In his own words: Redskins coach Mike Shanahan (interview about the Broncos)

[The MVPlaya]

Mike Shanahan sat down with the Post's Jeff Legwold in the hours before his team's preseason finale in Arizona. Here's is some of what he had to say:

Whether he's angry he was fired by the Broncos:
"I wasn't mad. I was disappointed, because I thought we had the thing going the right direction. I thought the building blocks were there. Defensively, we needed some things, but we had pieces in place and I believed we could bring the defense up to where the offense was."

What he meant when he said he had left a "Super Bowl offense" with the Broncos:
"That's what I think. You average 395 yards a game and lose six running backs (in 2008) and still average well over 4 yards per rush, that's a group capable of things. It was by no means perfect — too many turnovers, some red-zone issues — but you don't move the ball like that if you're not very capable. We were No. 2. To be in the Super Bowl, you have to have that kind of offense, be No. 1, No. 2, be No. 1 in defense. That's how you win Super Bowls. At least there was one side at that level. The job when you have one side like that is to get the other side (of the ball) to that level and maintain what you already have."

On whether he would have eventually hired his son, Kyle, to be his offensive coordinator in Denver had he stayed:
"There's no question it would have happened in Denver. I would have brought him in there before my last year, but he was under contract. (Texans coach) Gary (Kubiak) gave him a chance, so I would have never gone to Gary at that point and said, 'Gary, can I bring my son into Denver?' When he fulfilled his contract, I think it was fair for him to come here now."

Why he agreed to let Kyle call plays:
"As you get older, you realize you can't spend as much time in your system with your quarterbacks when you're the head coach. I never wanted to be the guy as a head coach that didn't spend all that time with the quarterbacks during the week and then tried to call plays on game day. In that situation, then are you calling the same plays that the quarterback wanted? Or are you just running what you want to do? If you're going to do that, you better spend every minute with that quarterback. And I'm not sure you can do that as a head coach, not if the defense and special teams are as equally important to you, and if you're the head coach, they'd better be as important to you."

If he, members of his family or friends believed he should have retired from coaching after he was fired by the Broncos:
"My family and (wife) Peggy said they'd support my decision to coach again if I wanted to. But I had plenty of time left on my contract after I got fired, and some people said just don't work and get paid. But I still wanted to coach."


Read more: In his own words: Redskins coach Mike Shanahan - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci...#ixzz0ymIDTTeI

[UberBroncoMan]

Looks like Jeremy Bates was going to get the axe.

[CBF1]

Shanny is living in denile about the 08 Broncos.

[Swedish Extrovert]

Originally Posted by CBF1

Shanny is living in denile about the 08 Broncos.

Pop warner defense.

[Tim]

Originally Posted by UberBroncoMan

Looks like Jeremy Bates was going to get the axe.

he was the qb coach in 08 so to bring in kyle wouldn't have affected him except his play calling

[bpc]

Mike's a great guy. I feel strongly that we were going in the right direction. The defense needed a ton of work but the offense had some stalwarts in positions where you need them. He could come have wrapped around in 09's draft, picked up a big-time defensive player instead of using one on 900 yd rusher in Knowshon, and then drafted Shonn Greene in the 2nd round and we would have been in the playoffs last year.

Ah well. Water under the bridge. Mike's gonna win another super bowl or two. I hope that Tebow can fulfill the promise he showed in the preseason and get us to that level as well.

[oubronco]

Yea the 08 offense sucked

[Lolad]

Originally Posted by CBF1

Shanny is living in denile about the 08 Broncos.

no he told it how it was. He was straight forward and said we had red zone issues and turnovers that needed to be fixed but we still moved the ball well which we did. The defense wasn't anything to write home about which he stated.

This has been hashed and rehashed since last year, but if we had to 08 offense (w/ year 2 in the system) and the 09 defense (1st 6 games, spotty afterwards) we would have went deep.

[The MVPlaya]

Originally Posted by bpc

Mike's gonna win another super bowl or two. .

What did Mike do to you?

[Dagmar]

Mike is a classy guy with a huge ego.

[TheReverend]

Originally Posted by bpc

Mike's a great guy. I feel strongly that we were going in the right direction. The defense needed a ton of work but the offense had some stalwarts in positions where you need them. He could come have wrapped around in 09's draft, picked up a big-time defensive player instead of using one on 900 yd rusher in Knowshon, and then drafted Shonn Greene in the 2nd round and we would have been in the playoffs last year.

Ah well. Water under the bridge. Mike's gonna win another super bowl or two. I hope that Tebow can fulfill the promise he showed in the preseason and get us to that level as well.

