Donovan had his fair share of problems, and it wasn't all drops by wide receivers. I think anyone will tell you that it's hard to catch a football that's thrown at your knees.
If anything, keeping Donovan despite all the problems would be more of a "win now" move than seeing what they have in John Beck and Rex. Best case scenario, they have a quarterback that can right the ship while they replenish positions of need on the team. Worst case, they just draft a quarterback next year.
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Some players are gamers, others are diligent workers that have to supplement their lack of natural talent with a solid practice regiment and endless hours of film study in order to assert a mental edge over their opponent. Occationally you find that perfect symbiosis of guys who have both, but it is a rarity. Granted McNabb did not meet Fam Shanahan's expectation as a hard worker on the practice field and in the film room. Perhaps his lack of commitment in those areas, when the lights are off, is the reason why he's not the proud owner of a superbowl ring, but it's undeniable that he has created a lasting legacy in this league playing his way.
I think that there is a vast difference between designed screens, which is what Philly did with McNabb under center and reading high to low and making a checkdown. The designed screen really didn't emerge as a staple in Kyle's play calling until well into the season. Which would suggest that he wasn't doing everything in his power to allow McNabb and the entire offense for that matter to succeed with the weapons they had a their disposal. You would hope as a fan that the adaptation to a screen game to supplement the lack of rushing attack would have occured much earlier in the season. It was always my understanding that the progession for McNabb in Philly was low-intermediate-high and not the other way around.
The point I was attempting to make with the "win now" statement is that after a decade of poor football from this Redskins organization you would think that they would be a slightly more patient than 13 games with their big name acquisitions. I was not suggesting that we give less athletically gifted players the opportunity to start as opposed to trying to win football games with the best players on our roster. That would be absurd. It was more of a "allow your newest acquistions to florish in a new system without prematurely pulling the plug" philosophy.
If Mike's initial intension was to trade for McNabb, play him a single season, then use him as trade bait for a future draft pick, I would have said it's not the greatest way to accumulate draft picks, but atleast it's forward thinking. Instead what they've done is defame the character and devalue the trade potential of a player who, had you allowed him to play the entire season, might have yeilded a future 3rd round pick. This whole approah is fundamentally flawed.