The offseason went fast.
I’m not talking about the calendar, as the Washington Redskins break for five weeks before opening training camp July 29. Free agency, draft, three minicamps and endless OTAs surely passed the time, but it was the fast-paced drills themselves that provided a window into how coach Mike Shanahan will improve a 4-12 team.
The drills were always brisk. Despite learning a new offense and defense, everyone knew what was next. There was no down time.
Finally, a sense of urgency in Ashburn.
Shanahan exercised military precision without seeming heavy-handed. Instead, everyone — aside disgruntled defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth — understood the Redskins must hustle to catch up to the rest of the NFL.
That sense of urgency extended throughout Redskins Park. The focus was incredible. Practices were not just the polar opposite of predecessor Jim Zorn, but even more productive than Joe Gibbs 2.0. OTAs were once glorified walkthroughs. Under Shanahan, they were early training camp sessions — sans the pads.
Does this mean the Redskins will win more often this fall? Not necessarily, but the team will be far more ready when training camp begins than over the past decade. They’ll be ahead of preseason opponents.
Shanahan is out to prove that losing stupid games to bad teams — which plagued the Redskins over the last two years — won’t be tolerated. The Redskins won’t be unprepared. No more wasted timeouts.
This is a culture of winning and Shanahan created it immediately.
No more players worrying over uniform color combination. No more complaining to the owner or spending the offseason on the beach while opponents improved.
Shanahan did everything expected from a two-time Super Bowl winning coach to turn around a bad program. He taught players the right way to act from the moment they didn’t double park their cars for fear of a fine.
Past Redskins rosters never feared the coach. Steve Spurrier and Zorn were busts and players knew it. The same held true for Norv Turner’s last season. Marty Schottenheimer drew respect, but his approach was too heavy handed; it caused his dismissal after one season. Gibbs was respected, but produced only flashes of his past success. Instead, there were merely a couple strong late-season finishes that never carried over to the following year.
The Redskins Way is now Shanahan’s, and it’s clearly the right way. It may take a couple seasons to achieve, but at least the offseason showed Washington no longer is a rudderless franchise.
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com and Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail [email protected].
