Last night at the Chase Freedom cardholders event at P.J. Whelihans in Cherry Hill, former Eagles and Redskins kick and punt returner Brian Mitchell made an impassioned defense of former Birds and now Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb.
Mitchell has a radio and television show in the D.C. area and he’s known for not pulling any punches. Last night, he went after Redskins coach Mike Shanahan for his decision to bench McNabb during the last two minutes of their loss to the Detroit Lions.
The great returnman let us know that for the most part Redskins fans and the football team are losing faith in the Shanahans and lining up behind McNabb.
Mitchell feels that the benching of McNabb was a foolish decision which underminded McNabb’s status as the leader of the football team. He said that the Redskins players have no confidence in Rex Grossman.
He felt it was quite evident after Grossman’s first play that the decision was a awful mistake. Grossman was sacked. He then fumbled the ball away and one of the Lions picked it up and took it into the end zone to end the game for all intents and purposes.
The former Pro Bowl returnman believes McNabb’s refusal to verbally go after people in public has opened the door for this type of mistreatment from Shanahan. Mitchell made it clear that he would have been “throwing over some tables”, if he had received that type of treatment from one of his coaches.
The former college quarterback feels if McNabb went off publicly like Brett Favre would do, it would make coaches much more reluctant to bench him. For instance, Brad Childress has reported considered benching Favre numerous times, but he hasn’t done it, because he knows Favre is going to snap, then go after him publicly when he gets the chance.
Mitchell wants McNabb to drop the professional behavior and stand up for himself. He wants McNabb to fight against this type of treatment.
Mitchell says he has very little respect for Shanahan and believes that this entire incident is the head coach’s way of protecting his son Kyle, who is the team’s offensive coordinator.
Kyle was the offensive coordinator for a year in Houston under former Shanahan offensive coodinator Gary Kubiak. Reports say the older Shanahan lobbied his former assistant coach for his son to get that position. Now after a year in Houston, the younger Shanahan was given the offensive coordinator’s position in Washington.
The former Redskins and Eagles returner believes the real reason for McNabb’s benching was a verbal altercation between the quarterback and the inexperienced offensive coordinator.
Mitchell believes Kyle’s lack of experience is part of the problem. He doesn’t think a veteran quarterback like McNabb can’t be expected to change techniques which he’s learned during more than a decade of NFL success because of the advice of a novice offensive coordinator.
The Washington, D.C. area radio host feels Mike Shanahan sides with his son during disagreements between the quarterback and his son. According to Mitchell, this is a big part of the problem. Can Shanahan make unbiased decisions on behalf of the football team, if his son Kyle is involved?
The outspoken former returnman doesn’t think McNabb believes in or trusts Kyle Shanahan. Mitchell talked about McNabb not liking the continuous deep, seven-step drop pass routes, which Shanahan has been calling because the Redskins offensive line is banged up and ineffective. McNabb has been taking a pounding and demanding that Shanahan change the game plan.
Mitchell believes the attack on McNabb’s intelligence and cardiovascular conditioning are ridiculous and nothing but an attempt by the Shanahans to cover their butts.
He said the father and son have been exposed and their credibility has been greatly damaged with the football team and the fans.
While the coach has made, and keeps making a mess of the whole situation, I can’t help but thinking that McNabb is going to come out against the birds and play really well. He has a habit of coming through after he feels he has been slighted, and that is definately the case here. Our on hope is that with the stuff Shanahan has pulled, that he has “lost” the team and they will play like it. I want to see the birds get off to a fast start against the ‘skins and just let the internal discord eat them up. Don’t let them hang around, stomp on them quick and maybe even the fans in DC will start voicing displeasure.
G i have watched a number of redskins games..and i didnt need Brian Mitchell to tell me thats whats going on..lmao!…I dont like the offense they run, with the weapons they have, and i will say time and time again, it looks NOTHING, like the one they ran in Denver, or the 49ers with Steve Young when Shanahan was the O.C there. I truthfully think that Alex Gibbs helped Mike those years in Denver as a coach with his zone blocking run schemes. Donovan does have a problem with not opening his mouth to some of the problems. Kyle Shanahan is over matched and you can see it on the sidelines. What is his resume to do the job???..lmao..Who is he to teach Donovan the west coast offense? Donovan is older thanm him, and has played in the offense for 11 years….somehow i doupt Kyle has been coaching the offense that long..lmao! Look at your personel and adapt. I watched the entire 4th quarter of that game, the pressure Detroit was getting was relentless!!! Yet he insisted on dropping back in deep drops and have 5 throw under duress!…Zero screens, Zero Misdirection, Zero Movement of the pocket to take the QB off the spot, Zero bootlegs which ALWAYS was a staple of the Shanahan West Coast offense…
One of the Worst Blunders by a Head Coach in recent memory..Shannahan had very little to gain and a entire team to lose with that bonehead move, A real head-scratcher, and I would like to see McNabb go off on him in publiv but he won’t for it’s not his style.
