TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2010


KLMNO PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL NFLNOTEBOOK


Vikings to part ways


BY MARKMASKE The Minnesota Vikings


plan to waive wide receiver Randy Moss, the team an- nouncedMonday. “This decision was made


TONI L. SANDYS/WASHINGTON POST Quarterback DonovanMcNabb is not the only culprit in the Redskins’ offensive struggles, but the team needs him to make more modest plays, and make them reliably.


basedonwhatwe thoughtwas in the best interests of the MinnesotaVikings,bothinthe short and long term,” Vikings Coach Brad Childress said in a written statement released by the club. “We wish Randy the bestashemoves forwardinhis career.” Childress informed Vikings


MICHAEL WILBON Dumb and dumber S


ometimes very smart people do very dumb things. That’s the only way you can explainMike Shanahan’s


benching of DonovanMcNabb. Shanahan, by any measure, knows what he’s doing when it comes to coaching professional football, which is why he owns two Super Bowl rings. But benchingMcNabb is completely


dumb. Bringing in Rex “Pick Six” Grossman to relieve your starter, a guy you traded for, is stunningly dumb. Telling people that you went to Grossman because he knows the two-minute offense better is even dumber. And believing it, if you actually do, is the dumbest thing yet. It can’t possibly be smart to stand up


after a game and tell the entire football world that with a game on the line—the Redskins were down six points at the time —you have no faith in your starting quarterback but that you trust a guy who essentially hasn’t played in two years, a guy who behind a dreadful offensive line has the same chance of thriving as crabs in a barrel. If you have Kerry Collins on your bench, okay, make the change. If you’ve drafted a young QB-in-waiting, like the Eagles drafted Kevin Kolb, and you want to see what your future starter is going to do in a pressure situation, fine, benchMcNabb. Even if you have Jeff Garcia, do it. If you’ve gotMichael Vick trying to make a comeback, go for it. But that’s not the Redskins’ situation at quarterback, is it? It’s okay to make a dumb mistake. Who


hasn’t made one? Even the greatest basketball coaches in history sometimes step to the microphone and say, “I blew that one, fellas.” Football coaches?Not so much. Something in the culture apparently forbids them from doing what Shanahan should have doneMonday, which is simply say, “I got it wrong. I blew it. It was the heat of the moment, Donovan hadn’t played well at all, and I overreacted by going to Rex.” That’s what Shanahan should have said, which would have served his team well going into the bye week. Instead, Shanahan offered up more nonsense, some junk about Grossman being in better cardiovascular condition, a fairly lame defense, if you will.Hell, if fabulous cardio is theNo. 1 criteria for being the quarterback of the Redskins, Shanahan ought to be in Kenya looking to bring back a distance runner. He also said something about strained


hamstrings. If it turns outMcNabb is more injured than we have known, then I will be first in line to give Shanahan his due, but that’s not what we’re looking at here. Look, I’ve long ago declaredmy bias


towardMcNabb and I’mnot going to spin away from it now.McNabb, though, hasn’t played all that well and has said so.He wasn’t particularly effective Sunday in Detroit, either. And indications are now that the Shanahans, father and son, don’t


SUNDAY’SLATEGAME


Saints find enough offense to knock off the Steelers, 20-10 Brees throws


two touchdown passes in defensive struggle


BY BRETT MARTEL


new orleans — Drew Brees shook off some hard hits and figured out Pittsburgh’s defense in time to make the defending champion New Orleans Saints look like contenders again. Brees passed for 305 yards and


two touchdowns and the Saints defeated the Steelers, 20-10, on Sunday night. Breeswas 20 of 22 for 191 yards in the second half, breaking open


a defensive struggle in which no team scored a touchdown through the first three quarters. “You know it’s going to be fast


and physical, and it was,” Brees said. Brees’s first touchdown went


to Marques Colston for 16 yards and the second went for 8 yards to Lance Moore with 2 minutes 37 seconds left. Leigh Torrence then intercept-


ed Ben Roethlisberger to seal it for the Saints (5-3). The Saints rediscovered the


magic of last season a week after an embarrassing 30-17 loss at home to the Cleveland Browns. “We have a special group,”


