The big "winner" in this is Washington Nationals GM Mike Rizzo, who now looks somewhat smarter for making the controversial decision to shut down Stephen Strasburg last season. Sometimes it takes a person who is somewhat removed from the situation that is able to take a long-term outlook and override the player and/or coaches competitive nature. Sometimes the next season is more important than the next play.
In Shanahan's defense, making this decision within a game is tough. He's relying on the player to tell him how he "feels" and during a game -- when the juices are flowing -- players feel invincible and give inaccurate information. No players is going to ask out of a game or tough situation and no coach would want a player who does. The coach has to step up and protect the player from himself and from his own survival instincts.
It's easy for fans and commentators to frivolously speak in hindsight when it's not their career or long-term future that's at stake. The player naturally wants to compete -- until their arm falls off or their leg snaps -- that's the "warrior mind-set". It takes a general to conserve resources and live to fight another battle or two.
from wjla.com
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/08/stephen-strasburg-shutdown-controversy-expert-says-ending-season-is-right-call-79129.html
Coaches get paid to win, not protect organizational assets for their potential successor.
Rizzo took some of his organizations chips off the table, Shanahan gambled with his and -- for the time being -- lost big.
At the very least, in the future RGIII's running skills are probably going to be reigned in somewhat. He is still a very accurate passer, but the effect of having his running skills diminished will hurt the Redskins potent running game somewhat.
Washington is going to be somewhat conflicted (what else is new, right?) for a while. It will be interesting to see how those who found Rizzo to be a fool for being somewhat conservative with Strasburg now find Shanahan a fool for being a riverboat gambler with RGIII.
While 20-20 hindsight may be a wonderful thing, reconciliation of one's positions can come back and bite you on the butt.
Let the second-guessing begin!!
http://msn.foxsports.com/video?videoid=c206bc42-356d-42d7-94e0-bb7db3d57060&src=v5:share:sharepermalink:&from=sharepermalink"Story_MP2_NFL"
from foxpsorts.com:
NFL: Robert Griffin III RG3 injures knee, Mike Shanahan to blame as QB should not have been out in the game - NFL News | FOX Sports on MSN:
No, the worst thing about the way Sunday’s game ended, both for the Redskins and Griffin, the No. 2 pick in April’s draft and a leading candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year, was that all of it — the injury, the loss and the mindless babbling to explain it all away afterward — could have been prevented. None of it should have ever happened.
If Redskins coach Mike Shanahan had any good sense about him, he’d have taken Griffin, who first sprained his right LCL on Dec. 9 against Baltimore, out of the game late in the first quarter, the moment he came limping back from the sideline after his knee buckled while planting to throw a pass. At worst, Shanahan should have stripped him of his helmet at the half, following a quarter of startling ineptitude with a visibly hobbled Griffin at the helm.
But because a young player was too competitive to quit in his first playoff game and his veteran coach didn’t have the guts to make the tough decision for him, the Redskins will be watching from home as the Seahawks move on to face Atlanta, and one of the league’s most exciting players may never be the same again.
The extent of Griffin’s injury won’t be known until later this week, but given the way the knee appeared to shred, and given Griffin’s history with his right ACL, which he tore in 2009 while still at Baylor, it’s hard not to fear the worst. And, unfortunately, it was something seemingly everyone but Shanahan and Griffin saw coming.
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