Coach confident coming off 6-10 season ASHBURN — Shortly after John Elway, owner of two Super Bowl wins, retired in Denver, Mike Shanahan delivered a gift to some of the Broncos beat reporters: articles they had written a few years earlier. They weren’t complimentary.
As Shanahan remembers, they criticized him for thinking he could succeed with his current quarterback. The articles pointed out John Elway’s flaws: couldn’t win the big one; too old. Then they went after Shanahan.
“How stupid can someone be,” Shanahan recalled one column saying. “Can’t everyone see they should go in a different direction?”
Proving others wrong is something he relishes. And that brings us to this year.
Once more, as the Redskins open their season Sunday vs. the New York Giants, there is something to prove. It’s about the quarterbacks, two guys perceived as unwanted by other teams. It’s about improving a team that was 6-10 and includes 20 new faces.
It’s about an organization that owns one playoff appearance in the past five years and only four since 1991. The Redskins been projected to go 2-14 by one respected publication (Sporting News) and 3-13 by another (ESPN).
“When your organization has not won consistently for the last decade, you understand there will be people that are skeptical,” he said. “There’s only one way to change that, and that’s to win.”
And Shanahan is resolute in his belief in this team. He has said the Redskins will surprise people. Shanahan has said his wife told him she’s never seen him this excited about a team. Is that a line? Maybe. Regardless, he’s firm in what he believes.
“I like our guys, how they work, how they go about their business,” Shanahan said. “You know when you’ve got character guys and a lot of guys that understand what it takes. That’s what we’ve got.”
Tight end Chris Cooley echoes that sentiment. In 2004, Cooley recalled then-coach Joe Gibbs telling the Welcome Home Luncheon that he didn’t know what was going to happen that season.
Cooley said the feeling is different these days.
“I fully expect this team to play well, and I fully expect this team to win Sunday,” said Cooley, entering his eighth season. “I don’t think we’ll step out there and see what’s going to happen. Guys know what will happen. It’s because we work hard, we worked as a group, and I’ve never seen a more confident group of guys.”
The Redskins enter the season free of distractions, a rarity in Ashburn. Last season, it started with Albert Haynesworth, and eventually Donovan McNabb entered their drama zone.
“That cloud over the top called drama isn’t there,” receiver Anthony Armstrong said. “It’s just football. It’s very refreshing. The atmosphere is light and everybody is about business right now.”
Shanahan calls it a night and day difference. After one year, he was able to find guys who better fit the team’s needs. They learned how to practice to his liking, how to prepare. And they learned to adopt his mindset.
The Redskins lack the talent of other teams in the NFC East, and few would pick them as contenders. Shanahan isn’t conceding anything.
“If you don’t believe in your team, no one does,” Shanahan said. “I believe in this team.”
