Tag Archives: Mike Shanahan
The Daily News’ Gary Myers thinks so:
Clearly, McNabb is on a one-year trial. [Mike] Shanahan is taking McNabb for a test drive.
But Shanahan undermined McNabb’s ability to lead this team (by benching him last week with 1:50 to go and trailing the Lions by six). How can McNabb trust him? Will it happen again? Unless McNabb plays lights-out the second half of the season, I find it hard to believe he will be back in Washington next year.
Possible landing spots: If Brad Childress, who was McNabb’s offensive coordinator in Philly, doesn’t get fired by the Vikings, he could sign him to replace Brett Favre in 2011; McNabb has a home in the Phoenix area and the Cardinals are wasting their time with Derek Anderson and Max Hall; there was even speculation last week about the Bears trading disappointing Jay Cutler after the season to Shanahan, who coached Cutler his first three seasons in Denver, and then the Bears signing McNabb, who is from Chicago.
The Redskins are off Sunday. It’s McNabb vs. the Eagles again next week. He will start. The issue is will he finish?
Myers has a lot of good information in his column today, including the mention of either Bill Cowher or Jon Gruden becoming the next coach of the Cowboys. Click here to read the full article.
Tagged Dallas Cowboys, Donovan McNabb, Mike Shanahan, NFC East, Washington Redskins |
And you thought the Albert Haynesworth soap opera was over? Less than a week away from the Redskins’ opener against Dallas, it now appears that the defensive end won’t start the game because the coaching staff isn’t happy with his play. His status is anything but certain. From The Washington Post:
Two team sources said Haynesworth probably would have had a key role, even if he did not start, against the Cowboys this week if he had fared well in the preseason finale against the Arizona Cardinals. Haynesworth’s play was described as “awful” by the sources, who said it wasn’t as much a matter of blown assignments (Haynesworth did not have many) as his lack of effort and failure to adhere to the principles of Washington’s new 3-4 scheme.
Practice was closed to the media Saturday, but a team source said Haynesworth participated in few plays. After lining up primarily at right end recently, Haynesworth was moved back to nose tackle. And in an even more telling sign about Haynesworth’s standing on the team, the two-time all-pro was taken out of the nickel package. He had started in that defensive alignment for the final two weeks of the preseason.
Meanwhile, head coach Mike Shanahan is confident that quarterback Donovan McNabb (ankle) will start the opener.
“Yeah, I feel very good about him being ready to go,” Shanahan said in the Washington Post. “In fact, I think he’ll be able to practice in the next couple of days. And I feel very good about the direction he’s headed.”
Haynesworth is a different story.
Tagged Albert Haynesworth, Donovan McNabb, Mike Shanahan, NFC East, Washington Redskins |
DALLAS COWBOYS: The Cowboys had one of the top defenses in the league last year. Dallas ranked ninth in the NFL in yards per game, second in points allowed, and third in forced punts. However, they were tied for 15th in forced fumbles (23) and 26th in interceptions (11).
“A really grand statistic every year in the league is your turnover ratio and how that kind of relates to winning and losing,” linebacker Keith Brooking said. “All the teams that are plus in the turnovers… tend to kind of favor being really good, successful and being in the playoffs year in and year out. That’s something we didn’t do well last year defensively.”
Dallas has 10 of 11 starters back on defense this year, and to become a great unit and perhaps go deeper into the playoffs, creating more turnovers may be the final piece to the defensive puzzle.
Clarence E. Hill Jr. (Star-Telegram)
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: Life without Donovan McNabb has begun. McNabb quarterbacked the Eagles for 11 seasons, bringing them to five NFC championship games and one Super Bowl. There were some down times, but overall, McNabb was an elite quarterback for one of the league’s most successful franchises. Now, he’s in Washington and Philadelphia has turned to Kevin Kolb.
“He was the face of this team for 11 years,” kicker David Akers said about McNabb. “But that’s the way the business runs. Management made a decision. Kevin is a good guy and a good quarterback. He works hard. He’s a fantastic leader. I think he’s doing all the things you need to do in his situation. . . . [McNabb] was a great quarterback here, maybe the greatest in the history of the franchise. But you have to go on, all of us.”
The team belongs to Kolb. The pressure is on.
WASHINGTON REDSKINS: New head coach Mike Shanahan is making changes. There’s no more music at practice, players are staying in hotel rooms and not in their homes during training camp, and the head coach, like the CEO of a company, is overseeing everything in his early days as Washington’s head coach. He also has high expectations.
“Any time you put the pads on, normally that third or fourth day is a little bit tougher, just like it was today,” Shanahan said following Sunday morning’s practice. “Guys get a little tired — they’re not quite as quick as they were. If you’re not quite as quick, you make mistakes. Sometimes mentally you get a little fatigued. There was some good effort out there, but too many mistakes.”
Here come the Redskins.
Tagged Dallas Cowboys, Donovan McNabb, Mike Shanahan, New York Giants Blogs, NFC East, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins |
