So apparently coaches are never wrong, starring Andy Reid and Mike Shanahan

“Right here is where all the magic happens”

Before I start in on my main point, I just wanted to explain something about myself.

Just because a decision doesn’t work out, I don’t think that automatically means it was the wrong choice. If on my way to work someone rear ends me, that doesn’t mean I should have called in and played PS3 all day (although that does sound awesome). Making the best decision with the information that is available is all you can do.

That being said, hey Andy Reid…please stop defending the Juan Castillo thing. It wasn’t wrong because it didn’t work, it was wrong because it was nonsensical at best, and insanely arrogant/idiotic at worst. In case you need your memory refreshed, here goes. Before the 2011 season Reid promoted Castillo, who had previously been an offensive line coach and had in fact never coached the defensive side of the ball in the pros, to be the Eagles defensive coordinator. It uh…didn’t work.

But I’m not writing this to re-hash all of the specific details of that story (LOL Wide 9) but instead to point out the fact that coaches very rarely ever admit they are wrong about anything specific. In a postgame press conference the losing coach will frequently say, “We need to coach better” but if a reporter questions a particular call or decision anyone listening will be suffocated under an avalanche of coach speak bullshit. Ask a coach about an egregious time management error that makes anyone with a fifth grade education want to ram their face into a wall, and you’ll get something like: “well we thought if we ran a play before the two minute warning it would open up something, but it wasn’t there”. Yeah, stop it.

Sometimes it’s just okay to admit that a mistake was made, so the people in charge have faith that the same mistake won’t keep getting made. Instead coaches act like everything they do is so mysterious to everyone outside of their community that we couldn’t possibly understand their decisions.

Take Sunday afternoon, and the RG3 injury situation.

Shanahan made a bunch of vague remarks about preparation, and how Griffin was more familiar with the gameplan, but here’s something to think about: the Redskins did not cross midfield after the first quarter. Now, does anyone watching the game actually feel like all of a sudden the Seahawks made such brilliant adjustments that Griffin, or any quarterback walking the earth, could no longer advance the ball? Or is there a different explanation? Maybe RG3’s injury just made him a liability on the field.

I’m going to go with the latter. The player safety portion of this story in paticular I’m not that concerned with, RG3 knew he was hurt and if he wanted to go back out there he can accept the consequences. I just think from a football standpoint it cost the Redskins their season, and possibly the next one.

The fact that coaches screw up is not a revolutionary concept, every once and a while I’d just like to hear them own up to it. With specifics. They might get killed for it in the short term, but in the long term they would gain credibility.