I give McNabb the 1st Half to perform well vesus the Eagles or his Redskin days may be done,
If he and the Redskin offense struggle, it may be the Rex Grossman show in the 2nd half and maybe for the remainder of the season..
can you imagine if Andy went to Minnesota and brought Britt Reid as the offensive coordinator?..lmao!!!
Then Britt tried to tell Brett Farve how to run the west coast offense?…If your telling me that Kyle only had one year as an O.C in houston, and thats it….thats a disgrace!!
Shanahan made a huge blunder and everyone knows it. That’s not to say that he may not have had good reasons to question McNabb’s ability. I won’t assume to know what goes on at that level with the Skins however, you don’t manage the way problem the way he did and he deserves the egg in his face that he got.
I will say that the questions raised regarding McNabb’s ability does appear to fit issues we saw with the Eagles O for many years. I’ve also thought that McNabb’s cardio conditioning has been suspect for years. I can’t count how many times we’ve seen him winded when other players being much more active even on the same play are not. Is it possible he’s focused too much on muscle mass instead of stamina?
Finally, somebody should tell Mitchell that McNabb can stick up for himself, even publicly if necessary, and remain professional. It does appear publicly that he’s not defending his position very well but, maybe behind closed doors he is and is satisfied with that. McNabb’s very rarely been driven by public opinion and may not care about defending himself in the public.
It is interesting that the players and fanbase side more with McNabb than the coaching staff. I think one of the issues they have is that the players and coaches talk too much. Everyone doesn’t have to be outspoken and talk about the situation. They have 4-5 players making their opinion well known and the coaches making dumb statements. You only need 1 Sheldon Brown personality. But I do find it interesting that the players have no regard with voicing their displeasure with coaching decisions. That let’s us know the players don’t care too much for the coaches. Andy always has the respect of his players because he never publicly embarrass them or throw them under the bus. He’ll take the heat for the sake of his players rather than putting them out there to get chewed up. If you can’t respect Andy for anything else, that should be something worthy of it.
The drama is DC is good for us. Shanahan came in and brought in a d coordinator who changed a defense that was one of the top defenses in the league over the past few years and then has his son who by a lot of “experts” believe is in over his head as a offensive coordinator. McNabb probably isn’t a good fit for the system and that’s what happens when you have a mismatch set of skills. It kind of reminds me of Brett Favre going to the Jets. He left one system for a one he had to learn and he didn’t look good at all. Then the following year he goes to the Vikes in a systems he knows with weapons and sets the league on fire. Who knows if that will happen here but hey, keep the drama and distractions going on in DC. That works for us.
I posted everything Mitchell said a week ago. Man up McNabb. You can’t please everybody. Deep down the lockerroom likes nice guys, but respects Warriors.
“Kyle was the offensive coordinator for a year in Houston under former Shanahan offensive coodinator Gary Kubiak. Reports say the older Shanahan lobbied his former assistant coach for his son to get that position. Now after a year in Houston, the younger Shanahan was given the offensive coordinator’s position in Washington.”
Why would a HC who has roster control need to lobby to hire someone on his staff? That doesn’t make sense.
my only issue with the benching is that d5 played worse in other games
he stunk vs us
i mean he was 17-30 2 tds and a pick like 220 yards
its not a great day for a qb by any means but normally if ur a vet qb u dont get yanked for this type of a game so i can definitely see an altercation possibly being the reason for this benching
cause i saw the detroit game they had pass rushers all over him it was like when lions played vick and he had to be superman
d5 doesnt wanna be a superman at all nor can he anymore
One thing is for certain,
The Lions got a beast with that DT N Suh.. he has to be Defensive ROY hands down,
He just throws blockers out his way like a dishrag, He’s the most impressive DT I’ve seen come in as a Rookie and dominate in many years…
@paul man…..my point exactly!..lmao..Shanahan acted like a fan. Like he was thinking “Man, these are the Lions!…we shouldnt loose to them!”…but the Lions are NOT the same team anymore! Especially that game when they had Stafford who was chewing up the jets D, last week before he got hurt, Calvin Johnson(we dont need to get into what he can do), Vanden Bosch (just look at the picture of McNabb above) , Julian Peterson, Javed Best, Suh, and a best coach and ownership…IMO they have better talent than the redskins!!!..lmao…so what is he so appauled for?
