ESPN NFL

So the draft is tomorrow, which I understand some people are excited about. The prospects have arrived in New York City. I dropped by the EA Sports event in Manhattan on Tuesday night and met Robert Griffin III and Fletcher Cox and some other folks. I always enjoy this part of the draft -- the days leading up to the thing itself, when these kids get to feel like kings of the world before the real work starts. Invariably, several of them are making their first-ever trip to New York, and as someone who grew up going to school field trips there, I have always found it to be a lot of fun to meet someone who's experiencing it for the first time.

Anyway, don't panic if things slow down a bit today. I am going up to Bristol for a meeting and then stopping back in Manhattan on the way home for another pre-draft event at which I hope to do some interviews that will assist me in writing intelligent and informative stories and columns on the players your favorite teams draft Thursday night. There will be posts today, but as I said, it could get a little slow. You get me all night Thursday and Friday and all day Saturday, so you'll have plenty of time to get sick of me before this is all said and done. And in the meantime, you know I'd never let you go a day without your links.

Dallas Cowboys

One of the topics Tony Romo addressed during his news conference Tuesday was the amount of time he has left as the starting quarterback of the Cowboys. Romo, who just turned 32, says he hasn't thought about it because, "Unless you start to regress in your abilities, that doesn't enter your thoughts." I think Romo's of a different mind on this issue than a lot of Cowboys fans are, and I think the team is as well. If the Cowboys draft a quarterback in the middle or late rounds this weekend, it will say more about their feelings on Stephen McGee as capable backup than it will about long-term worries about life after Romo.

In non-Romo news, Anthony Spencer showed up and worked out at the team facility on the day after he signed his franchise tender. Spencer's still hoping for a long-term deal, and it still doesn't look as though he's going to get one anytime soon.

New York Giants

Eli Manning joked that, in spite of the Giants' Super Bowl championship, he's still the third-most talked-about quarterback in New York. I think he's right, though I feel fairly certain that young Mark Sanchez would be happy to trade places with him in those rankings.

We have written a lot lately on this blog about the Giants and their approach to the draft. Peter King has a pretty outstanding in-depth look at the way the Giants have been built, and it's worth a read for non-Giants fans as well.

Philadelphia Eagles

If the Eagles want to get a player like Fletcher Cox or Luke Kuechly in the first round Thursday, it looks as though they may have to trade up. They can, since they have enough picks, and they might, if they decide one of those guys is worth it. A trade-up is just one of the scenarios Jonathan Tamari examines for the Eagles.

The Atlanta Falcons are indeed trying to trade for Asante Samuel, who at this point has to be dealt before the end of the draft or the Eagles are going to have a big problem. And again, it's not that Samuel can't play anymore. It's a salary dump for cap room they'll need to sign LeSean McCoy and their draft picks. Don't be surprised if all they get is a sixth-round pick.

Washington Redskins

The answer to the popular question of whether Graham Gano is safe as the Redskins' kicker became a very loud "no" on Tuesday when it was revealed that Neil Rackers has agreed to contract terms with Washington. I guess they'll bring them both to camp and let them fight it out, but Rackers' resume indicates that he's well-equipped to win the fight.

Rich Campbell's already up here, tailing Robert Griffin III around the Big Apple, and Griffin says the meetings he's had over the past several weeks with Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan have been useful and productive. You will continue to read more about Griffin on this blog over the next 48 hours.

Good morning. I hope everyone had a good weekend celebrating whichever holiday they prefer. The NFL draft is now 17 days away, and we have links.

Dallas Cowboys

You've seen Alabama safety Mark Barron projected as the Cowboys' first-round draft pick. Now take a look at ESPNDallas.com's draft preview series rundown of Barron.

David Moore writes that Troy Aikman did Tony Romo no favors a couple of weeks back when he said Romo was a better quarterback than he had been, since the last thing Romo needs is for expectations for him to get any higher.

New York Giants

I get a lot of questions about Chad Jones, the safety the Giants drafted in the third round two years ago and who nearly died in a car wreck two months later. Jones is looking forward to participating in offseason workouts when they begin next week.

If the Giants decide to take a running back at No. 32 in the first round to replace Brandon Jacobs, Todd McShay says they would have some options.

Philadelphia Eagles

At this point, Mike Kafka is the No. 1 backup quarterback to Michael Vick in Philadelphia. Trent Edwards, a veteran who didn't play in the NFL last year, is the only other option, and Vick always misses at least some games. Jeff McLane takes a look at whether Kafka is a good enough answer at this somewhat important position.

Mark Eckel writes that he expects the Eagles' streak of never taking a first-round linebacker to continue in this draft, but he outlines some linebacker candidates for teams that might draft one -- or I guess for the Eagles in a round after the first.

Washington Redskins

This came out at the end of last week, but it's worth linking again for those who missed it: Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan is planning several visits to Waco to work with Robert Griffin III over the coming weeks. Hey, why not get a head start, right? There have to be some advantages to picking that high in the draft, especially given the price.

