A New Level Of Discontent Part I: Shanahan vs McNabb

Head Coach Mike Shanahan has been with the Redskins for nearly a year, and he already has two major confrontations with two of the biggest players on the roster. During training camp, it was Albert Haynesworth because he skipped the optional and mandatory offseason workouts. Today, its quarterback Donovan McNabb because of his below average play at quarterback, and he's in the epicenter of the Redskins offensive woes.

With under 2:00 to go in the 4th quarter, and the Redskins trailing 30-25, Coach Shanahan decides to put his backup quarterback Rex Grossman into the game because he was frustrated with McNabb interception on the previous drive and his concerns about McNabb's hamstring injury. On the very first play, Grossman was sacked, fumbled the football, and the Lions recovered it for a touchdown and sealed their second victory of the season.

Like other Redskins fans, I nearly lost my mind when Grossman was on the field in that situation. I did thought that McNabb suffered an injury after he throw the interception. But it turned out to be a coaches decision by Shanahan because he was frustarted with McNabb on the last interception and he went with his gut feeling. The day after the loss, Shanahan gives a different reason.

"When you deal with a two-minute offense and you don't have any timeouts, and you haven't done it in five weeks, and you're calling sometimes two plays [simultaneously] - you've got to hustle to the line of scrimmage, and you're calling plays that you haven't called in the two-minute attack - and you're actually working on cardiovascular endurance at the same time [you're] working on the clock, it's really hard to do that when you haven't practiced it and you haven't really put yourself in any strenuous activities because of your hamstrings. So I thought it would be in our best interest to go in a different direction."

If Shanahan just said that he had an issue with McNabb's inaccuracy in pass attempts and his below average performance at quarterback,  then that's fine. Philadelphia Eagles Head Coach Andy Reid had the same problem with McNabb and the media wouldn't blow this story out of proportion as it is now. The media will then put most of the blame on McNabb. 

But Shanahan reasoning to bench McNabb was so stupid, the media give some sympathy to McNabb. Shanahan actually thought that McNabb wasn't conditionally fit to run a two minute offense?? That has to be the biggest lie I've ever heard from a NFL head coach. McNabb led the team in rushing with 45 yards. If he was healthy enough to play for 58 minutes, why not play him for two more minutes?

Another factor is that McNabb isn't the main problem of the Redskins offense in general. He hasn't had any good protection from the offensive line all season.McNabb is the second most-sacked quarterback in the league and with the poor protection, he's probably a huge hit away from being knocked out the rest of the season. Despite drafting tackle Trent Williams in the 1st round, the Redskins are still struggling in run and pass protection. It is hard to overhaul an offensive line in one offseason, and the Redskins are probably a couple of drafts away from having a solid offensive line.

I understand why Shanahan is frustrated with McNabb poor play this season. The statistics proves his point. But to questioned McNabb's intelligence is ridiculous. McNabb has been in the league for 11 seasons, has been to 5 NFC championship games and one Super Bowl appearances. That alone speaks for itself.  However, McNabb has history of struggling with the two minute offense. Those struggles were evident in his four losses in the NFC title game and in Super Bowl XXXIX.

However, as bad as McNabb was last week, he still give the Redskins the best chance to win.Did Shanahan really thought that a rested and rusty Rex Grossman gives the Redskins a better chance to win in a two minute situation then McNabb?? The players on the roster believe that this is McNabb's team and they believe him every step of the way. The Redskins hasn't had that type of leader in the locker room in a long time. 

So what will happen during the second half of the season?? Shanahan said that McNabb is still the starter despite the benching, but does anyone believes what Shanahan said?? Shanahan has a long history of switching his starting quarterbacks in his NFL coaching career, and some of those moves backfired. So expect the unexpected if McNabb continues his below average performance.  More importantly, expect  McNabb to leave D.C. after this season when his contract expires unless they make a huge playoff run.

Coming up tomorrow, Part II will focus on the culture change in the organization.

We Hit Rock Bottom Again

At around 1p.m. on Halloween, the Redskins are looking to get their revenge from last year's disappointing lost to the Detroit Lions. They were hoping to go to 5-3 into the bye week and set themselves for a possible playoff push late in the season.

At 4:30p.m., the Redskins leave the Motor City on the loss column with a 37-25 lost to the Lions.  But this was just more of the loss to the Lions. There is a major possibility that this loss will derail the Redskins season again because of head coach Mike Shanahan decision to bench his starting quarterback Donovan McNabb with under two minutes to go in the 4th quarter.

Since there was a lot of issues leading up to and after the benching, I will save my analysis on Shanahan's decision to bench McNabb for my next post.

However, I will analyze why the Redskins lost the game in the first place. First, the offensive line was terrible. They were beat up all day long against the Lions front seven. Therefore, McNabb was sack five times and had limited time to find an open receiver. Also, McNabb throw a terrible interception into triple coverage late in the 4th quarter. That interception led to a short touchdown drive by Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford and give the Lions the lead at 30-25. The Lions never trailed from there on.

