Snyder, who had just completed his first year as the owner of the Redskins, liked him right away. They had a few beers together, met for dinner a couple of nights later and became so friendly over the years that they often sat near each other at league meetings.
When Snyder corrected what he called the “worst two-year experience I ever dreamed” by firing Jim Zorn after the 2009 season, he offered the Redskins’ head coaching job to Shanahan, who had been out of football for one year after being fired by Denver. One of the calls Shanahan made before accepting the job was to Joe Gibbs, who had coached four years for Snyder before retiring from his second term with the Redskins.
Snyder idolized Gibbs growing up in the Washington area and not only treated him with the ultimate respect, but begged him to come back when Gibbs told him he was leaving after 2007 season. Shanahan obviously heard enough good things from Gibbs and also from Snyder — it’s hard to make a five-year, $35 million contract with total control sound bad — and took the job.
Shanahan is about to complete his fourth and certainly his final season in Washington. He seems to be doing everything he can to get Snyder to fire him.
The only issue seems to be how Shanahan protects the $7 million left on his contract. If Snyder fires him, he gets paid. If Snyder fires him with cause, he doesn’t get paid. If he quits, he doesn’t get paid. I think a financial dispute is inevitable and winds up on Roger Goodell’s desk on Park Avenue.
This has become a nasty triangle between Shanahan, Snyder and franchise quarterback Robert Griffin III.
Shanahan reportedly was so incensed with the close relationship Snyder has with RG3 that he cleaned out his office and nearly quit last year. Griffin, who lost his explosiveness this season while trying to come back from a torn ACL suffered in the playoffs, is not happy he’s been benched by Shanahan for the final three games of the season, which Shanahan said was to protect him from getting hurt and allow him to take part in the offseason program that he missed last year.
This might be a first: Benching a player in the regular season so he can participate in the offseason. RG3 missed the offseason last year rehabbing, was held out of the preseason games and has never caught up. Shanahan said Snyder had endorsed the move to sit Griffin, but it seems clear Snyder will be hiring his sixth coach pretty soon.
- Shanahan finally admitted last week he blew it during last year’s playoff loss to Seattle when he allowed Griffin to stay in the game after he reinjured his right knee on the second series. Two plays after he was hurt, Griffin threw a TD pass to make it 14-0. Shanahan, desperately trying to prove he can win without John Elway, allowed RG3 to stay in the game even though he was clearly compromised. He crumpled to the ground in the fourth quarter and was diagnosed with a torn ACL.
“He’s very strong, very adamant, which doesn’t mean it’s not right not taking him out,” Shanahan said, the closest he came to second-guessing himself in his news conference right after the game.
But the other day, he said he should have taken Griffin out at halftime. Truth is, he should have taken him out on the next series. “I could have kicked myself in the rear-end because my gut was, even though the doctor said, ‘Hey, he was fine. You know what? It was all stable. Hey, you don’t have to worry’ (and) Robert said it was fine, I knew, my gut, I watched him. I said, ‘Hey, that’s what I should have done’ because I did see it. You have to go with your gut sometimes in saying, ‘Hey, this is what you do for a living. You’ve been around it. You’ve got to make sure you take care of your best players in a situation like this.’ ”
Perhaps if Griffin had come out in the first quarter and the damage had been minimized, the Redskins would not be 3-10.
- Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, Mike’s son, said he was not consulted on shutting down Griffin and was disappointed RG3 won’t play the last three weeks. “I would love to have our starting quarterback out there the rest of the year,” he said. “It’s a little disappointing to me that we can’t finish this. I do understand their decision. I do respect their decision. I do think that would be the worst thing possible for Robert to get hurt and miss another offseason.”
- Kirk Cousins, a fourth-round pick in 2012, will start the rest of the season. If he plays really well, the Redskins can probably get a second-round draft choice for him.
- Last year, the Redskins traded three first-round picks and a second-round pick to the Rams to move up four spots to take Griffin second overall. Their No. 1 pick in May is the final installment. That pick could even wind up being first overall. The Falcons are also 3-10 and they play the Redskins on Sunday. The Texans are 2-11.
- Snyder inherited Norv Turner when he bought the Redskins and has since hired Marty Schottenheimer, Steve Spurrier, Gibbs, Zorn and Shanahan. Despite the turmoil, this will still be a desirable job if Shanahan gets fired or leaves for another head coaching opportunity, which would get everybody off the hook. Snyder will do whatever it takes to win, he pays his coaches top dollar and he will charm whomever he targets. It just won’t end well.
