On Monday, Oct. 28, 2013, Redskins HC Mike Shanahan addressed the media following afternoon practice at Redskins Park in Ashburn, VA.
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On if there is any update regarding quarterback Robert Griffin III's knee injury vs. Denver:
"No. Talking to [Dr.] Chris [Annunziata] this morning, I feel right just like I said after the game. Knee is fine. A little bit sore right now. That's about it."
On what is keeping the team from throwing the ball effectively:
"I think it's a little bit of everything. You take a look at, sometimes it may be a quarterback's read, other times it may be protection, next time it might be a dropped ball. The offense just may be a little bit different than it was a year ago. Combination of all of those things."
On if he thinks Griffin III missing the offseason is affecting the offense:
"Everything is a growing experience. The more reps you get the better off you do get and we all understand that. But you asked me specifically if there is one area and I can't say just one. This is a combination of a lot of different things. Sometimes you might see a guy wide open and it may be a misread or it may be a dropped ball or it may be a missed assignment or it may be somebody getting beat. So it's a combination of all those things that keeps the passing game going."
On Griffin III's anticipation:
"That's what I just finished saying. It's a combination of all those things. Sometimes it may be a misread, may be missed timing, may be a missed block, but it takes all those things to make things go. When that's not going, that could be one player for one play and another player for another play. I think coming off of that third quarter and the start of the fourth quarter, I think everybody saw the opportunity off the playaction for maybe a opportunity for [wide receiver] Josh [Morgan] to catch that ball or [wide receiver] Aldrick [Robinson] to keep drives going. Those are plays that you're going to try to make and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't."
On if he expects Griffin III to miss any practice time this week:
"No. According to the doctors, it's a little bit sore right now. He's going to have a little more rehab this week which is typical of a quarterback or any other player having something hurt. But they feel he's fine and he'll be ready to go on Wednesday."
On if there is anything they can change to help the passing game when it is struggling:
"That's what you try to do going into the game, but, same thing I've been saying – it's all those things. Which one is it? But the key to a great offense is to make sure you eliminate mistakes and everybody's got to be in tune to be a top offense in the National Football League and if you're missing one of the other areas, it costs you, sometimes dearly."
On safety Brandon Meriweather's comments that he feels the emphasis on avoiding hits to the head will lead to knee injuries:
"Well, I think it's a concern in the National Football League that you can't go helmet to helmet. Brandon knows that he's got to go lower or he's not going to be playing in the National Football League. You've got to hit in that waist area. You can't go too low because you're going to get fined there too. You know it's above the knee and lower than the chin, somewhere in that chest area, and you're going to have to step up because you can't penalize your team and you can't penalize yourself."
On if he is worried how the league will react to Meriweather's comments:
"Well, I'm not sure if I would have used those choice of words. I think I would have used different words, obviously. What happens with DBs a lot of times, when a running back is coming at you, do you hit them low or do you hit them high? Well most of those DBs, especially corners, they go low, and they have to go low because they can't take people head-on. Safeties are a little bit different. They will take people head-on. Now those safeties have to go lower and it's just part of the game. Nobody's going to try to hurt anybody, but if you're going to err on the side of caution, you would rather go low than you would high."
On if the game against Denver was more frustrating or encouraging:
"I think what you do is after a game like that you take a look at your defense – how did they play – offense –
how did they play – special teams – how did they play – and there's always some encouragement and there's always things that you need to work on. As has been mentioned here, pretty inconsistent on offense, especially in that fourth quarter. You have seven drives and you've got five turnovers, you don't get much worse than that, so there's a lot of areas that you need to improve on."
On injuries to players other than Griffin III:
"We've got a few guys beat up but I don't want to talk about any injuries until Wednesday because they'll go through treatment and a little rehab and see on Wednesday if anybody's out."
On if they will change their preparation this week because of the Thursday night game at Minnesota the following week:
"No we don't, except from a coaching standpoint; you're going to work a little bit harder on Friday and Saturday in preparation for that game. A lot of times you don't work on another team in advance but on a Thursday game, a number of times you do. Usually it's the day before when your game plan is already done for your upcoming opponent."
On if he's happy with the way special teams played yesterday:
"Yeah, you saw some great effort. I thought we made some strides the week before even though we had the one big punt return by [Chicago Bears returner Devin] Hester. But going into this game, I thought Denver was one of the top teams in the National Football League both in punt and kickoff returns. I liked our guys, I liked our energy, I liked our effort and we'll keep on building on that."
On what punter Sav Rocca said about his shanked punt:
"He didn't have to tell me anything. I didn't ask him anything. I haven't seen him do that since he's been here and that's quite unusual. I'm sure he was trying to directional kick a little bit out of bounds and it just came off the side of his foot. Those things do happen."
On if linebacker Brian Orakpo's lack of production yesterday was a concern:
"Well, they chipped him a few times and we understand [Denver Broncos quarterback] Peyton [Manning] gets rid of the football very quickly. I think I'll take four turnovers on defense and not worry about how many sacks 'Rak got – more so on how disruptive he was in the game. To get four turnovers on that football team is a little bit unusual and I'm proud of the ability for our defense to come up with those plays."
On what dictated the imbalance of pass-to-run plays on first-downs in the fourth quarter:
"I think that's always a question. I think that one run we had, we run the ball and went to second-and-14 after running the play, a loss of four. At the end of the day, you've got to make plays. We had seven – we had really nine drives in the second half, and seven of those were three plays and out. That's what it averaged. If you can't get any type of sequence relative to passing or throwing, things aren't going to be good. We've got to be more effective than we were and obviously we weren't that effective… You never know. It switches each game. A lot of it has to do with our tendencies. Sometimes we'll try to offset those tendencies depending on what we did the week before. Other times it'll just be a feel of what teams do on defense on first down, what their game plans are, what coverages they're playing, how they're supporting the run, what coverages – the mismatches you feel that you have."
On if he feels the team is close to playing a full 60-minute game:
"That's what we're working for, to get that game. We've done it in spots. We haven't done a complete game, which is frustrating. That's what we're working for, but we've got guys that will work. We've got guys that are showing up, giving us everything they've got and when you look at film and you do see that. So we've got to eliminate some of those mistakes and hopefully we put that together this weekend."
On if it is a "fair assessment" to say that the offense can't be "an elite group" if Griffin III doesn't run the ball effectively:
"You made that assessment. All I'm saying is that we're going to try to do everything to be the best we can be. So if we are deficient throwing the football, we've got to get better. I just explained to you – sometimes it may be a read, it may be an overthrow, it may be a protection issue, it may be a dropped ball – but everything that works together gives you a chance and that's what we're working for on offense. Same thing we did a year ago, but that consistency is the key to winning football games and we're not there yet."
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