(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

After this 2011-2012 Season, the main coach on the hotseat is not Mike or even Kyle Shanahan… not Jim Haslett… but special teams coach Danny Smith. There’s been a lot of good that has come from him being here, but lately a lot of bad… and worse. Let’s take this time to review how things went with him in charge of the special teams unit this season:

The Good
Punting. Sav Rocca has been pretty automatic all season long. At more than one point in the season, he led or was in second place for the most punts downed inside the 20 yard line. Which says a lot about his placement skills, but also a lot about the people working around him.

Place Kicking. There’s been a number of mishaps about Graham Gano, some self inflicted. But just analyzing the fair opportunities he had (fair = good blocking/holding), he’s done a decent job, beating out kicker after kicker to hold on to his job.

Kick Coverage. If you haven’t paid attention to Lorenzo Alexander or Anthony Armstrong flying in your screen on kick returns to make big time tackles, you must be blind. There has been very little of return guys breaking free against this unit on kick returns. (more…)

Just thinking back at some of the things I’ve seen over the season, I thought I’d take a minute to give my own personal evaluation on the four guys that run the show in Washington (hey, Mike says he’s been evaluating guys for the past two years straight… why can’t I evaluate them??):

Head Coach: Mike Shanahan

Last season, he came in and was forced to play cards he was dealt. He had to figure out how to work with the people he had inherited, even though he felt some (if not most) of them did not fit his scheme. He did not come in to Washington telling Redskins Nation that it was going to be a 4-5 year rebuild process (even though that’s what he told Dan Snyder: “If you don’t have the patience for five years, then don’t hire me.”). He came in, trading for Donovan McNabb (which also prompted Jason Campbell to ask to leave after he heard about the news from a reporter — not the team… many people report that he was put out, but wouldn’t you ask to leave too???). He told us, “We’re going to win NOW.” It hasn’t happened. I still would have felt more comfortable if he had told us the same thing he told Danny. All that being said, he has changed the culture of this team. He has an unorthodox way of working (somewhat dishonest at times in my opinion) but it got the locker room more disciplined, and got people to think and work together. Can’t be mad at that. He’s probably on the hot seat with half the fans, but he’ll be around. (more…)

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