The Denver Broncos have entered their bye week with a 2-6 record and fans and writers questioning whether or not Denver could be the worst team in the league this season. Hope for the season is slipping further and further out of reach and head coach Josh McDaniels is watching his popularity plummet amongst Bronco fans.
One could reasonably assume that former Bronco head coach Mike Shanahan is looking at the situation in Denver and smiling after being let go by the organization in Dec. 2008, but he is facing some major criticism of his own in Washington. Shanahan has come under fire for benching Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game against the Lions. Washington was down 31-25 with no timeouts remaining when back up quarterback Rex Grossman entered the game. Grossman proceeded to fumble in his first snap of 2010 and the Lions' Ndamukong Suh ran into the end zone for the first touchdown of his career.
Shanahan told the media that McNabb was benched because his "conditioning" wasn't up to par, a claim that SB Nation DC isn't exactly buying:
So at first he says he is pleased with McNabb's work ethic, but then he immediately says that if he wasn't happy with it that he wouldn't tell the media. I feel like that kind of discredits what he said about liking McNabb's habits in the first place.
I appreciate his efforts to keep everything in house, but his attempt at transparency totally discredits what he is trying to do. I'm not saying that Shanahan actually doesn't like the way McNabb practices, I'm just saying that I'm not totally believing him when he says he has no problem with it. Why would he even include that last part unless there was something that he was deliberately not telling us?
If the Grossman/McNabb drama wasn't enough for Redskins fans, word came out today that Washington was going to work out former Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell. Yes, that JaMarcus Russell.
Who knows how this situation will turn out, but some times when you are frustrated with your team, it's good to know that you aren't the only one...