Ty Detmer sees the comparisons between Griffin and Vick, but echoes some others who have pointed out that Griffin is a more polished passer at this point in his career than Vick was when he was drafted.

Friday. Links. Etc.

Dallas Cowboys

Tim MacMahon thinks the best way for the Cowboys to go in the first round of the draft would be to take the best Alabama defensive player still available at No. 14. I do not think this is a bad idea.

For what it's worth, Nate Livings' former coach has nice things to say about him.

New York Giants

Giants guard Chris Snee had elbow surgery, and he talked about both that and the possibility of more changes this season on the Giants' offensive line.

Missed this Thursday, but Devin Thomas was a pretty valuable special teams contributor for the Giants, and will need to be replaced now that he's left for the Bears. There are several opportunities for Jerrel Jernigan this offseason if he'd like to seize them.

Philadelphia Eagles

Les Bowen doesn't think an Asante Samuel deal seems close. No real reason for the Eagles to do one now, anyway, with nearly four full weeks left until the draft.

A couple of quarterbacks are going to visit the Eagles for pre-draft visits, which reflects either Andy Reid's obsession with quarterbacks or the idea that the organization is thinking long-term about the position since its starter is 32 or both.

Washington Redskins

Jason Reid thinks Donovan McNabb may have had a point with his criticism of Mike and Kyle Shanahan on First Take on Thursday. I agree, as I wrote in my column on this subject. My only point was that McNabb conveniently overlooked his own role in the issues he had there.

Jammal Brown is taking yoga classes to help his troublesome hip heal. If the Redskins don't sign another tackle, they're going to be counting on Brown to finally be able to stay healthy for a full season.

If you saw Donovan McNabb on "First Take" today, you know what this is about. If you haven't, here's the clip. McNabb, the former Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins quarterback, was asked if he thinks Robert Griffin III is a good fit for the Redskins, who are likely to take him with the No. 2 pick in the draft four weeks from today. This was a perfectly teed-up Titleist of a question for McNabb, whose time in Washington was tumultuous to say the least, and he swung hard:

"No. I say that because a lot of times, ego gets too involved when it comes to being in Washington. Here's a guy coming out who's very talented, mobile, strong-armed. We've already heard he's intelligent. Football mind. Are you going to cater the offense around his talents and what he's able to do? Or are you going to bring the Houston offense with Matt Schaub over to him and have him kind of be embedded into that?"

The last part is a clear reference to Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan and the idea that he tried to fit McNabb into the offensive system he brought with him from the Texans. But there's more:

"We talk so much about Mike Shanahan and the things that he was able to do in Denver. Well, I have a couple of names for you that Mike Shanahan, quarterbacks he's coached and the lack of success that he's had. We have John Beck, who as 0-4. Rex Grossman, 6-11. Jay Cutler, who was his prized possession, 17-20. Jake Plummer, a guy who had success, led them to the AFC Championship against Pittsburgh and then benched him the next year because he wouldn't do what he wanted him to do pretty much. Brian Griese, who was supposed to be the heir apparent to John Elway and hasn't had a lot of success."

To his credit, Skip Bayless asked McNabb if he had an ax to grind. And to his credit, the first two words of McNabb's response were accurate:

"I do but I don't. The whole deal about it is, we hear so much about players who move on somewhere, how the next year will be a lot better. Give him a chance to learn the offense and understand what we do. I never got that chance. And a lot of people haven't."

My inclination is to tread carefully here, since there's obviously a far greater chance that McNabb spends this next football season in those Bristol studios than on a football field. But the plain fact is, the guy needs a mirror.

McNabb makes some fair points about Mike Shanahan and the lack of success he's had as a head coach with quarterbacks other than Elway. He makes some fair points about egos, and I don't think there's anyone who doubts that Shanahan has a big one. He himself might even admit to that. He's a head football coach. The list of men who are those and don't have egos is a pretty short list.

But McNabb this morning was using a platform to grind his ax, plain and simple. My quickie evaluation of him on TV is that he'll be an excellent NFL analyst as long as he's talking about people he hates. His breakdown of the situation in Washington as it pertained to him ignores these elements:

• He was benched by Eagles coach Andy Reid in 2008 and traded by Reid after the 2009 season to a team that the Eagles play twice a year. Clearly, there were some issues with McNabb even before he got to Washington. You don't trade your starting quarterback to a division rival if you think the guy is still worth having.
• Three separate Redskins people who were with the team during McNabb's only season there have told me that the issue with McNabb was that he didn't want to put in the work during the week. Yes, the system in Washington was different from the one he was used to in Philadelphia, but that McNabb's response to that was to shut down and refuse to learn or practice it. One of those three people told me Shanahan was aware, before making the trade, that McNabb had developed the reputation over his final few seasons in Philadelphia of not wanting to put in the work during the week, but that Shanahan believed he could light a fire under McNabb.
• Shanahan was not able to light that fire, and McNabb lost his job to Rex Grossman during the 2010 season. Rex Grossman, folks. Didn't lose the job to Johnny Unitas or Joe Montana. Couldn't play or practice well enough to fend off a challenge from Rex Grossman.
• The Redskins traded McNabb prior to the 2011 season to the Minnesota Vikings for a sixth-round pick. McNabb must not have liked the egos or the system in Minnesota, either, since he played just six games there before losing the job to rookie Christian Ponder, then demanded his release later in the season after being demoted to the scout team.
• No one picked him up off waivers.
• No one has signed him so far this offseason.
• There has been not one report of any team being interested in signing him.

