Winners and Losers: All losers this week
LOSER: Mike Shanahan
OK, so Rex Grossman isn’t the solution. Don’t get too excited about his four TDs in Washington’s 33-30 loss at Dallas Sunday. He also had two interceptions and a sack fumble, and didn’t exactly look adept in his second run at a late-game two-minute drill.
Coach Mike Shanahan is back to square one with QBs heading into next year. (Pining the days of Jason Campbell, we are, aren’t we?)
So much for the offensive genius who was finally going to get things turned around in Redskin Park. Read more
The (failed) Shanahan experiment
Another Sunday, another unfulfilling ending for the Washington Redskins, who lost 17-16 to Tampa Bay despite dominating for long stretches, then suffering the “North Dallas Forty” ending when the special-teams unit couldn’t execute what would have been the game-tying extra point with nine seconds to go.
It’s easy to say that the ‘Skins have just been bugabooed this year, because there have been plenty of bad-news type things happening in Redskin Park. Injuries are part of the game of football, though, so don’t hang your hat there and excuse first-year coach Mike Shanahan because of them. Shanahan, two-time Super Bowl winner that he is, completely mismanaged this Redskin team into another out-of-the-playoffs finish. Read more
The (failed) Shanahan experiment
Another Sunday, another unfulfilling ending for the Washington Redskins, who lost 17-16 to Tampa Bay despite dominating for long stretches, then suffering the “North Dallas Forty” ending when the special-teams unit couldn’t execute what would have been the game-tying extra point with nine seconds to go.
It’s easy to say that the ‘Skins have just been bugabooed this year, because there have been plenty of bad-news type things happening in Redskin Park. Injuries are part of the game of football, though, so don’t hang your hat there and excuse first-year coach Mike Shanahan because of them. Shanahan, two-time Super Bowl winner that he is, completely mismanaged this Redskin team into another out-of-the-playoffs finish.
It starts with Haynesworth-gate and his handling of the $100 Million Man Who Didn’t Want To Play Noseguard. We won’t know what happened behind the scenes that led to the apparently immediate breakdown of relations between Shanahan and Albert Haynesworth, who just two years ago was considered the best defensive player in football, but whatever it was, it should have been dealt with summarily with a trade for a low-round draft pick or outright release. Instead, the Haynesworth situation was allowed to fester to the point where the move was made last week to suspend him for the final four games of the season.
Which brings us to quarterback Donovan McNabb, alternatively the franchise and the guy who has to share snaps with his backup on Fridays and isn’t in good enough shape to run the two-minute drill. That embarrassment, with the ‘Skins trailing Detroit late, was the nail in the coffin for the 2010 Redskins, who have dropped four of five since the Lions game, including that showcase they gave to Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles on a Monday night a few weeks back in the form of a 59-28 laugher that was nowhere near that close in the way it was played out.
I can’t imagine that McNabb wants to hang around for any more of the BS that Shanahan seems to want to put him through. McNabb, 34, probably has three or four good years left, and there has to be a better situation for him out there than handing the ball off to training-camp tackling dummies and throwing it to Arena League castoffs.
That is precisely the team that Shanahan and general manager Bruce Allen put together, and if they’re as successful in running McNabb out of town as they were in pushing Haynesworth off the cliff, well, they’ll always have Rex Grossman.
Maybe there was good reason Denver booted Shanahan out the door and gave the keys to their future to a thirtysomething kid with no head-coaching experience anywhere. That kid got fired for going 11-17 in parts of two seasons in the Rockies. Hate to say it, but 5-8 is roughly halfway to 11-17.
Column by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Cline: ‘Skins suite seats misused by Lottery staff
State Del. Ben Cline, R-24th District, announced today that he had received confirmation of recent actions by Virginia Lottery employees in which luxury skybox suite seats reserved for winners of the Redskins Legacy game were misused by Lottery staff. Cline also announced that he would be asking for an independent audit of the Virginia Lottery at the next General Assembly session.
“For years, the Virginia Lottery has been playing fast and loose with millions of dollars that should go toward education but instead are spent on layers of administrative bureaucracy and private licensing agreements,” Cline said. “Now we learn that these agreements, one of which includes luxury skybox seats at Washington Redskins games as prizes, are being abused by Lottery employees. Lottery revenues should be going to fund education, not to line the pockets of advertising executives or to provide perks for Lottery employees. Virginia’s school children deserve better.”
