Shanahan's got a reputation for leaving players in when he shouldn't. Also: who gives a shit what RGIII says; he's a competitor and of course he wants to be out there. It's the coach's responsibility to pull the plug. By the second quarter it was obvious RGIII had nothing left and by that point you were playing Russian Roulette with his knee by leaving him in the game. I get you want to win a playoff game, but this guy is the future of the franchise.
Completely agree with this. RG3 is a tough and uber competitive kid to a fault; he hasn't learned completely yet that if he's hurt, he's not only hurting himself but he's also hurting the team. Shanahan can't trust a player like that completely with a self-health diagnosis; that's why he gets paid 7 mill a year. It was time for Mike to put on his big boy pants and pull RG3 out. Forget the running aspect; RG3 couldn't even plant and throw the ball after that injury in the 1st quarter. That deep pass to Garcon that Thomas picked off should have been the first sign...I haven't seen Griffin underthrow a deep pass all year until then.
All the focus is obviously going to be on RGIII, but I have a question: those first two Redskins drives were characterized by several runs to the right that were consistently good for eight yards or so. Every time they dialed up that play the Seahawks had nothing to stop it. However, on the subsequent drives those runs went nowhere fast. Did anyone see what the Seahawks changed up to account for it? Did they start bringing safeties down, since RGIII obviously had nothing? Or did they change up assignments at the line of scrimmage?
Yeah I think they stopped honoring RG3 as a running threat, and just had the DEs and LBs crash down on the line instead of worrying that RG3 will pull down the ball and run right by them.
Pretty much this. You could see it late in the game when Griffin rolled out a bit to pass. The camera was behind him facing up field and there was a lot of open field in front of Griffin. His knee stopped him from running though, and it was clear the Seahawks knew he couldn't as well. A healthy Griffin is gone in that situation. I'm with a lot of people I've talked to who think that Griffin should have been pulled after that hit in the first quarter, he just couldn't do anything after that.
I really hope RGIII makes a total recovery. With as chippy as that game was - and the likelihood that both of these teams will be playoff contenders for the next several years - there's a nice rivalry developing!
Ugh. Watched the game with my dad -- a long-suffering Redskins fan of yore -- and we were both yelling at the TV for them to put Cousins in before the first half had ended. By the time Griffin was literally limping back to the line, we were in utter disbelief.
Hey also something that occurred to me; Morris had 11 carries in the first half, but only 5 in the second half. So not only did the Seahawks shut down the Redskins run in the second half...the Redskins playcallers did too. Kinda bizarre considering we had an obviously wounded QB back there...
That is really strange! You'd think that with RGIII obviously hampered they'd put the ball in Morris's hands. I wonder if maybe they just determined Seattle was willing to sell out against RGIII to stop Morris (and had the defensive talent to do it), and thus their best shot was surprise attack from RGIII.
Head coaching updates: - reports are that the Bills will hire Doug Marrone, the head coach at Syracuse. He was the Saints OC from '06-'08. - ESPN says Chip Kelly has turned down both the Browns and Eagles and will return to Oregon. - Seahawks OC Darrell Bevel will interview with the Bears, Bengals OC Jay Gruden with the Cardinals.
Boy, that was sad to see Griffin limping like that through the game. Makes me wonder about all the prognostication I've heard about how these young quarterbacks like him, Wilson, and Kaepernick will usher in a new era of option-running QBs in the NFL. How long can an RGIII, awesome as he is, last if he's expected to run for 800 yards per season?
He won't. Just like Vick can't stay healthy trying to run a lot. Wilson doesn't run nearly as much as RGIII or Kaepernick. And I suspect that the defenses will catch up with the option soon enough anyway so we won't see it used as much. And the downside to today's win is that the Seahawks have likely lost Chris Clemons for the rest of the year, possibly with a torn ACL. He is their best pass rusher on a team that isn't great in that regard, as good as they are on the whole. They may also be looking for a kicker this week.
Not as much as RGIII, no. However, he still rushed enough after becoming the starter that he would have ended up with over 600 yards in a full season at that pace. Compare that to Wilson's 489 in 16 starts. But yeah, he's closer to Wilson then he is to RGIII. Either way, I think they will all end up rushing less in years to come.