McNabb's career is almost certainly over, and he's clearly bitter about the way it ended. The Shanahans certainly made some mistakes in handling the McNabb situation and said some things that embarrassed a proud veteran and left him very angry. They are not blameless here. But neither is McNabb, and if he's going to sit there and say things like he said this morning on "First Take," he'd do himself and the rest of us a favor if he uttered maybe just one or two words about his own role in the way things turned out for him in Washington.

It's possible, after all, that Griffin will be excellent in Washington. There's nothing anyone's heard about the young man to indicate he's unwilling to work or learn anything new.

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- One more day here by the beach. As you read this, I am at the NFC coaches' breakfast listening to what Andy Reid, Jason Garrett, Tom Coughlin and Mike Shanahan have to say. I shall spend the remainder of the morning and the afternoon working feverishly to communicate back to you the items of NFC East interest from this session before my flight leaves for home this evening. They had links at the AFC coaches' breakfast Tuesday, along with bacon and some kind of cool steak eggs benedict deal. Not sure if today's spread will be the same, but you know you can always count on having links right here, every morning at 8 a.m.

Dallas Cowboys

The only thing you know for sure about the draft this time of year is that everybody's lying. Everything's a smokescreen and no one's telling you what they really think or plan. So take this with a grain of salt, even though I agree with Jerry Jones that it wouldn't be a great idea for him to take an offensive lineman in the first round after drafting three of them last year and signing two more earlier this month.

Yeah, I wish Jones would tell us what he really feels about the salary-cap penalties, too, but he's smart to keep his mouth shut until the arbitrator rules on it, and so this little crack about wanting to settle his dispute with John Mara on the field will have to do for now.

New York Giants

Coughlin's getting a contract extension, obviously. Mara told the New York Post that he expects the deal to be done within four to six weeks, and there's every reason to think the Giants coach, who's won two Super Bowl titles in the past five years, will get paid a salary similar to those of the best coaches in the league -- upward of $7 million per year. I'm thinking it ends up being a three-year deal.

Defensive end Dave Tollefson continues to draw interest on the free-agent market, now scheduled to visit the suddenly free-agent-happy Green Bay Packers. As they are with Jonathan Goff and, to some extent, Brandon Jacobs, the Giants are letting Tollefson test the market while also letting him know they'd like to have him back. If he can't find a better offer than what the Giants are willing to give him, he comes back. If not, they move on and find a replacement. It's how they roll.

Philadelphia Eagles

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman sure made it sound as though the team believes it can find a trade market for cornerback Asante Samuel between now and the draft. Roseman discussed that issue and several others Tuesday with Jeff McLane. One point further down in the notes: Roseman declined to say where he expected Jamar Chaney to play because the Eagles are "still in the talent acquisition phase" of the offseason. Says to me they're still looking for linebackers, even with DeMeco Ryans in the fold.

Former Andy Reid assistants Pat Shurmur and John Harbaugh, now the head coaches of the Browns and Ravens, respectively, came to the defense of their former boss -- and of defensive coordinator Juan Castillo -- in conversations with Paul Domowitch at the aforementioned AFC coaches' breakfast.

Washington Redskins

Yes, the Redskins were seriously interested in Peyton Manning when he was on the market. No, it's not clear how good their chances were of getting him. But Mike Shanahan and Kyle Shanahan met with Manning even after trading for the No. 2 pick in the draft, and it's clear that he was a serious option in their minds if they hadn't been able to move up to the spot from which they now plan to draft their next franchise quarterback.

Former Redskins quarterback Mark Rypien is at the front of the latest lawsuit by former players against the league over head injuries. These suits continue to be filed, and will continue to be filed, and if you don't think they worry the league, then think again about why the punishments against the Saints for the bounty stuff was so severe.

Jason La Canfora of NFL.com did a big thing on potential "cap casualties," and it caught my eye because of the photo of Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley right there at the top. Jason lists a number of players who, like Albert Haynesworth in Tampa Bay, Stanford Routt in Oakland and, very soon, Peyton Manning in Indianapolis, could be cut because their salaries don't fit into their team's salary-cap budget for 2012. And here's the part about Cooley:

Chris Cooley

#47 TE
Washington Redskins

2011 STATS

• Rec8
• Yds65
• TD0
• Avg8.1
• Long17
• YAC37

And at tight end, as much as Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan loves tight end Chris Cooley, he is oft-injured and his $3.8 million base may be too steep, especially if Fred Davis is brought back.

So, couple of things here. First, I have little doubt that Davis will be brought back. The Redskins will almost certainly designate him as their franchise player, since the number is low, they like his talent and they're justifiably leery of making a longer-term commitment to a guy who's one bad drug test away from a one-year suspension. To me, Davis isn't the issue.