Brees said. “I think we all knew that fromthe start.We just had to


come out and prove it. It’s a long season. It’s a marathon. You’re going to have your ups and downs.” Rashard Mendenhall had the


only touchdown for Pittsburgh (5-2) on a 38-yard run in the fourth quarter. Roethlisberger was 17 of 28 for 195 yards in a matchup of the past two Super Bowl champs. The Saints struggled to run on


a Steelers defense that came in ranked first in the NFL against the run and allowedNewOrleans only 30 yards on the ground. Brees was sacked twice and


intercepted once, giving him 11 interceptions, as many as he had all of last season. The Saints tried some trickery,


to no avail. When they switched from a field goal to a passing alignment with backup quarter- back ChaseDaniel in the shotgun formation, Pittsburgh called tim- eout, andNewOrleans decided to settle for Garrett Hartley’s 31- yard field goal to tie the score at 3.


In the third quarter, right tack-


le Zach Strief, who had reported as an eligible receiver, was wide open in the end zone, but was backpedaling and unable to jump high enough to snag a short pass Brees lobbed over his head. Again, New Orleans had to settle for a field goal to go up 6-3. Late in the third quarter, the


Saints ran a reverse in which it appeared Colston was supposed


much like the wayMcNabb prepares for games.Mike’s assertion makes it sound likeMcNabb is somedummy, an ominous characterization he’d better be careful about, lest he run into some cultural trouble in greaterWashington,D.C. It’s entirely possible that the reason the


Eagles tradedMcNabb was that they sensed he was on the downside, approaching 34 years of age. Shanahan, of course, is completely free to sayMcNabb’s not what he thought he was getting and that he wants another quarterback. It happens. On the other hand, withMcNabb at


quarterback the Redskins have already won as many games, four, as the team did all last season. Tony Dungy, who knows a thing or two about handling quarterbacks and locker rooms, closed the door on any argument in favor of benchingMcNabb Sunday night when he said on NBC’s “Football Night in America,” “This is not about the two-minute drill. You’re in a situation where you can win the ballgame with one drive and you’re saying Donovan McNabb is not the guy to be in there on that drive? Whether he knows it or not he’s sending a bad message to his team aboutMcNabb.” I’mnot about to become revisionist and


say that Shanahan wasn’t a good hire. I thought he was at the time and still do. But the one reservation I had then is really nagging me now. Shanahan, like any terrific coach, has great belief in himself, in his philosophies and schemes. He’s been at this a long time and he’s allowed to make a mistake now and then without the whole world crashing around him. But sometimes, in any profession, the best people go way past confident to arrogant. Mike and Kyle Shanahan may have film


on Grossman and the two-minute offense but I’ve got satellite TV inmy house, too. I don’t need the coaches’ tape to recognize six going the other way, which is what Grossman has specialized in for years.No amount of justification is going to make subbing Grossman forMcNabb the right move or even a smart move. So now, halfway through the season


you’ve got Shanahan having humiliated AlbertHaynesworth, a guy who could be under the right circumstances the Redskins’ most valuable defensive player, and now the quarterback he himself had to have picked. If the Shanahans think Grossman is so superior in cardiovascular preparation and in the running of the two-minute offense that he gives them such a great chance to win, then go ahead and put Grossman out there full-time as the starter. I dare them. They’re bluffing. They’re not that dumb at all because it


will cost them their jobs, justifiably. But they sure had a bad day at the office Sunday, whether or not they’re willing to admit it.


wilbonm@washpost.com D SALLY JENKINS A move born of frustration


onovanMcNabb is a beloved guy and all that, butwhy should his hold on his job be inviolable? The


