again.” To which Kyle, exasperated, replied, “Dad!?!?”
From those sessions came a simplified scheme de-
signed to capitalize on Griffin’s strengths. The Redskins
mixed outside-zone runs with a heavy emphasis on zone
reads and far more play-action than normal, putting
their quarterback away from center but not deep in the
shotgun—rather, in the pistol formation.
After starting 3–6, the Redskins rattled off seven
straight wins. The ground game dominated—just like
in Denver, it was built around a sixth-round running
back. Alfred Morris ran for 1,613 yards, a tally he would
never again approach. Washington gained 2,709 yards
on the ground to lead the NFL.
The Redskins finished 28th in total defense and
trotted out one of the worst special teams units in
the league, but they still made the playoffs. Against
the Sea hawks in the wild-card round, they started a
hobbled Griffin, who had injured his right knee four
weeks earlier. In the fourth quarter he blew it out.
Even after recovering from the knee injury, Griffin
would never again approach the success of that season,
and neither would Shanahan and his Fun Bunch, at
least not in Washington. After a 3–13 season marked by
an inability to expand the passing offense with Griffin
under center, a too-late switch to Cousins and an eight-
game losing streak to finish the year, they were let go.
AMONG THE offensive coaches, only McVay stayed
on to work under Shanahan’s replacement, Jay
Gruden. The rest of the staff spread out, with branches
of the tree sprouting in Cleveland, Atlanta, Los Angeles,
San Francisco, Green Bay, Denver and Cincinnati.
Kyle took McDaniel with him to Cleveland in 2014
and hired Mike LaFleur as an offensive assistant. After
a 7–9 season—the only season during the 10-year span
from 2008 to ’17 that Cleveland avoided double-digit
losses—they left, Shanahan bristling at the front office’s
insistence on playing Johnny Manziel.
From Cleveland the crew moved on to Atlanta, where
they inherited an established quarterback in Matt Ryan
and tasked him with throwing on the move, reinvent-
ing once again. In their second season Ryan won MVP
honors as the Falcons made the Super Bowl. “You could
sense the brainpower in that room,” Ryan says. “That
pushed us in ways we hadn’t been pushed before.”
McVay left the Redskins for L.A. in ’17, becoming the
youngest head coach in NFL history. He hired Matt
LaFleur away from the Falcons, and together they de-
signed their own version of the offense. They deployed
play-action heavily, fueling Goff’s breakout year. One
of McVay’s assistants, Zac Taylor, was hired as the
Bengals’ new head coach last winter.
Kyle Shanahan, Mike LaFleur and McDaniel went
to San Francisco in ’17 and, out of necessity, designed
an offense around two tight ends. This season they
collected speedy running backs, intending to deploy
big-play threats from the backfield. Matt LaFleur, after
spending ’18 as the offensive coordinator in Tennessee,
is now the head coach in Green Bay. When Ryan ran into
Aaron Rodgers at a golf tournament, the Packers’ QB
asked about the system. “You’ll love it,” Ryan told him.
As for Mike Shanahan, his legacy is complicated,
due in large part to his final stop. “I don’t believe that
[stretch] defined his legacy,” Mike LaFleur says. “He’s
one of the top innovators in pro football, ever.” The six
QBs who played at least two seasons under the God-
father all made at least one Pro Bowl. No other coach
can make that claim. “Matt Ryan, if he never met us,
might [still] be a Hall of Famer,” McDaniel says. “But
he was proof of what was abstract theory: The system
makes a tangible difference.”
Back at the QB Collective camp, the coaches patrol
the field, correcting footwork, fine-tuning releases.
McVay tells the prospects stories of Navy SEAL training
techniques. Matt LaFleur wheels around on a scooter,
a cast on his right leg after he tore his Achilles playing
basketball last spring. Drones buzz overhead.
If the coaches closed their eyes, they might be trans-
ported back to Redskins Park, when they innovated
because they were forced to, because they didn’t know
better. And they eventually succeeded, perhaps because
they had a chance to fail. ±
MAT T
RYAN
Ryan was
MVP in
2016, his
second
(and final)
season
playing
under Kyle
Shanahan.
JIMMY
GAROPPOLO
Acquired in
midseason
2017
by Kyle
Shanahan’s
49ers,
Garoppolo
won his first
five starts.
AL TIELEM
AN
S (RYAN); JO
RDAN N
AH
OLOW
A’A M
URPH (GARO
PPO
LO)
