1. Mike Shanahan said he’ll likely name his starting quarterback Wednesday. He said he’ll take everything into consideration, including how often the interceptions thrown by Rex Grossman are actually his fault. Problem is, in 46 career games he’s thrown 49 interceptions.
“Sometimes, you get a little lucky and other times it goes the other way,” Shanahan said. “Usually, over the long run, it averages out.
In other words, you can excuse some of those picks, but not all. And then you have to factor in the one’s that were dropped. Every quarterback in the league throws picks that could be blamed on a teammate. At some point, the numbers just don’t lie.
2. Shanahan said he remains confident in both Grossman and John Beck. Remember, Shanahan staked his reputation on them.
“I have two guys that I believe in,” Shanahan said. “I told you that from day one. Both guys I am hoping are going to be here for a long time.”
Here’s Santana Moss’ interesting take on the Grossman situation.
3. TE Chris Cooley will undergo surgery on his left index finger and could miss substantial time. He’s also dealing with a sore knee; Shanahan said he’d like to get more opinions from doctors regarding Cooley’s knee. That will determine how much time he’ll miss. Cooley, in his eighth season with Washington, has two more years left on his contract. But with tight end Fred Davis becoming a bigger factor, Cooley’s role could be dramatically different in the future. You wonder what the future actually holds here for him. He can still play a good role here, but the role he used to play? That could be done.
4. Guard Maurice Hurt, the rookie seventh-round pick, will be promoted from the practice squad once they put LG Kory Lichtensteiger on injured reserve. Hurt spent the first five games on the practice squad after getting cut before the season. During the preseason Hurt struggled at times with lunging at defenders or bending too much at the waist. But he looked good at times in one-on-one blocking drills vs. defensive linemen. Erik Cook will stay at center and Will Montgomery stays at left guard.
5. Shanahan said it’s a possibility that they’ll move Jammal Brown to left tackle; it likely depends on how much time they think Trent Williams will miss. The longer he’s out, have to imagine the likelihood of Brown switching sides goes up. Sean Locklear is not a legitimate left tackle; he played it some in Seattle but his best side, by far, was the right.
6. Shanahan on looking for trades (which are very rare; the deadline is Tuesday): “You always have your ears open to see if there’s any opportunities for you to get better. I think most of the people that make trades usually that person’s on the last year of their contract and they want compensation return; they’re counting on that person either not playing for them or not being on their team and they’re hoping they can get a draft choice in return. Sometimes it works out because a guy’s a good enough player that someone will take a chance. Over the years very few trades have been made but they do exist.”
7. Shanahan said receiver Anthony Armstrong was about 85-90 percent with his hamstring last week, so he’s hopeful that perhaps he’ll be able to go this week. Not gonna speculate because I thought he’d play last week.
8. Shanahan did not see what happened on the injury to Lichtensteiger. Not sure anyone but Williams did and the TV replay does not have it and Shanahan said the coaches tape didn’t show it either. All I saw: Lichtensteiger letting up completely after the pass was thrown and Darryl Tapp engaged with Williams.
9. But Shanahan said after watching the coaches tape replay that the helmet-to-helmet call on linebacker Brian Orakpo was legitimate.
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