The issue regarding the Redskins suite tickets was first raised on the Not Larry Sabato politics blog in September with a report about the use of a luxury suite at the Redskins’ season opener this year by Virginia Lottery officials. Cline wrote to the Lottery to request details about the Redskins Legacy game, and said he was informed in an e-mail response from Lottery Director Paula Otto that one of the prizes was in fact the use of a luxury skybox for a Redskins home game. When questioned in more detail about the use of the luxury skybox, Otto also confirmed that the suite was not occupied during the Redskins home opener by a Redskins Legacy game winner, but instead by Lottery staff.
“At a time when we are being forced to make difficult decisions about funding for education in Virginia, it is disheartening to learn that Lottery revenues intended for our schools are being misused by the staff of the Lottery Department,” Cline said. “I plan to file a budget amendment in the upcoming General Assembly session for a full and independent audit of the Virginia Lottery, and I hope it will receive bipartisan support as we strive to fully fund our public schools in Virginia.”
Virginia Lottery spokesman John Hagerty disputes Cline’s characterization of Otto’s e-mail to Cline. Hagerty said today that Otto informed Cline in her e-mail that the box was indeed used by Lottery staff, but the use was as a staging area for an on-field presentation at halftime of the football game that highlighted the $4.8 billion the Lottery has generated for K-12 public education since 1999.
“We believe that was a logical use of the box, which would otherwise have been empty,” Hagerty said in an e-mail to AugustaFreePress.com.
Scratcher games using licensed properties, such as Redskins Legacy, routinely perform an average of 17 percent better than other games, Hagerty said. Redskins Legacy has generated $14.6 million in sales this year to date, Hagerty said.
“The Lottery is audited each year by the independent Auditor of Public Accounts, as required by statute, as well as by its internal audit department. We would welcome a further audit if the General Assembly deems it appropriate,” Hagerty said.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Weekend Watchdog: Tide rides into prime time
Once a season, CBS shows a Southeastern Conference game in prime time. It’s a good one this week.
Top-ranked Alabama, fresh off a come-from-behind win at Arkansas, hosts Florida in a rematch of last year’s SEC championship game.
And the schools with two of the last three Heisman Trophy winners.
And the last two national champions.
Ought to be something worth watching. Even if Tim Tebow is in the NFL.
If that’s not enough, in the late afternoon slot CBS shows Tennessee at LSU.
ABC usually shows prime time games on Saturday, and has some good ones this week also. Out west, Oregon takes on Stanford while Notre Dame’s visit to Boston College will be shown to much of the east. ESPN2 will show the game you don’t get on ABC, except a few western areas will see Washington-USC.
Once a season, CBS shows a Southeastern Conference game in prime time. It’s a good one this week.
Top-ranked Alabama, fresh off a come-from-behind win at Arkansas, hosts Florida in a rematch of last year’s SEC championship game.
And the schools with two of the last three Heisman Trophy winners.
And the last two national champions.
Ought to be something worth watching. Even if Tim Tebow is in the NFL.
If that’s not enough, in the late afternoon slot CBS shows Tennessee at LSU.
ABC usually shows prime time games on Saturday, and has some good ones this week also. Out west, Oregon takes on Stanford while Notre Dame’s visit to Boston College will be shown to much of the east. ESPN2 will show the game you don’t get on ABC, except a few western areas will see Washington-USC.
Read the rest of the column on VaSportsOnline.com.
Weekend Watchdog: Tide rides into prime time
Once a season, CBS shows a Southeastern Conference game in prime time. It’s a good one this week.
Top-ranked Alabama, fresh off a come-from-behind win at Arkansas, hosts Florida in a rematch of last year’s SEC championship game.
And the schools with two of the last three Heisman Trophy winners.
And the last two national champions.
Ought to be something worth watching. Even if Tim Tebow is in the NFL. Read more
Winners and Losers
Posted by afp on December 27, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Disadvantage: Philadelphia, which needs to win on Tuesday against Minnesota and then on Sunday against Dallas while getting a Sunday loss by Chicago to Green Bay to secure a first-round playoff bye.
It wasn’t automatic that the game had to be moved back, either. Among the critics of the move: Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who does radio commentaries after Eagles games, and said “you play football regardless of the weather.”
Not anymore. Read more
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with dawn evans, donovan mcnabb, jmu basketball, mike shanahan, philadelphia eagles, uva. basketball, washington redskins