I used to live in D.C. so it will always have a soft spot in my heart. However, there was always one thing that made me laugh: the utter overreaction to bad weather. When I lived there, Washington D.C., Virginia and Maryland once declared states of emergency 2 days before a hurricane arrived. When snow hits, the entire city shuts down for days. Even Sasha Obama thinks it is a little pathetic.

So, I guess if a few snowflakes can send the city into a near hysteria it shouldn’t be a surprise that the arrival of supreme egomaniac/legendary coach Mike Shanahan would unleash some sort of frenzy.

However I was not expecting them to pick up a Pro Bowler from their division rival, potentially overturning the entire NFC East in the process.

As I have already discussed, I think any team would be lucky to get McNabb. To give up the 37^th pick this year and a 3^rd or 4^th next year for the opportunity to have a proven winner come to town and lead a talented team that has been lacking direction and leadership? Not to mention the giant chip on Donovan’s shoulder coming from being dumped by his team to a division rival.

For the record, last year’s 37^th pick was Alphonso Smith to the Broncos. Please raise your hand if you would rather have Smith or McNabb?

Mrs. Smith, please put your hand down and stop lying.

If you want a sneak peek into what McNabb has in store for him in Washington, just look back at Jake Plummer. An erratic veteran quarterback is brought in by Shanahan to jumpstart a rebuilding effort. While he makes the team more successful, his unforced errors and outspoken personality slowly grates on control freak Shanahan until Mike is forced to go out and draft a high profile successor all but ensuring the veteran spends the following season with one eye on the pass rush and one on his back-up.

The price that the Redskins paid and whether Andy Reid and Howie Roseman made the right move by going all-in on a 4^th year pro will be debated endlessly until the season starts but that overlooks the two most interesting questions to come out of this entire transaction:

Question #1: What does Mike Shanahan not see in Jason Campbell?

Campbell has not exactly set the league on fire since being drafted by the Skins in the 1^st round of the 2005 draft but his passer rating has improved every season (76 to 86 in four years) amidst the national disaster that has been the Redskins. In four years he has had two separate head coaches and 3 or 4 offensive coordinators. Is it a coincidence that in his fourth year in the league and second under Jim Zorn he had his best season? Wouldn’t another year of maturity, some tutoring by a guy who fancies himself a Quarterback guru and a little more stability in offensive play calling only be good things for Campbell?

I don’t know what Shanahan didn’t see in Campbell but you have to imagine that some other team is going to be more than happy to pick up Campbell on the cheap and let him mature into a decent quarterback. Was McNabb an upgrade over Campbell? In the short term, if he can stay healthy, yes. However, out of all the areas of work needed by the Redskins was the guy who completed 64% of his passes for 3,400 yards really the most pressing need?

Question #2: Was this one last middle finger by Shanahan to his old boss in Dove Valley

Shanahan left his long tenure as Bronco head coach in less than perfect circumstances, being fired days after the completion of yet another mediocre, underperforming season. I like to think he was fired for not being willing to cede some authority over personnel decisions, an area where he distinguished himself through his ineptitude but, regardless, it is not hard to imagine some wounded feelings buried inside that leathery little body.

With the move to get Donovan McNabb for the Redskins, Shanahan has placed an ‘EVERYTHING MUST GO’ sign on Jason Campbell’s locker only a few weeks after his former compatriots in Denver went out and traded for Brady Quinn, another young quarterback with a poor record and lots of ‘potential’. Am I the only one that would think before signing Quinn, Josh McDaniels may have reached out to the Skins to check on Campbell’s availability? Is it too much of a leap to think Shanahan told the Broncos he wasn’t available (when he obviously would have been) merely out of spite? Could a grudge by Shanahan have been enough to keep him from trading Campbell to the Broncos even though, he knew Jason was already a Dead Man Walking in D.C.?

It is an unconfirmed fact that McDaniels talked to the Skins last year about swapping Cry Baby Jay for Campbell. Given that history, before sending (Shanahan favorite) Peyton Hillis and draft picks to Cleveland for Quinn this year, don’t you think a call would have been made to Redskins HQ to at least check on Campbell’s availability once again?

If you ask me, Shanahan decided that a decade of drafting busts and attitude problems didn’t do enough damage to the Broncos.

He couldn’t pass up one last opportunity to give them a short, tanned, leathery middle finger.

Tagged as: broncos, denver, donovan, eagles, jason campbell, josh mcdaniels, mcnabb, mike shanahan, philadelhia, redskins, washington