Agreed

[orangemonkey]

Originally Posted by Dagmar

Mike is a classy guy with a huge ego.

Hopefully, in time, McD gains "class" to match his ego.

[The MVPlaya]

Originally Posted by TheReverend

Agreed

No way!

[sirhcyennek81]

Originally Posted by bpc

Mike's a great guy. I feel strongly that we were going in the right direction. The defense needed a ton of work but the offense had some stalwarts in positions where you need them. He could come have wrapped around in 09's draft, picked up a big-time defensive player instead of using one on 900 yd rusher in Knowshon, and then drafted Shonn Greene in the 2nd round and we would have been in the playoffs last year.

Ah well. Water under the bridge. Mike's gonna win another super bowl or two. I hope that Tebow can fulfill the promise he showed in the preseason and get us to that level as well.

If we are living in the land of fantasy, can I have a pony?

[SoCalBronco]

Go Shanny! One of my personal heroes.

[broncogary]

Originally Posted by bpc

Mike's a great guy. I feel strongly that we were going in the right direction. The defense needed a ton of work but the offense had some stalwarts in positions where you need them. He could come have wrapped around in 09's draft, picked up a big-time defensive player instead of using one on 900 yd rusher in Knowshon, and then drafted Shonn Greene in the 2nd round and we would have been in the playoffs last year.

Ah well. Water under the bridge. Mike's gonna win another super bowl or two. I hope that Tebow can fulfill the promise he showed in the preseason and get us to that level as well.

Mock, is that you?

[The MVPlaya]

Originally Posted by SoCalBronco

Go Shanny! One of my personal heroes.

Those all blue jerseys need to be a staple to this team.

[TheReverend]

Originally Posted by The MVPlaya

No way!

Wow, you really got me good.

[baja]

Originally Posted by SoCalBronco

Go Shanny! One of my personal heroes.

You mean you aspire to be the little man upstairs?

Do you like Turkey sandwiches ?

[Broncoman13]

Love Mike Shanahan and don't disagree with anything he said. The offense was well built and needed only maintenance and a RB to stay at the same level. The defense was horrid. By some players in place he means, we had Champ Bailey and DJ Williams, but we needed 9 other starters from there!

Anyhow, I don't think there was anything new out of that piece. 'Cept for the part about bringing his son in eventually which most of us guess anyway. And honestly, the kid got some great production out of the Texans offense last year along with Kubes. It's not like he sat on his Daddy's staff and rode his coattail. He made a pretty good name for himself after having the door opened by a friend of his pops. Opportunity is what you make of it. If someone has to crack that door open for you to get that opportunity, it's up to you whether you're going to kick it all the way open and seize the moment, or if you're going to let it close back in your face. Seems to me that Kyle Shanahan was willing and able to kick it open and take what was his.

[elsid13]

Originally Posted by Dagmar

Mike is a classy guy with a huge ego.

He's is successful NFL Head Coach. They all have huge egos and are pricks, that what makes them successful because they can not see themselves failing.

[CBF1]

Originally Posted by Lolad

no he told it how it was. He was straight forward and said we had red zone issues and turnovers that needed to be fixed but we still moved the ball well which we did. The defense wasn't anything to write home about which he stated.

This has been hashed and rehashed since last year, but if we had to 08 offense (w/ year 2 in the system) and the 09 defense (1st 6 games, spotty afterwards) we would have went deep.

Whether he's angry he was fired by the Broncos:
"I wasn't mad. I was disappointed, because I thought we had the thing going the right direction. I thought the building blocks were there. Defensively, we needed some things, but we had pieces in place and I believed we could bring the defense up to where the offense was."

You were drinking his kool aid with those comments... Our defense sucked at best and though our offense could manage yards, we were not scoring worth a crap...... HENCE 8-8 seasons and getting knocked out of the playoffs up 2 games with 3 to go and he still could not do sh it.

Take off the orange lens sunglasses and remove your head from shanny's azz.

[Swedish Extrovert]

Originally Posted by SoCalBronco

Go Shanny! One of my personal heroes.

[CBF1]

Originally Posted by elsid13

He's WAS successful NFL Head Coach, But did sh it since Elway retired in 1998, 19 freekin 98 They all have huge egos and are pricks, that what makes them successful because they can not see themselves failing.

fixed it for you.

PS: bpc, Atlas emailed me and said they still have room on the washington rats bandwagon for you.

[elsid13]

Originally Posted by CBF1

fixed it for you.

PS: bpc, Atlas emailed me and said they still have room on the washington rats bandwagon for you.

You really must enjoy high school. Can you actually name one successful NFL coach that doesn't have ego, or are you just going b**** when others respect what Shanahan did for Denver?