Nor, presumably, is Cooley's salary. The Redskins are about $47 million under the projected salary cap and can afford to bring Cooley back on his current contract if they so choose. The questions about Cooley are health and whether he's worth that $3.8 million. With Davis having taken over as the primary passing-game threat at the tight end position in Washington, Cooley is now being paid for numbers he no longer puts up.

That said, when I met with Redskins coach Mike Shanahan in December, he mentioned Cooley's injury as one of the bad turning points for the Redskins in 2011 and spoke of how much he liked being able to "set the perimeter" on offense with two very good tight ends. So my belief is that he'd like to have Cooley back. And even if the Redskins decide $3.8 million is too much and they need him to restructure, Cooley's kind of all-in with the Redskins and likely would be amenable to such an idea if it meant staying with the team he loves.

It's a situation worth watching, and anything's possible. But my guess is Cooley comes back to Washington in 2012, even if it's at a lower salary than the one he's currently scheduled to make.

INDIANAPOLIS — My favorite of today's links is Kate Fagan's diary of the Madonna news conference, and it's not because the Madonna news conference was my favorite part of the week so far. It wasn't. Top five maybe, but not No. 1. And no, it's none of your business what No. 1 was. Regardless, Kate's account of Madonna is an excellent and entertaining read. But for those of you who are more traditionally inclined and conditioned to two links per team per weekday ... well, we have that, too.

Oh, and since I know you're counting — the pedometer says I took 22,031 steps Thursday, bringing the total to 78,896 — or about 37.4 miles. All of them for you. Every single one of them for you. Even the ones that got me free gumbo from the 2013 New Orleans Super Bowl host committee. Which was awesome. I seriously wish you all could have enjoyed it with me.

Anyway, links.

New York Giants

Ian O'Connor says the Giants' pregame talk puts them at risk of being a punch line if they lose Sunday. I guess. Still doubt Tom Brady needs bulletin-board material for motivation to win as many Super Bowls as Terry Bradshaw won. Also, I think I think the Giants will win. But predictions come out... you know... later.

Jerry Reese thinks it's funny that his team won 10 regular-season games last year and missed the playoffs, won nine regular-season games this year and reached the Super Bowl and now people think he's smarter than he was then. This is the rare thing on which Jerry and I agree. I also think that's funny.

Philadelphia Eagles

Sam Donellon thinks Juan Castillo is in a no-win situation. I think Sam would be right if media and fan perception were the ultimate judge of the success of a team and a coach. But since it's not -- and since Castillo's employers, who like him, will ultimately make the call on whether he was responsible for the Eagles' 2012 successes or failures -- I think Castillo has a chance to win and win big.

Sheil has a look at Luke Kuechly, who'd be a pretty sweet pick for the Eagles at No. 15 in the draft this April if he's still there.

Dallas Cowboys

Jean-Jacques thinks the Hall of Fame needs Charles Haley in order to consider itself complete. We'll find out Saturday if the Hall voters feel the same way.

Michael Irvin believes that Dez Bryant will eventually be the best receiver in the NFL. That would be pretty awesome for the Cowboys if that happened.

Washington Redskins

Kyle Shanahan says his opinion on Rex Grossman hasn't changed since a year ago. I guess that's... good? Or bad? I don't know. Still pretty sure they need to upgrade.

Nathan Fenno writes that Sean Taylor's friends and family still await justice.

The New England Patriots play a 3-4 defense. Except when they play a 4-3. Vince Wilfork is a nose tackle. Except when he's playing defensive end. The Patriots' defense is an amoeba, and designed to be deceptive and confusing to opposing offenses. Ashley Fox took a look at what the New York Giants can expect to see from "that mad scientist in New England" in the Super Bowl a week from Sunday, and the ways in which the Giants are preparing for it.

Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora says he's only ever had two fights on the football field, and they've both been with Patriots tackle Matt Light. Umenyiora said he expects to "rekindle" things in the Super Bowl with Light, who "really gets under his skin." According to Mike Garafolo, Umenyiora joked that Light is more important to the Patriots than Umenyiora is to the Giants, "so if we both fight, we'll both get kicked out and JPP and Tuck will have a field day out there." Strategy!

Washington Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan was asked on the radio about the idea of bringing Peyton Manning to the Redskins. Since Manning plays for another team, Shanahan's not really supposed to talk about whether the Redskins would pursue him. But he spoke in general terms about the idea of whether Manning would be appealing if he were to become available (which he almost certainly will). Kyle didn't exactly throw cold water on the idea, saying the only question he'd have would be health, and that "if the doctors say he's healthy, and he says he's healthy, then that's enough for me."

Paul Domowitch spoke to Philadelphia Eagles president Joe Banner about the upcoming free-agent class. I'm sure the words "Eagles" and "free agency" are still sending chills down the spines of the fans who remember how exciting last year's Eagles free-agent period went.

