Report: Shanahan to DC done deal

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by Ruhskins

Nice article, from a Denver fan. A friend of mine is a huge Denver fan and he probably has a bit of a different opinion from this article. But in the end these are fan opinions.

Still, your argument against Shanahan just leads me to believe that you don't like him personally, which is fine since you are entitled to your personal opinion and I'm not here to change your personal opinion about the guy. But your facts to support your argument are really not strong at all and some are even incorrect.

Is Shanahan right for the Redskins? Only time will tell. He has experience, has coached a Superbowl winning team and has been to the playoffs many times. To me that sounds like a pretty good resume, but no one can come here and claim for certain that he is going to succeed or he is going to fail. I personally go with facts and previous record.

I agree. It's not like you land a perennial winner everyday to take over your team. I mean, how many coaches are available with just one Super Bowl win?

While I like the fact that Shanahan has won two Super Bowls, it seems to me some people around here measure success and failure by that alone. Truth is it's damn hard to consistently go to the playoffs, much less win a Super Bowl. In addition to playing well, so many other things have to go right for a team to find itself in the playoffs and Super Bowl. Unless you're playing for the Pats or the Steelers, it's just damn hard to establish that winning culture. Is Tom Coughlin a good coach? Damn right. Would I rather have Shanny though, probably. All I'm saying is unless you bring in a Bill Belichick, a Bill Cowher, Tony Dungy or maybe Andy Reid, there are no guarantees.

I'd probably take Shanahan and his track record over most guys in the NFL right now. He may very well come here and pull a Jon Gruden, but it's also highly unlikely he'll pull a Steve Spurrier. Like you said, only time will tell.

[skins89moss]

Well Zorn did the best he could but it did not result in wins. I like the coaching staff we have now except Zorn is not head coaching material. If Gruden or Shanahan is not the next coach let Blache or Sherm Lewis get a shot at the HC positon. Didn't Shanahan draft Maurice Claret in the 3rd round?. That was a reach pick.

[dmek25]

talking to a good friend of mine, who is also a big time raiders fan. he said one of Shanahan's best attributes is his game day coaching. as a coach, i dont know much about him, other then they were always competitive, as far as the playoffs

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by Eriwar

Good read here Don’t Hire Mike Shanahan (An Open Letter to Clark Hunt)

It's amazing how the first thing the anti-Shanahan crowd thinks of is that he only won one playoff game without John Elway.

Nevermind those two Lombardi trophies -- they mean nothing.

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Here's the scoop from SS who texted me:

-Shanahan was not in DC today

-Terms of a deal have been in place for a while now, the holdup was he didn't want Vinny in a decision making role, he doesn't want to take over during the season, and he wants to wait until after the Texans season is over to bring his son Kyle with him.

-He's also waiting to see what will happen with Dallas, but his focus has shifted to the Skins now.

-Skins are also interested in bringing in Doug Williams but it probably wouldn't happen until March, if it does at all. DW might not be as interested as the Skins though, thinks he may have more upside with Tampa.

Thanks for posting it Matty

[wolfeskins]

Originally Posted by Beemnseven

It's amazing how the first thing the anti-Shanahan crowd thinks of is that he only won one playoff game without John Elway.

Nevermind those two Lombardi trophies -- they mean nothing.

i agree, plus his overall record in denver is pretty darn good.

[SkinFan4Life]

Was Shanahan in Denver when Portis was there? It will be interesting in the decision to keep Portis or not.

[Paintrain]

Originally Posted by SkinFan4Life

Was Shanahan in Denver when Portis was there? It will be interesting in the decision to keep Portis or not.

Who do you think traded him to us?

[Bigreds77]

Marty turned things around & he got the axe. Now Zorn & his staff have the Skins playing well & now they will be fired too.

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by Ruhskins

Well that pussy finesse offense went to the playoffs a couple of times, had a number of winning seasons, and won the Super Bowl twice.

Also, you are talking about great QBs being good regardless of the team (since you mentioned Brady), not good QBs. Brady is a great QB, Brees is a great QB, and Peyton is a great QB. Cutler is not, and most good QBs need good teams, yet you mentioned great QBs.