Maybe he can talk Gibbs into coming back.
MOST VALUABLE PARTY
New York is going to be the party capital of the world during Super Bowl week. Here’s one bash that is pretty cool: On Feb. 1, the night before game, all four New York Super Bowl MVPs will be at the Roseland Ballroom for an event called “The MVP Party.” It will be the first time that Joe Namath (Super Bowl III), Phil Simms (Super Bowl XXI), Ottis Anderson (Super Bowl XXV) and Eli Manning (Super Bowls XLII and XLVI) will be together. “I helped produce the Jim Brown golf event at the Super Bowl in New Orleans (last year) and realized that the Super Bowl in New York would have the greatest corporate and hospitality demand in Super Bowl history,” said Stuart Layne, a former New York radio executive and now the president of Seven 2 Sports. “Our MVP theme is different than all the other parties. It’s football-based. We put together four of the biggest names in Super Bowl history.” Namath pulled off the greatest upset in Super Bowl history in beating the Colts, Simms (22-of-25) pitched a near perfect game against the Broncos, Anderson battered the Bills for 102 yards and a touchdown and Manning led two fourth-quarter drives to beat the Patriots. It’s a good thing Eli won’t have a prior commitment.
HERE WE GO AGAIN?
The Cowboys now trail the Eagles by one game in the NFC East and it could come down to their meeting on the final game of the regular season in Dallas. If the Cowboys beat the Eagles and they tie for the division, Dallas would win based on its head-to-head sweep. But if the Eagles emerge as NFC East champs by winning that game, it will be the third straight year the Cowboys have lost a “win-and-in” game to take the division, having fallen to the Giants and Redskins the previous two seasons.…. The Broncos’ loss to the Chargers on Thursday night means if the Patriots win their last three games — at Miami, at Baltimore and then Buffalo at home — they will be the No. 1 seed. Denver has three losses and so do the Patriots. “There’s nothing we can do about anything except what we do,” Bill Belichick said. “I don’t care about anybody else.” If the Broncos, Chiefs and Patriots finish 13-3, Denver wins the AFC West based on its sweep of Kansas City, and the Patriots would get the top seed because they beat the Broncos. If the Patriots and Chiefs tie at 13-3, then New England wins based on a better conference record…. Nobody is ever going to feel sorry for Belichick, but no team in the NFL has lost three more important players to season-ending injuries than the Pats: DT Vince Wilfork, LB Jerod Mayo and TE Rob Gronkowski, who suffered a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee last week against the Browns. The loss of Gronk completely changes the offense. Can Danny Amendola step up? Last week, Shane Vereen set a franchise record for running backs with 12 catches. “It just shifts. You have to find a different formula,” Tom Brady said on his radio show last week. But New England has lost its second- third- and fourth-best player — put them in any order after Brady — and that’s nearly impossible to overcome. Gronk missed the first six games of the year and the Pats were No. 22 in scoring. Then in the six games he played before getting hurt last week, they were No. 2 in scoring. One year ago, the Patriots had the best set of tight ends in the NFL. But now Gronk is out for the year and Aaron Hernandez is in jail…. T.J. Ward, who hit Gronk, said he had to go low because he was afraid of getting fined if he went high. The league crackdown on hits to the head has defenders lowering their target. The NFL must come up with a way to expand the strike zone for defensive players who are now so afraid of helmet-to-helmet hits that they are going low and tearing up knees. Ward didn’t intend to hurt Gronk and he shook his hand before he was carted away. “I hate to see guys go down with any type of injury,” he said.
DOUBLE DUTY
After the Rangers selected Seahawks QB Russell Wilson in the Rule 5 baseball draft, Deion Sanders, a fairly famous two-sport football-baseball star, tweeted, “If I were (Wilson) I would seriously consider baseball & weigh all options with the Texas Rangers. Truth”. 49ers CEO Jed York then tweeted, “I agree.” Of course he does. The 49ers would benefit the most if Wilson decides to give up playing for the Niners’ biggest rival…The Giants-Seahawks game is a matchup of the two oldest head coaches in the NFL: Tom Coughlin is 67 and Pete Carroll is 62. Carroll looks 40 and bounces around the sideline and has the enthusiasm of a kid. Everybody should have Coughlin’s energy level when they’re 67.
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