How about the Dallas Cowboys for Manning, huh? Apparently, this has been raised on the radio in Dallas, where I guess NBA basketball isn't enough to keep them busy this time of year and they have to think up crazy ideas like trading their best offensive player because the defense collapsed and gave away the season. Anyway, Todd Archer shoots it down, as he should.

Looks as though they're getting their snow early in Green Bay. A bunch will be on the ground when we arrive this weekend, but the forecast for Sunday remains clear and for a relatively balmy 24 degrees. Given what the calendar says and where they're going, the Giants will sign for that. There's a difference between Tom Coughlin's face being red and Tom Coughlin's face being dear-god-get-that-man-to-a-hospital red. Anyway, links.

New York Giants

Ian O'Connor looked back at the Lawrence Tynes kick that delivered the Giants' last playoff victory in Green Bay four years ago and talked with members of Tynes' family about the tough times they've all endured and the toughness that lives in the Giants' kicker as a result. It's a real good story. Apropos of nothing, though, did you know this Sunday's will be the first playoff game at Lambeau Field since that one? Not just for the Giants, but for the Packers too. They were a wild-card team last year. Played 'em all on the road.

More trivia: Gary Myers writes that this will be the first-ever playoff game featuring two quarterbacks who have previously won a Super Bowl MVP award. Gary takes a look at the matchup between Aaron Rodgers and Eli Manning.

Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles lost their player personnel director Wednesday, as Ryan Grigson went off to run the Colts. So they'll need to restructure some things in their personnel department. Once they do, they have decisions to make on their own potential free agents, and Geoff Mosher runs through the list.

Those who assume the Eagles are sure to sign Steve Spagnuolo as their defensive coordinator simply because he used to work there have consistently ignored the obvious fact that the Eagles will have competition for the man's services. The Atlanta Falcons, who actually have an opening at defensive coordinator, have emerged as a strong suitor.

Dallas Cowboys

Remember when Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan was a hot name for potential head coaching jobs? Calvin Watkins writes that the way the Dallas defense played down the stretch may have taken Ryan off some of those lists -- for this year, at least.

Todd Archer believes, as I do, that there's a real good chance the Cowboys take an offensive linemen in the first round of the draft. But if they're going to put that high a value on their interior line needs, Todd writes, might they spend what it takes in free agency to sign someone like Saints guard Carl Nicks? Intriguing.

Washington Redskins

The Redskins are hiring former Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris to coach their defensive backs, according to Mike Jones. Lots of good connections here. Morris has worked on the same staff as Washington offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan and under GM Bruce Allen before. He's 35 years old and likely still a hot coaching prospect, regardless of what happened this year in Tampa Bay. I'll be interesting to see which defensive backs stick around for Morris to coach. Safeties coach Steve Jackson and wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell won't be back, Jason Reid writes. Jackson was in Washington for eight years.

Redskins kicker Graham Gano broke two bones in his back making a tackle in the season finale. Gano is a free agent and, as he rehabs his back, he wonders what his own future holds in Washington.

Mike Jones of The Washington Post writes that the Washington Redskins interviewed former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Raheem Morris for an assistant coaching position Wednesday. The Bucs fired Morris on Monday after three years with him as their head coach, but Morris is still only 35 years old and is considered a bright defensive coaching mind. There's no reason to think Washington defensive coordinator Jim Haslett, who came in with Shanahan two years ago with the assignment of converting the Redskins from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4, is in any danger. Morris is being looked at as someone who can help coach defensive backs specifically. As Mike writes:

Washington's current defensive backs coach is Bob Slowik, who served as Mike Shanahan's defensive coordinator in Denver in 2007 and 2008. Slowik is coming off his second season with the Redskins. The team's safeties coach, Steve Jackson, is the lone member of the Redskins' defensive coaching staff who wasn’t originally hired by Shanahan and Haslett. Jackson joined the Redskins in 2004 and has coached the safeties in each of the last seven seasons.

Morris has strong ties to some members of the Redskins organization. He and current Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan served as assistants in Tampa Bay in the mid-2000's. Shanahan worked as an offensive quality control assistant, while Morris held the assistant defensive backs coach post. Kyle Shanahan and Morris remain close.

If the Redskins are serious about Morris -- or about any other changes to their coaching staff -- expect things to move quickly. Mike Shanahan told me last week that the team is entering a two-week period in which the coaches meet to offer evaluations of every player on the roster -- offensive coaches assessing defensive players and vice-versa. Any coach who would be new next year would certainly be an important voice in such meetings, especially since he'd bring a potentially valuable outsider's perspective on the Redskins' roster.

The secondary is a potential issue for the Redskins in 2012, as the team could wave good-bye to both of 2011's starting safeties, LaRon Landry and O.J. Atogwe. Landry is headed for free agency and likely surgery on his Achilles, and Atogwe's contract would allow the Redskins to get out of it if they found a better option. The team views DeJon Gomes as a future starter at safety, but it's unclear whether he'd be ready for such a role in 2012.