WashingtonRedskins don’t have a quarterback controversy, butwhat they do have is a starwho is playing poorly, and ailing.McNabb has been great at the 50-yard downfield throw, yet he has failed to deliver basic consistency and momentum. It’s likewatching a guy try to pay all the billswith a trip toVegas. Maybe the benching and a byeweekwill heal him, and sharpen himup. Mike Shanahan’s rationale for his


stunning decision to playRex Grossman overMcNabb in the final 1 minute 50 seconds against theDetroit Lions is still not entirely clear and his habit of coach-speak has not served him well. Butwhat’s plain is this: You go to Grossman because that’s the level of your frustration. Do you think Shanahanwanted to


put a fumble-proneGrossman into the game cold? You think he set out to insultMcNabb, and to invitewithering criticism? Itwas hardly amaster plan, and surely not his first choice. First choice is that your franchise quarterbackmakes the right reads and moves, gets you out of bad situations and into good ones, and establishes the rhythmthat is themotor of an offense. For a variety of reasons,McNabbwasn’t doing that. The takeaway is that Shanahan


benchedMcNabb because hewas not running the offense effectively, and he fully expected to takemajor heat for it. “I knewitwould happen,” Shanahan said by phoneMonday. Every controversy of Shanahan’s career has amounted to the fact that he’s not afraid to bench a name player.He experienced farworse criticismthan this as a coach inDenver,when he sidelined John Elway,whowas beaten up and playing poorly, and replaced himwithGary Kubiak. Thatwas a “Holy cow,” Shanahan


says. “You find out right away,when a decision ismadewith a quarterback, there’s constant scrutiny and questions about it.”As an assistant in San Francisco, hewatched Steve Young challenge an aging JoeMontana. “That was an everyday ordeal,” he said. If Shanahan deserves second-


guessing for amiscalculation, it’s not for the benching but for the timing of it. Why replaceMcNabbwith the game on the line?According to Shanahan, partly because the eventswere such a series of escalating frustrations.McNabbwas so stiff in his hamstrings that Shanahan had seriously considered not starting himat all. In addition to being hobbled, McNabbwas pounded senseless, absorbing seven sacks and at least a dozenmore hits. TheRedskins had punted four straight times in one stretch.On their last two possessions,


McNabb delivered up an interception and thenwas nailed for a loss of eight yards. Shanahan couldn’t see throwing goodmoney after bad. “He had taken a couple of shots there,


and I said, ‘This is crazy, I’mgoingwith Rex,’ ” Shanahan said.Grossmanwas at least fresh andmobile, and had looked good running a hurry-up offensewith the scout teama couple ofweeks earlier. “I just felt comfortable,” Shanahan says of the decision to put himin. There is no easyway to tell your very


glamorous andwell-compensated star quarterback, or his fans, that he’s not playingwell. But the fact is, the benching ofMcNabbwas defensible.As PeterKing of Sports Illustrated points out,McNabb has had the ball four times inside the two-minutewarning of the fourth quarter this season.Only once has he come through.AgainstGreen Bay, he deliveredwith a 53-yard drive that led to the game-tying field goal and overtime.On the other three occasions, he threwone interception and couldn’t get a first down twice. Themain thing theRedskins


complain of is a lack of consistent rhythm. This seems directly a result of McNabb’s enigmatic play.He ranks second in the league in plays of 40 yards ormore—he’s a spectacular big playmaker. Yet he had completed just 23.5 percent of his passes on third down going into the Lions game.And third downwas a critical failing against the Lions. “I’mnot sure I’ve ever been in a situationwherewe had asmany third and longs,” Shanahan observed. As an offense, theRedskins perfectly


reflectMcNabb’s strengths and weaknesses: They are ranked second in theNFL in big plays and second to last in third down conversions. “We all knowDonovan’s a franchise quarterback,” Shanahan said. Butwhat theRedskins need is forMcNabb to make a fewmoremodest plays, and make themreliably. McNabb is not the sole culprit, of


