1. Let’s state this up front: No coach who is 11-20 in his first 31 games would say things are going exactly the way they wanted. And it’s not surprising to hear a coach in that situation say the roster he inherited was worse than originally thought. That’s what Mike Shanahan did Monday when he admitted the rebuild has taken longer than hoped for.
“A lot longer than I first anticipated,” Shanahan said. “We had less depth than I thought. We were a little older at a few positions and I thought we might keep those players a bit longer than we did.”
He’s right. The roster he took over wasn’t great, which is why a serious rebuild would have been good from the beginning. And Shanahan committed his own errors. But they’re on that path now, aided by a productive draft class and aren’t about to jump off.
2. Still not sure what they’ll do with Rex Grossman, but it is telling that offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan bemoaned his turnovers last week (while also saying he felt he could improve) and Monday coach Mike Shanahan said, “The first way you improve the record is you can’t turn the ball over… If you turn the ball over like we did this year, regardless of what type of team you have, you’re not going to win.”
Do I need to remind you that Grossman has averaged two turnovers in his 12 starts? And in his last 20 games he’s thrown an interception in all but three? Grossman is a good guy and insightful. But he has a career pattern that’ll be tough to ignore for the Shanahans. It’s clear that if the Redskins don’t draft a quarterback, they need to find a guy who will at least take care of the ball to complement the running game and defense.
Grossman would be helped by adding a playmaking receiver, but would that change the mindset that has led to all his turnovers? I’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in the league who would say yes.
3. Running back Ryan Torain’s last 40 carries have gained 65 yards. When he was first struggling, it was easy to blame it on the line. He had no holes and was constantly having to cut deep in the backfield. But the blame can’t be put on the line alone. Torain just hasn’t gotten the job done when given opportunities. He’s running without much of a rhythm; he’s missed holes; he’s not bringing the same energy to his runs. Add it up and it explains why Torain likely will be elsewhere in 2012.
4. Rookie defensive end Jarvis Jenkins should be ready for organized team activities in the spring, Shanahan said. Jenkins tore his ACL this past summer and missed the entire season. Before his injury, coaches said they thought he could become their best defensive lineman.
5. Shanahan said he wasn’t certain about receiver Leonard Hankerson or guard Kory Lichtensteiger, who also tore his ACL. But Lichtensteiger has been confident/hopeful that he’ll be 100 percent around the time of the OTAs as well.
6. Shanahan wasn’t pleased with the showing of the Redskins’ defensive front vs. Minnesota on Saturday. The Vikings rushed for 241 yards.
“It wasn’t our best effort on defense this year,” Shanahan said. “Usually it starts up front and that was probably the poorest game we’ve played up front this year. Normally if you don’t have a great outing up front, you don’t have a great game on defense.”
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