ASHBURN, Va. -- One of the most common criticisms of Washington Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan is that he's a slave to his own offensive "system," and more interested in finding players who fit that system than in finding the best possible players and constructing a system around them. Shanahan has heard this criticism, and when I brought it up in my interview with him last week, this is what he had to say about it:

"It's kind of funny, because when I had Steve Young and we had to run a West Coast offense [in San Francisco], and Steve was so much different than Joe Montana, you know, it was different. And then [John] Elway -- Elway didn't want to run the five-step drop. We were in a shotgun formation all the time. He hated the West Coast offense of three- and five-step drops, so with John it was a seven-step drop and a lot of shotgun. And then we wind up getting a guy like Jake Plummer, and of course Jake... totally different. He had to be outside the pocket, all those quarterback keeps, boots, none of the drop-back, none of the seven-step drop. He was good on the run, good on the play action, but the drop-back wasn't his game.

"So what you've always got to do is, whatever quarterback you have, you adjust your system to your players. The one thing I think I have been categorized with is the zone blocking scheme. People say, 'Oh, he loves the zone blocking scheme.' So I think I've been stereotyped there, relative to the running game. But in the passing game, if people look at what we've done in different places, they're gong to say, 'Oh, he adjusts the passing game to the quarterback.' Like with Rex [Grossman]. You can't run quarterback keeps with Rex, but you can do it with John [Beck]. So whatever somebody can do, you try to adjust accordingly."

Omar from Washington, D.C., sent in several questions for Shanahan last week, and one of the ones I used was about his relationship with his son, Kyle, who is his offensive coordinator. Omar wanted to know what Mike Shanahan thought of the criticism Kyle receives and how he feels his son has progressed in the role.

Mike Shanahan: "The important thing is that your coordinator knows what he's doing. Until you see a coordinator in meetings, or how he runs the meeting ... you're not really sure until you see him under the gun -- running game, passing game, installation of the run, installation of the pass, how he shows film, how he relates to the team. So that's where it's been very ... I shouldn't say a surprise, but it's natural for him, and it's easy to see that he understands the game. He can handle himself in any meeting, and until you see that as a coach, you just don't know, especially when it's your son. But he was very natural at that right away, so I became very comfortable with him, because I knew he knew what he was doing."

---

I told Shanahan that I often get questions from fans about whether Kyle will be fired, and that I generally respond to them by pointing out that Kyle's father is his boss and that a firing is therefore unlikely. He seemed to agree with my assessment, but here's what he had to say about the criticisms and the coaching staff in general:

MS: "I think what I've always been able to do is look at things very objectively in terms of where we're at. So when somebody says, 'Hey, your offense sucks,' I go, 'Hey, wait a minute. You look at my body of work over the last 27 years, we're No. 1.' And we’re going to continue to be up there. And I also know what it takes to have a good offense, in terms of coaches and personnel, and we're gong to get there, on both sides of it. And if I have a bad coach, I'm going to make changes, and if I don’t have the right personnel, I'm going to make changes. And we're going to get that thing fixed the right way."

---

Wendell Washington from Landover, Md., wanted me to ask the elder Shanahan about Redskins owner Dan Snyder -- specifically, whether Snyder has bought into Shanahan's belief that the way to build a long-term winner is through the draft rather than free agency and is sticking to his promise to let Shanahan do it his way.

MS: "Oh yeah, he's been very good. He's been very good letting me do it the way you want to do it. Been very supportive. I said to him, 'If you don’t count on me being here five years, you shouldn't sign me. Because this isn't going to happen overnight. We've got a lot of work to do. This is an older football team.' But he's been good."

---

Later on, though, I asked what impact the fact of his 11-21 record in his first two seasons as Redskins coach has on his faith that he's building the team the right way.

MS: "You just know that you've got two more years to get the job done, because they never let you go through the five years. You get it done in four years or you're gone. But that's what I love about this profession -- the pressure of it, what goes with it. The thing that I enjoy is that I've got an owner that's going to give me a chance to be successful. And if I can't get it done in four years, even though I've got a five-year contract, then I shouldn't be here."

We're going to do this every day until I run out of stuff. Thanks again for your help with the interview, and I hope you're enjoying what we've got out of it so far.

T-minus five days until Giants-Cowboys for all of the NFC East marbles. How will we get there? We'll follow the links.

New York Giants

Giants coach Tom Coughlin was in a downright giddy mood as he addressed reporters Monday. He limped to the podium as a result of whatever leg injury he sustained when Giants running back D.J. Ware ran into him on the sideline Saturday, but he joked a lot about the injury -- even cracking that he'd had to cut Ware from the team for injuring him and said he doesn't plan for it to limit him in any way as he prepares for Sunday.

The Giants are hopeful they could get a trio of injured players -- defensive end Osi Umenyiora, wide receiver Mario Manningham and tight end Jake Ballard -- back in time for the division title game. But Monday was too early in the week to know for sure, and nothing more will be known on any of them until Wednesday's practice. Umenyiora did some sort of light work at the field house with a trainer Monday morning, but I can't vouch for the extent of it. Coughlin didn't sound real hopeful when asked about Umenyiora in his news conference.