course. TheRedskinswere all-around lousy against the Lions, and Shanahan and his staff deserve their equal share of credit and blame for the 4-4 record. Butwith aweek off to considerwhere they stand, it’s clear that their offense verymuchmirrorsMcNabb’s personal performance, and that itwould help if hewould becomemore accurate and cadenced. “I’mnot happywithwherewe’re at


offensively,” Shanahan said at his weekly news conferenceMonday. “As I toldDonovan, I said, ‘Hey, you got a ways to go.Our offensive line has aways to go.Our receivers— collectively, as a coaching staff—we’re not happywith wherewe’re at. . . . We’re all accountable, startingwithme. Hopefully,we’ll get there.” jenkinss@washpost.com


players earlier Monday that the teamintendedtomake the move. Moss’s name did not appear on the NFL’s waiver wire Monday, an executive withanother teamsaid,mean- ing themovewas not officially made by the end of the busi- ness day. The development came one


day afterMoss followed a one- catchperformanceinSunday’s loss at New England with an extended monologue during hispostgamenews conference in which he praised the Patri- ots,his former team.Mossalso suggestedthat theVikingshad been reluctant to follow the advice that he offered during the week about facing the Pa- triots,andlamentedadecision by Childress late in the first half to try for a touchdown on fourthdowninsteadofkicking a field goal. Moss had 13 catches in four


games for the Vikings after being obtained in a tradewith the Patriots. Any team that claims Moss


offwaiverswould be responsi- bleforpayingtheremainderof his $6.4million salary for this season. IfMoss clearswaivers, he would become an unre- stricted free agent and could sign a new contract with any team. Agent JoelSegal,whorepre-


sentsMoss, told theMinneap- olis Star Tribune that he al- readyhadheardfrominterest- ed teams. Would the Redskins pursue


Moss if he clearedwaivers? “We’re always looking at the


best scenario to help our foot- ball team,” CoachMike Shana- han said. “That’swhatwe’ll do as an organization, you know, look at Randy and make a decision if he gives us a better chance to help our football teamwin.” l EAGLES:Slidingandrun-


ning out of bounds isn’t Mi- chael Vick’s style — until now maybe. After missing three games


witharibcartilage injury,Vick saidheneeds to“playsmarter” when he scrambles out of the pocket. Vick completed his first full


practiceMonday since getting hurt on Oct. 3, and expects to start for the Philadelphia Ea- gleswhen they host the India- napolisColts next Sunday. “I definitely have to be


smarter when running with the football, trying to get down,” Vick said. “If not, who knows?There’snotellingwhat I’mgoing to do.” Vick was injured on one of


his typicaldaringdashesat the end of the first quarter against the Redskins. He dodged and darted through the defense, eluding several tackles along theway to a 23-yard run to the 1 thatwasnegatedbyapenalty. He took two hard hits, getting sandwiched between Kareem Moore andDeAngeloHall. l COLTS: Jim Irsay insists


Peyton Manning will be the NFL’shighest-paidplayernext season. He’ll just have to wait until


to pass. He bobbled the ex- change, however, and decided to run with it for a minimal gain. Thewide receiver redeemed him- self later on that drive when he hauled in a 16-yard touchdown, running for the last few yards and reaching to get the ball over the pylon before he was bumped out of bounds. The play capped a 10-play,


59-yard drive for the game’s first touchdown, giving New Orleans a 13-3 lead. Pittsburgh had only one pos-


session in the third quarter, which ended when cornerback Malcolm Jenkins broke up a fourth and 4 pass from the New Orleans 40.


—Associated Press


after this season to close the deal. TheColtsowner saidhewas


prepared to make a contract offer to Manning during the team’s off week, but Manning and his agent wanted to wait until after the season. “Any negotiation is a two-


way street and we were ready to roll and we had a proposal, but theywanted towait,” Irsay said. Irsay did not divulge de- tails of the proposal that he hopes will keep Manning in blue-and-white for the rest of his career. Manning’s current deal expires after the season.


The Associated Press contributed to this report.


EZ SU


D7


with Moss Childress says


waiving wideout is in team’s best interests


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