Hell, San Diego didn't think Brees was good enough and they let him go..and well we know what happened. The same you could say about Chad Pennington...although both of these guys also had injury problems...but anyway. I am by no means saying that Cutler is great, all I was saying that maybe he would be as successful as Marshall, Schefler, and Kuper if he had stayed in Denver (and not the "maybe"), but my main point is that this draft was for the most part successful.

Exactly. And couldn't it be that Cutler's performance has suffered due to Shanahan's departure?

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

My biggest problem with Shanahan is that he's clearly more interested in coaching again then he is in winning ever again. I'd rather he go play his games somewhere else than my team.

He'll bring in Bob Slowik to be our DC, and Kyle Shanahan to be our OC, and well, we won't have much by way of a coaching staff. I don't think we'll have much of an edge over other playoff teams. But he would correct the major flaw in our rushing attack without majorly overhauling the blocking schemes, and we'd never have to worry about having crappy QB play, because I don't think Shanny would ever trade in Campbell for someone markedly worse than Campbell.

I think a Mike Shanahan offense would be fun to watch, but ultimately, we'd still play most of our games on the margin, and just never be a great super bowl threat under him. I really don't think Shanahan is coming back to win another super bowl. I think he just enjoys coaching a lot.

Which is fine. It's great actually. But we're only going to go as far as our talent carries us, and we don't have very many GREAT players, especially on the offensive side. We have functional talent (and youth), at times, around a pretty good quarterback, who again, isn't a guarantee to be back. A defense coached by Bob Slowik may or may not be better than a Blache coached defense (I can't imagine it would be worse), but again, Shanahan builds around the concept of comfort, rather than excellence.

In other words, I can see why Danny and Shanny are a good fit.

Let me get this straight: You believe Mike Shanahan wants to coach again, but doesn't care about winning?

To clarify: I'm not saying that Shanahan doesn't want to win. I'm saying he won't do what's necessary to win, if his initial try doesn't work.

But he already knows what's necessary to win, because he's won. Your statement sounds like this is a guy who doesn't know what he's doing, is going to try something that hasn't worked before, and won't adjust if it doesn't work. But it already has worked with Shanahan.

Good grief. Some people are really reaching to find a reason to hate the man.

[TheSmurfs22]

Is Shanny is in and CP is out do we look to FA for an RB or the Draft? I still think we need to use the draft to shore up the O Line.

[CultBrennan59]

yes shanahan was the head coach when portis was there, and he drafted portis by the way in the second round. And just to make him look more appealing to us, he did trade portis for champ bailey and if you ask me he got the better part of that deal, cause a good running back is a lot easier to find than a shut down corner.

And I don't know what shanahan will do with portis but we have other proven backs, and a lot of running backs, even undrafed ones (mike bell of the saints now was with denver) have been able to run shanahans offense very well

[Longtimefan]

Originally Posted by skins89moss

Well Zorn did the best he could but it did not result in wins. I like the coaching staff we have now except Zorn is not head coaching material. If Gruden or Shanahan is not the next coach let Blache or Sherm Lewis get a shot at the HC positon. Didn't Shanahan draft Maurice Claret in the 3rd round?. That was a reach pick.

It's funny, they said the same thing about Joe Gibbs. A little known assistant that Bobby Bethard had to do a hard sell to keep Mr. Cooke from firing early in his first season. The last time I checked, Gibbs has a "B" in Canton, amazing what a little patience will do isn't it?

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by Longtimefan

It's funny, they said the same thing about Joe Gibbs. A little known assistant that Bobby Bethard had to do a hard sell to keep Mr. Cooke from firing early in his first season. The last time I checked, Gibbs has a "B" in Canton, amazing what a little patience will do isn't it?

Chuck Noll was 1-13, 5-9, and 6-8 in first three seasons with Pittsburgh. So yes, there is something to be said for patience with head coaches. Could it be that Zorn just needs one more year to "learn" how to be a head coach? Maybe. But are we willing to wait for his on-the-job-training to be complete?

In this day and age, with the league structured the way it currently is, I just don't think you can do that.

Whether we're a team that needs to be blown up and rebuilt from the foundation up, or if we're a team on the verge that's just a player or two away, there needs to be a coach here with experience, and a track record of sustained success. I just don't think you can afford to bring Zorn back and hope that he's the guy who can do that.