[Photo Courtesy of NFL.si.com]
At least, Mike Shanahan received a video tribute from the Broncos for winning two championships as Broncos coach. He even received a standing ovation for two minutes from the crowd. That’s the only good day he had in his return to Denver as Redskins coach.
It was a return to forget for the former Broncos coach as he saw his Redskins suffered a 45-21 loss to the Broncos Sunday afternoon at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
Shanahan thought he would come off victorious when his team’s defense was able to get Peyton Manning off-track for the first three quarters of the game.
The problem for him is Manning is a one-of-a-kind quarterback that can get his team in the game in a nanosecond. Eventually, he would figure it out, and he did by throwing three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to give the Broncos the victory.
Shanahan had to feel nervous along with his players. They know when Manning gets on a roll, he’s hard to stop. He creates an avalanche of touchdowns. He figured out the Redskins defense late in the third quarter. The Redskins’ fears came through in the fourth quarter.
After the Redskins were hanging on to a 21-14 lead in the fourth quarter, Manning ran the no-huddle offense and it worked like a charm. He threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Joel Dreessen to tie the game at 21. He followed that up by throwing a 35-yard touchdown pass to Knowshown Moreno, which gave the Broncos a 28-21 lead. His final fourth quarter touchdown was the knockout punch in this game when he threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas, which extended the Broncos’ lead to 38-21.
All Shanahan can do is envy what Broncos coach John Fox has with his quarterback. He can only imagine what could have been if Manning was playing for the Redskins. He knows his offense fits well with Manning’s skill-set.
The Redskins were rumored to be in the Manning sweepstakes, but that was not going to happen. The future Hall of Fame quarterback wanted to play where he can win a championship, and the Broncos have that with their defense and offense. It helped that he did not want to play in the same division as his brother, Eli.
Shanahan had to settle with drafting Robert Griffin III. Not a bad consolation prize for him.
After making the playoffs last year in part of the play of Griffin, he has not had success with his young quarterback this season. That has been frustrating for the former Broncos head coach.
Part of the problem is Griffin can’t run after suffering a partially torn lateral collateral ligament in his right knee in last year’s playoff game against the Redskins. He can’t do what he does best, which is running for first downs or to the end zone.
Griffin has had a hard time throwing, too. It was obvious after he threw three straight incompletions when the Broncos tied the game at 21. It’s amazing why Shanahan wanted him to throw rather than stick with the running game that help put the Redskins in a position to take the lead early on.
He couldn’t lead the Redskins after Manning engineered drives on the field. It turned worse when the Redskins were pounding him to the ground, and that ended his day as Kirk Cousins relieved him.
After a great start, the ending became a nightmare for Shanahan. He left the field wondering what went wrong and if it was going to get worse.
Who knows where the Redskins go from there? If Griffin can’t play on Sunday, it could mean he could be out for awhile. It’s interesting why Shanahan kept him out there when he was not in a position to throw or run anymore. Was it ego? It’s obvious he wanted to beat his old team, but common sense has to come to play after awhile.
Redskins owner Daniel Snyder could not be happy his meal ticket was being destroyed. This is an investment for him, and he can’t afford to see his star’s career go down for the money he is paying him. If the Redskins coach shows no regard for his quarterback’s health, it could be one reason he loses his job at the end of the year.
Losing to the Broncos hurt for Shanahan, but he has other things to worry about with his Redskins not playing well this season.
His job could be on the line if the Redskins finish bad. That’s why he has no time to dwell on a loss like that.
It hurts for him, but he is going to feel the hurt more if he is unemployed on NFL’s Bloody Monday in January.
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Leslie Monteiro
Leslie is a contributor for Lightning Rod Sports. He covered high school sports in Bergen County out in North Jersey, and has written op-ed columns on sports such as Bleacher Report and NY Sports Digest.