Dallas Cowboys

Everything becomes an issue in Dallas, and so the fact that Jerry Jones showed up on the sideline during the first quarter Saturday obviously led some to conclude this had something to do with his opinion of Jason Garrett's coaching. Garrett says that's not the case, and the fact is there's no real reason not to believe him. Jones is a big believer in continuity at the head coaching spot. He's shown patience with every coach he's ever had but one, and he never misses a chance to talk about how much he regrets that one. Garrett's job is in no danger whatsoever, and frankly I can't understand why people keep insisting on talking as though it is.

Dez Bryant has a new agent, having switched from Eugene Parker, who shepherded him through the draft process and negotiated his rookie contract, to Drew Rosenhaus. Fans get panicky about what this means, when a player switches to Rosenhaus. But Bryant's not going anywhere for at least two more years anyway, and my guess is the only real impact this has is that Bryant will be extremely wealthy as long as he stays healthy and productive. But I guess you could have assumed that anyway.

Philadelphia Eagles

Bob Grotz strongly disagrees with Andy Reid's announced decision to play all of his starters in Sunday's season finale against the Redskins. In particular, Bob believes LeSean McCoy's injured ankle should keep him on the sideline. Bob feels so strongly about this that he thinks, if Reid won't sit McCoy down, team president Joe Banner should step in and order him to do it. If that were to happen, I believe it would portend bad things in the long term for the relationship between Reid and the team. Maybe even in the short term, honestly.

And Bob Ford thinks the Eagles are kidding themselves if they consider this season anything other than a failure, no matter how strongly they're finishing it. I mean, he's right, but what are they supposed to do? If they were hanging their heads and not trying, they'd be getting ripped for that. It's not ridiculous to think there might be some 2012 value in finishing 2011 with a stretch of games that allows these guys to feel like good football players again.

Washington Redskins

Mike Shanahan said Monday that the Redskins turned out to have less depth on the roster than he thought they had when he took over as coach in 2010. But one position at which he feels very deep is running back. With rookies Roy Helu and Evan Royster having impressed in the second half of this season and starter Tim Hightower due back from injury in time for next season, the Redskins should have a lot of options at running back going forward, which is a very good thing.

John Keim addresses the less-depth-than-Shanahan-thought thing and also the quarterback question in his notes. He thinks that Kyle Shanahan's recent talk about the importance of limiting turnovers sends a clear signal that the Redskins don't think Rex Grossman can be their starting quarterback again next year.

Barry Svrluga of The Washington Post has a story on the Washington Redskins' special teams, which is having a great year in some respects and struggling in others. It's an interesting story, especially if you're, say, Redskins kicker Graham Gano, who is apparently "under more pressure than other players to keep his job in Sunday's game at Seattle," but I found it interesting for more reasons than that.

I've long thought that great, consistent special teams play was about much more than coaching or schemes or the attention it's granted by the team's head coach. All of that matters, but I think teams that get great special teams play are teams that are extremely deep with athletes hungry for opportunity to move up the roster and do more in the future. And I think the Redskins' uneven performance in their return units this year speaks to a lack of depth that has to be addressed as this rebuilding process continues to move forward.

The Redskins' struggles during their current six-game losing streak are a product of their personnel issues on offense specifically, but a look at the roster as a whole reminds you just how far they had to go and why patience remains the key element in assessing the performance of Mike Shanahan and the coaching staff. This is simply not a team with enough good players to compete for a 2011 playoff spot. It's not about whether Kyle Shanahan knows what he's doing or which substandard quarterback should be the starter or whether Mike Shanahan should be molding his scheme to fit his players rather than seeking players to fit his scheme. Those could all become worthwhile debates at a time in the future when the Redskins' roster is loaded with talented players more capable of winning games than are the ones they have now. But right now, the Redskins' issue is a simple one -- they don't have enough good players.

Barry writes of "a special teams mix that has been outstanding in some regards (punting, punt coverage and kickoff coverage) and middling to poor in other phases (punt and kickoff returns and place kicking)." This feels, to me, like the special teams mix of a team in transition. Throw place kicking out of the mix for now. The Cowboys and Dan Bailey have shown that you can fix that with one good undrafted free-agent signing. If the Redskins are performing well in coverage but poorly on returns (or even if it were vice-versa), that's the mark of a team that's got some of those young, hungry athletes at the back end of its roster but not as many as it wants or will eventually need. The Redskins are making a slow turn in the right direction, and I think special teams is an area to continue to watch if you want to know whether progress is continuing to be made.

Perspective is a rare thing to find in the analysis of today's NFL, where fans are week-to-week extremists and former players seem bent on saying the most outrageous things they can think to say about their former teams. So imagine my surprise when I saw this item from Dan Steinberg on the calm wisdom being preached today by injured Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley:

"I've listened to everyone call in, and I've listened to everyone talk about our staff, and this is what I like about it," Cooley said Monday on the LaVar and Dukes show. "Our fan base hates our owner, ok, because he can't ever keep a coach, he'll never keep players, he'll never keep guys around, he changes it, it's like a fantasy football team to him. But then everyone calls in and says we gotta get rid of Kyle Shanahan, we gotta get rid of Mike Shanahan, we gotta get rid of these players, we gotta trade Chris Cooley.