In addition to the offensive line and quarterback problems, running back Ryan Torain suffered a hamstring injury and he did not return to the game. This led to Kelliand Williams being the only Redskin running back in the roster. The more I see the protection issues at the offensive line, the more I think that they miss running back Clinton Portis.

Portis is an great pass blocker for the team, and he is often the six man blocking McNabb in a passing game. Since Portis injury, McNabb has been sacked more often then he was during his first four games. Also, 3rd down conversions has nearly killed the Redskins chances in ballgames this year. They went 2-14 on 3rd downs. That is inexcusable against a poor Lions defense. 

If the offensive line continues their struggles and the offense does not covert on 3rd downs, the Redskins will lose more games late in the season. The Redskins are among the league- worst in 3rd down conversion rate.

The defense kept the Redskins in the game thanks to two takeaways. Cornerback DeAngelo Hall got his sixth interception of the season early in the 1st quarter. The defense also caused a forced fumble early in the second half. So far, the Redskins are tied for the league lead with 19 takeaways. However, those two takeaways didn't produce any points from the offense.

Special teams played a big role on both teams, but the Redskins had their first kickoff return for the touchdown in four years thanks to rookie Brandon Banks. Banks return a kickoff 96 yards for the touchdown to give the Redskins a 25-20 lead early in the 4th quarter. With the offense struggling to find any production, Banks could be the game-changer that the Redskins desperately need on special teams.

Next Week Game: vs Philadelphia
Time & Network: 11/15/2010 at 8:30P.M. On ESPN
Commentators: Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden

The Redskins will have two weeks to put their disastrous loss behind them and focus on the second half of the season. Despite all of their problems on offense, the quarterback, offensive line, and the coaching staff, a victory over the Eagles will give them three wins in the division and a sweep over their divisional rival.

Week 8 Preview vs Detroit

The true character of the Washington Redskins will be put into the test this Sunday as they face the Detroit Lions in Ford Field. The Lions are 1-5, last place in the NFC North, and coming off a bye week. The Redskins are 4-3 and sitting in second place in the NFC East. The last time the Redskins played in Detroit Michigan, they were humiliated. The Lions ended their 19 game losing streak and defeated the Redskins 19-14. The loss sealed the fate of former head coach Jim Zorn and Vice President of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato.

Fast Forward to Halloween 2010, the Redskins already match their last season's win total at four, and looking forward to going to their bye week with a 5-3 record.  The team is well-coached and has a defense that is aggressive and finding ways to create turnovers. However, this team has shown that they can play terrible against bad teams. This was the case in a week 3 loss to the S.t. Louis Rams.

So if the Redskins want revenge from last year's embarrassment and become one of the elites in the NFC, they will have to take the Lions seriously and be ready to play football. This team has the ability to play physical football for a 60 minutes and get off to a good start in some games. However, a bad turnover or sloppy play early could be disastrous for the team. 

The offense also needs to be consistent, convert on 3rd downs, and score some touchdowns in the red zone. They shouldn't have any problems since the Lions defense isn't good. This would be a good opportunity for quarterback Donovan McNabb to finally have a bounce back game after several sub-par performances. McNabb also needs to be accurate and limit turnovers. If there is too much pressure after a play-action fake, McNabb should just take a sack, and don't force anything.

The ground game should effective because the Lions have given up four 100-yards or more during the past five games. So I expect running back Ryan Torain should be having another good game and help take pressure off McNabb in the passing game.

The defense needs to continue their aggressive play and limit big plays. They will have a tough matchup in the secondary since they are covering wide receiver Calvin Johnson, who is one of the best receivers in the league. Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford will play in his first game since week 1 when he suffered his shoulder injury. Last year, Stafford put up big numbers against the Redskins by going 21 of 36 for 241 yards, and a touchdown. He also had a 87.8 quarterback rating.

Therefore, expect Jim Haslett to add more pressure on Stafford. Also, the defense does give up a lot of yards, but they are create turnovers and it has kept them in games. If the defense continues to play well, then the Redskins will have opportunities to get the victory.

Prediction: Ironically, the Redskins are 4-1 when they score 17 points, but they are 0-2 when they score 20 or more points. Those two losses came against Houston and Indianapolis. However, the Redskins should score more than 20 points today because the Lions defense have given up a lot of points. But the Lions have been very competitive in all of their games this season.

Therefore, I expect another close game today. However, I think the Redskins offense finally has a breakout game. McNabb will throw for two touchdowns, and Torain will have a rushing touchdown and his thrid straight 100+ yard game. More importantly, they will win their first game when scoring 20 or more points.

Enjoy the game everyone. It should be exciting close contest. Finally, have a happy and safe Halloween!!!

Redskins:28  Lions:24