I agree. All three are passers first, unlike Vick. The running thing is temporary, sorta like how McNabb ran a lot at the beginning of his career. What surprised me is that Wilson carried the ball almost as much as RG3 did; Wilson carried the ball 94 times this year, RG3 120. Both...way too much IMHO.
I'd take some rivalry with anyone for Seattle. It's hard to muster up any feelings up it for SF, Arizona or St. Louis. Washington vs. Washington has a good ring to it.
The Redskins aren't my team. I just hate the Seahawks because they are the local team and I get sick of the hype. The worst part is that this may pave the way to a Super Bowl appearance, because the Falcons look like classic paper tigers and the Niners have won two games and lost the third almost like clockwork all season (the only exception being when they held on for a tie). A Seahawks - Patriots Superbowl is my personal nightmare (better only than Cowboys - Patriots). I probably wouldn't watch. We did see it, he scored two touchdowns on two possessions. He tweaked his knee for the first time one or two plays before the second touchdown. I don't think it's a coincidence that their offense foundered after that. A leg injury affects your throwing motion too.
Actually, shadarr, he wasn't ever healthy in the game. That was clear. He started hurt, and ended up injured. I would have liked to see the RG3 we saw in November. And you're dead on about it affecting his throwing as well; he is a remarkably accurate QB, but that all went out the window when he couldn't plant...
Damn, I really wanted to see whether he could apply his up-tempo philosophy to a full NFL offense. Maybe not in Cleveland, though. I like the way Kaepernick has been coached after becoming the starter. Not many called runs, he's looking to pass first and only running when nobody's open. The threat is still there so the defense has to account for it, but he's only running when he has room which means fewer hits by linemen and LBs.
Sure, but he could obviously still play prior to that awkward fall. After that, I have no idea what Shannahan was thinking. Except maybe "I'm not a very good coach."
He was probably thinking "I'm sick of people spelling my name with 3 n's, when it's just 2 n's. I'll do something SO STUPID that everyone will know it's spelled Shanahan from here on out!"
The "big changes" promised by Jerry Jones in Dallas have so far been firing the RB coach and today lettting DC Rob Ryan go.
I'm really curious how many former head coaches are in the NFL right now, because every position I see seems to be staffed by a former HC.
Yeah, curious moves since their top RB (and possibly the best player on their team period) was out for half the season (and with a straight-up chump for a back-up). Defensively, they were literally grabbing guys off the street to fill the gaps. I'm no Rob Ryan fan (and just kind of despise the Cowboys in general), but it seemed like he got more out of that unit than would have been expected. But like Shadarr said - the GM isn't getting fired . . .
But as a Skins fan, I'm totally cool with that. Because that franchise is fucked with Jerrah as the GM.
Its funny that Jones clings to the idea of being so involved when as you look around at the teams that are really successful right now, they are pretty much all situations where the owners are very hands off.
I once heard an interview with him (don't remember when he gave it), where he said something to the effect of, "... you name me a successful franchise where all the the owner does is write the checks ..." I wished the interviewer had responded with, "Well . . . Houston, Pittsburgh, New England, Denver, Baltimore . . . "
No kidding. Paul Allen in Seattle can barely be bothered to show up for anything other then playoff games and almost never attends owners meetings. You have to respect the owners that realize they don't know enough and don't step in unless things get really bad (like a season of Mora as your coach.) Which is not to say that all absentee owners are successful. They still have to be smart enough to hire the right people, or at least hire the right people to hire the right people. I don't get the impression the Ford or Bidwell families are all that involved in the day to day of their teams but they still haven't had success.
Dan Snyder has been basically voluntarily absent from the Redskins the past 3 years, and it has let Shanahan and Bruce Allen rebuild what was essentially a gutted team.
Late reports from ESPN say he also has a torn ACL and will require complete knee reconstruction surgery that will happen on Wednesday. That would be the same ACL he had repaired back in 2009. However, they seem to believe he could be back by the start of the season, assuming all goes well.