"So you criticize Dan Snyder for trading coaches and players every year and trying to do things every year, and then you call and say this is what we’ve got to do? I hate it. What we've got to do is keep consistency over a period of time, and continue to try to build, trust me, under Mike Shanahan, who knows football and knows players."

Imagine the idea of patience for a change in Washington. In the past few weeks, Cooley has made headlines for saying he enjoyed watching Tony Romo choke away a game and for blaming his season-ending knee injury on the NFL lockout, and it's made me wonder why anybody ever listens to the guy on any topic. But then he goes and says something like this, that makes so much sense amid the noise and panic, and I'm compelled to share it with all of you Redskins fans out there on the ledge.

Look: No one's getting fired. Mike Shanahan is in Year Two of a five-year contract that includes stipulations that Snyder stay out of his way and let him make the football decisions. Kyle Shanahan, the offensive coordinator, is Mike's son. Jim Haslett, the defensive coordinator, was handpicked by Shanahan to come with him and change over the defense from a 4-3 to a 3-4 -- a process that takes a great deal of time. They were all hired, two years ago, to establish a level of continuity and sustainable, year-to-year success for a once-proud franchise that had lost focus and direction. Just because they've lost three games in a row and didn't have enough depth on offense to weather all of the injuries they've had over the past few weeks doesn't mean ownership will or even should consider coaching changes.

The whole point of hiring Shanahan in Washington was to be patient with him and what he was doing. At no point was winning this year's Super Bowl a realistic goal, and to judge these coaches and players on what happened this October would be foolish and rash and counter-productive. This is a long-term rebuilding project, folks, and I expect the Redskins to continue treating it as such. To do otherwise would be a big mistake.

Tuesday links are in the over and will be ready in 3... 2...

New York Giants

The Giants Tough Guy of the Week Award goes to cornerback Justin Tryon, who apparently broke his arm in the first half of Sunday's game, broke it even more tackling Reggie Bush to prevent a fourth-quarter punt return and is out for the year now after surgery to repair the break Monday. Tryon tweeted the X-rays of his arm pre-surgery. Not for the squeamish.

While the Giants have slugged their way to a 5-2 start, there are underlying issues, not the least of which so far are their inability to run the ball on offense or stop the run on defense, as Mike Mazzeo writes.

Philadelphia Eagles

We heard a lot after Sunday night's game about how much better the Eagles were playing on defense now that they've spent some time in Juan Castillo's scheme. But Sheil Kapadia writes that it goes deeper than that -- that the increased comfort level of the players is allowing Castillo to add more wrinkles to the defense that should benefit it going forward by allowing it to do more to confuse offenses.

As for the offense, the biggest thing the Eagles have going for them right now is the emergence of LeSean McCoy as one of the best running backs in the league, and the wisdom the coaching staff has shown in deciding to take advantage of McCoy's blossoming and unique abilities.

Dallas Cowboys

Monday might have been a worse day for the Cowboys' defense than Sunday was, as the news on a couple of key players came back negative. Inside linebacker Sean Lee has a dislocated left wrist and doesn't know whether or not he'll be able to play Sunday against the Seahawks. Cornerback Mike Jenkins is saying his hamstring injury could cost him 3-to-4 weeks. And to top it all off, punter Mat McBriar has a serious injury to his non-kicking foot that forced him out of Sunday's game and could cost him more time. All serious problems, but Lee's may be the biggest. He and DeMarcus Ware have been the Cowboys' best defensive players this season, and they looked lost without him Sunday night in Philadelphia.

Jean-Jacques Taylor suggests that defensive coordinator Rob Ryan should tone down his act until such time as the Cowboys are once again "an upper-echelon team." I guess that's a worthwhile point of view, but I feel like I've read it before about Rob's brother, Rex, and I just don't think there's much point in hoping for it. These guys are going to do it their way, and if the teams for which they're working don't like it, the Ryan brothers' attitude that is, they're welcome to find somebody else. They both believe themselves to be great at what they do and they're confident enough that they're not going to change the outward manifestations of their personalities just because they stand out from the staid, establishment NFL crowd.

Washington Redskins

Lots of people tweeted at me Monday asking about the job status of Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. Here it is in a nutshell: His father is the head coach. And while Mike Wise makes some interesting points (with the help of Bobby Bowden) on the pitfalls of hiring your son to be your offensive coordinator, facts are facts. It's a stone-cold waste of time for anybody right now to wish or wonder about Kyle Shanahan losing his job. Besides, this isn't a coordinator problem, folks. This guy's out of players, and probably didn't have enough good ones to begin with.

The Redskins have apparently decided to replace injured running back Tim Hightower with former Cowboys running back Tashard Choice. Dallas cut Choice over the weekend due to shoulder and leg injuries and their insistence on continuing to carry two kickers once it came time to activate rookie linebacker Bruce Carter. If he can get healthy, Choice should soon find himself part of a weird, unpredictable running back committee with Ryan Torain and Roy Helu in Washington.