Washington Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan is lucky. His Dallas counterpart, Jason Garrett, was even worse than he was in Washington’s 13-7 victory on Sunday.
Two of the NFL’s young guns fired a lot of blanks on a woeful offensive night, combining for one offensive touchdown. Garrett sure isn’t replacing coach Wade Phillips whenever the Cowboys switch — at least not after this debacle. Shanahan made a few curious calls, too.
The lights shine bright on night games, and they can burn right through resumes.
Is it Shanahan’s fault the Redskins offensive line still stinks despite changing three starters? Is it the coordinator’s problem the team still doesn’t have a No. 2 receiver or third-down back? Maybe not, but he’s supposed to make lemonade out of this.
Shanahan led Houston’s offense the past two seasons. The Texans rolled up an NFL-best 4,654 passing yards and were fourth in overall offense in 2009. But his Redskins debut never established any flow after the opening drive.
Where was tight end Fred Davis? Not one ball was thrown his way. Chris Cooley caught six of nine passes to him, but popular thoughts of a double tight end formation using two talented players was never shown. Instead, Shanahan called three passes to fullback Mike Sellers, who managed two yards and two drops.
The two straight failed corner routes to Anthony Armstrong weren’t all on Shanahan, though. He called the first that should have been caught, but quarterback Donovan McNabb opted for Plan B on an option off the blitz. That was on McNabb, not Shanahan. Otherwise, Jim Zorn’s name would be invoked for such a maneuver, which isn’t like mentioning Lombardi.
Shanahan must have been infected by Garrett’s playcalling, which was even worse. The Cowboys averaged 4.7 yards running against the Redskins. In a one-score game, Dallas needlessly exposed quarterback Tony Romo to Washington’s blitz. The Cowboys should have grinded out the win on the ground. Instead they passed 48 times, three of which led to Cowboys penalties during an early fourth-quarter drive. Later, a holding flag wiped away a touchdown pass on the final play of the game.
And what was with throwing 12 balls to receiver Dez Bryant? He caught eight for 56 yards and only slipped past lockdown cornerback DeAngelo Hall once. Two straight completions netted one yard during the first series. It was the tunnel vision of a mole. There are lynch mobs circling Valley Ranch today over this loss.
On Sunday, Shanahan faces his former team, the Texans. Houston’s offensive coordinator is now Rick Dennison, a disciple of Mike Shanahan after spending 14 years on Shanahan’s staff.
Houston just upset Indianapolis 34-24 so Kyle Shanahan’s old offense is still rocking. Question is, will the new one, too?
“No. 1, hopefully Shanahan football will be scoring a few more points,” Mike Shanahan joked.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com and Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail [email protected].