I have always been a defender of 5! A lot of the crap that people would criticize him for was just that crap! Now that he is in Washington and I see it for what it is. Man I get the handle it like a professional b.s. This is football man! Every now and then you might just have to snap off to let people know not to go there with you. His passivness is the way he peforms on the field. I know he is a tough son of a gun. But F trying to please everyone. You are not going to be liked anyway by everybody. Just get mad and go out there and gun sling like that 40 yr. old that won’t quit!!!!!!!!!!
BTW! The last time 5 was benched the team stepped up in a major way. Yes he got a lot of credit but B west and the defense played a hell of a game. That Redskin team is terrible. I hope we practice all week like 5 is going to be great so we won’t have a let down. We need this division game.In reality the Redskins just don’t have any talent.
Eagle co 32 – A let down seems possible. Monday night would be a great showcase for McNabb to take out his frustration. It might be a good idea to turn Ernie Sims loose.
However I beleive Andrew Reid (had to retire Andy Greed after that great victory last sunday) wants this one bad and will game plan like crazy to avoid a sweep that will embarrass the entire organization.
YOU DON’T PULL YOUR STARTER with 2:00 remaing to play
I’m glad that G is posting what a DC sports personality is sayin because that shit G.Cobb was posting 2 weeks ago about this was Bull….
Redskins will go thru the motions for the rest of the season
How can anyone defend the benching for Rex Grossman..C-mon man are you serious
And all of the 5 haters piled on ..I knew he was outta shape , I knew he was dumb, I knew he couldn’t run a 2 min drill etc…Every current and former player asked about this responded the same ..YOU DON’T DO IT….well except for T.O. (who wants to wait until he retires before he comes out of the closet)….A WISE MAN ONCE SAID NEVER ARGUE WITH A FOOL IN PUBLIC CAUSE FROM A DISTANT YOU CAN’T TELL WHO IS WHO
Gotta luv it, I must agree. You don’t pull your starter regardless of how bad he is playing in the last 2 minutes. If he’s played that far into the game and you still have a chance to win the game, you don’t take him out and not to mention when Rex Grossman is the guy you are bringing in. If that’s the case, should have been pulled a lot earlier. Because not too many QBs let alone fricken Rex Grossman is just going to hop into a game with 2 minutes left and your o-line is getting crushed and win you the game. Just plain dumb. I personally do not like all the talk that has come out of it about McNabb but I do love the fact it created for drama for them and they lost the game on one of the most idiotic moves this year.
Who cares? After the Skins lose Monday night we will not have to hear the old qb’s name mentioned until next offseason when he goes to a new team that will not win the Super Bowl.
Great Minds Think Alike Scorp….
Monday night is gonna be a good one….
WHERE WE WATCHIN THE GAME @ FELLAS
Ironic that McNabb doesn’t like the 7 step drops and yet Reid installed them so Vic can more easily see the field since he is only 6 ft
Of course McNabb is 6 ft 4 but still he has a gun for an arm lie Vic does so the 7 step drop should be OK where for a QB with an average arm it wouldn’t work
But then Vick has more speed left than McNabb and from the 7 step drop he can run up the field esaier if he has to
Wow! I expected to find a bunch of McNabb haters on this thread. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprized that you guys are always more informed and less bias that the media hacks. McNabb seems to have jumped from the “fire to the frying pan”.In regards to the issues he has to deal with in Washington, he’s having a worst year than Obama! Through it all he has shown a great deal of character dispite the media hounds call for him to lash out at his coaches, (and thereby giving them more red meat to grind out negative articles about him). I expect Mcnabb to do what he has always done and let his field play do his talking for him.
He will excell as he always has, inspite of the atrocius offensive line blocking, subpar receivers dropped passes, and rediculous play calling by a patronage job holding offensive coodinator. This does not bode well for the Philadelphia Eagles. I expect the ultimate “Donovan McNabb Micheal Vick Quarterback Throwdown”. Get your “Buffalo Wings” ready!