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After the Redskins fell to 3-6, Mike Shanahan said he would use the final seven games to evaluate his roster. Many read his comments as a signal he was giving up on this year.
Of all the surprises the N.F.L. holds just past the midpoint of the season — the Indianapolis Colts and the Miami Dolphins playing a meaningful game in November, for starters — the strangest came Sunday from Mike Shanahan.
Shanahan, in a funk after Washington lost what he had termed a must-win game at home against the Carolina Panthers, all but announced that the season was over for the Redskins (3-6) when he said that the team was now in player evaluation mode heading into its bye week. That's N.F.L. coach-speak for looking toward next season — just nine games into this season. It was a rather startling admission even if it was merely a moment of candor born of frustration.
The N.F.L. abounds with examples of extreme makeovers, gridiron editions. The Denver Broncos started last season 1-4, then were 2-5, then made the playoffs, even winning their first-round game. The Colts won two games last season and had no realistic expectation for great success this season after gutting much of their roster and bringing in new leadership with new systems. When Indianapolis dropped to 1-2 after losing to lowly Jacksonville — and then learned that its coach, Chuck Pagano, had leukemia — it was reasonable to assume that the Colts would chalk up this season to rebuilding and conduct their own player evaluation the rest of the way.
But only days after that loss to Jacksonville, the rookie quarterback Andrew Luck sat in an office at team headquarters and said that he would consider leading the Colts to the playoffs to be a successful season. He meant this year. It seemed absurd at the time, and maybe a reflection of a naïve rookie who had known little failure in his playing career. Six weeks later, the Colts have won three in a row, and at 5-3 are very much in the race for a wild-card spot.
That was why Shanahan's remarks grabbed so much attention, particularly because he still possesses one of football's most energizing talents in quarterback Robert Griffin III. Joe Theismann, a former Redskins quarterback who remains close to the franchise, said he believed Shanahan might have been trying to put his team on notice for the second half of the season, rather than packing it in.
"When he says he's in talent evaluation, he's right," Theismann said Monday morning. "They have to look at the talent they have — is it at a level where it can compete? Right now, they are in the meat of their schedule. The good thing from the Redskins' perspective is you do hold destiny in your hands if you play well. What he's basically saying, 'If you want to be on this team, you're going to have to raise your level of play.' What gets lost in this is that every game is an evaluation for coaches. That's why you see players cut and picked up all the time."
Perhaps, but Tony Dungy, the former Colts coach turned NBC analyst, said he thought Shanahan chose his words poorly if his intent was to rally his team.
"It's too early to me to say that and send a message," Dungy said. "And I think that's what he did; knowingly or unknowingly, he sent a message. I don't want him to put the notice on me like that. Tell me if we're going to win, how we're going to do it. Don't put me on notice for next year. If you're a 10-year vet, you don't want to hear that."
Theismann and Dungy agreed on one thing: the Redskins have been decimated by injuries, particularly to some of their biggest potential playmakers. Washington's off-season goals were to improve at quarterback, receiver and safety. It thought it had. But with injuries to players like tight end Fred Davis, receiver Pierre Garcon, linebacker Brian Orakpo, safety Brandon Meriweather and defensive end Adam Carriker, whatever progress might have been made has been halted.
Theismann argued that the injuries on offense had further limited what Mike and Kyle Shanahan could do, particularly because Griffin is still adjusting to playing the pocket.
"They had the perfect storm going early on, making big plays, using play action," Dungy said. "You start to lose defensive players and you can't rush the passer, now you get behind and play action isn't as effective. People have studied a little of the option game now."
In the last two games — against Pittsburgh and Carolina — Griffin has completed 47.1 and 59 percent of his passes, the only games this season in which he was below 61.8 percent. His yards per attempt have dropped drastically, too. In the last two games, his yards gained per pass attempt were 5.21 and 5.51, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com. Those are the only two games in which he has been below 6 yards gained per pass attempt, and both are well below his 7.61 yards gained per pass attempt for the season.
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N.F.L. Fast Forward: Coach Mike Shanahan Sends a Message the Redskins Don’t Want to Hear
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