Robert Griffin III and Mike Shanahan: Who Needs Who More?

There seems to be a power battle going on with the Washington Redskins. On one side is a dynamic young quarterback who has been given the keys to the kingdom, on the other is a coach who might be wishing he could take the keys back.

But while Robert Griffin III and Mike Shanahan continue to log hours on the bully pulpit and underline their importance, they cannot escape the fact that they need each other equally.

It has been a stormy week for both men, one filled with thinly-veiled critiques, attempted displays of authority and retractions to put a brave face on things.

Things started with what appeared to be an indirect attack from Griffin on his coach's offense. After a dire performance in Week 11 against the Philadelphia Eagles, Griffin had this to say, via The Washington Post's Mike Jones:

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They did a good job of scheming us up. They kind of knew what was coming before it was coming and that was disheartening. But like I told the guys, regardless of what’s going on out there, we’re the players and we have to make the plays work, and we just weren’t doing that in the first half.

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That was widely interpreted as an indictment of the Shanahan offense from the player who runs it. It prompted a rebuke from the head coach almost as thinly veiled as Griffin's initial statement, via The Post's Dan Steinberg, citing an interview Shanahan gave to CSN Washington:

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Well no. 1, we had a timeout, and the play that we called, everybody did not run the routes that we said. So it was kind of a very easy play to run, a play that we’ve been running since camp. And for some reason with the communication, it came out the wrong way. So that’s the first thing you look at. But sometimes you’ve got to throw the football away. Sometimes a quarterbacks’s gonna scramble and make a play. You’re gonna keep on growing as time goes on. Robert, I thought, did some great things in the game. He’s gonna have experiences where he’s gonna wish he had a throw back or threw the ball away, but that’s just part of the growing process of being a quarterback.

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It is obvious who Shanahan feels the fault for the miscommunication belongs to. What followed Shanahan's comment has been a point, counterpoint on what constitutes correct leadership, and the psyche in the locker room.

First, Santana Moss appeared to chide Griffin for not taking enough responsibility, something that has needed to be said for some time.

But Moss soon walked back his comments in what has become a not entirely convincing team effort to assure the public all is well.

Players like Moss and fellow wide receiver Pierre Garcon have tried to flip the narrative and blame the media for making something out of nothing, as CSN Washington's JP Finlay reports:

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"Everything is positive, only negative thing is the people around us trying to make things negative," Moss said Thursday at Redskins Park.

"You can't let people on the outside try to bring your shine down," he said. "They don’t know what you got going on, they just hear things and try to speculate and try to make things bigger than they are."

Fellow receiver Pierre Garçon echoed Moss' comments.

"We already know what the media is trying to do," Garçon said, "it's 100 percent untrue. Guys blow up things and make it more because of the area we live in."

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Moss' eventful week with the press hints at the effect strife at the top is having on the team. Public flip-flop from players is symptomatic of the chaos that comes when things are not settled at the highest level.

But while coaches and players use the word "leadership" as though they expect it to go out of fashion and try to scapegoat the media, the issue of possible friction between Griffin and Shanahan isn't going away.

The media certainly isn't to blame for the drama currently gripping Washington's NFL franchise. The cause is found in the public relationship between the coach and his quarterback, as ESPN's John Keim describes:

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But this still comes across as a relationship in which both sides jockey for positioning. Shanahan is the coach and team president, so he has power; Griffin is the face and future of the franchise, so that gives him some as well. It’s not the first time a coach and quarterback have wrestled for power and it’s not the first time -- far, far from it -- the two sides aren’t bosom buddies; but it’s not always played out with this much parsing of words and phrases. Griffin also is dealing with true adversity -- with people questioning his performance and future -- for the first time in his football career. The honeymoon period in Washington, with the fans as well, is over. It can lead to missteps, though behind closed doors, players still talk about how he works and his approach. That matters a ton, and in the end, players want to see how you respond to adversity. 

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The uneasy sparring between Shanahan and Griffin, a back and forth that has gone on since the player's knee injury in January, provides a story, whether the players like it or not.

It speaks to simmering tension beneath the surface. Consistent losing creates such tension and soon brings it to light.

The strain from Shanahan's perspective should be clear. He took the biggest gamble of his career when he gave away so much to draft Griffin.

He had sacrificed the means to build a more complete roster for the short-term fix provided by a playmaker under center. That is exactly how the draft trade for Griffin has played out so far.

Last season was the quick fix, when Griffin's read-option skills took the NFL by storm and inspired Washington to the playoffs.

But the dangers of the trade are all too evident this season. Evident when Shanahan's team is 3-7, thanks largely to a weak secondary and porous offensive line.

The Redskins are weak at too many positions because those weaknesses could not be sufficiently addressed in the draft. That has been compounded by Griffin's struggles since undergoing major knee surgery.

The player who accounted for the first-round pick Shanahan would surely have loved to use on the secondary has been as guilty as any of letting the team down.

But rather than hiding behind the salary-cap penalty that took away two years of credible free-agency spending, Shanahan need only blame himself.

If Griffin cannot successfully adapt to his offense, or his ego is spinning out of control, they are problems of Shanahan's own making. He drafted the player and he knew the risks, especially given the penalty.

If that gamble is now backfiring, Shanahan should only look at himself.

But that doesn't necessarily mean Griffin doesn't need Shanahan as much as his coach needs him. Injury, recovery and play-calling aside, Griffin has been a major disappointment this season.

There are key flaws in both his technique and decision-making. Too many passes are batted down at the line due to poor trajectory.

Too many open receivers are missed as throws are lofted beyond their reach. Griffin often appears rigidly faithful to his primary read and holds onto the ball too long if that is taken away.

That is a lot of problems for a player who was good enough to be named Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2012. So what is the major difference between now and then?

Well, like it or not, it may come down to how well the coaches handled Griffin in year one. There is no question that Mike and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan modified their system for Griffin as a rookie.

In fact, they stopped just short of overhauling it completely. Moving pockets, zone runs and vertical strikes off play action have always been staples of the Shanahan scheme.

But heavy doses of read-option, triple-option and quick hits targeting one-receiver patterns, were all for Griffin. The level that the notoriously controlling Shanahan modified his playbook for Griffin revealed just how much the coach needs him to succeed.

But it also hinted at how much Griffin's success in the pros is dependant on a coach willing to make such allowances.

That was obvious at the start of this season when read-option plays were reduced to protect Griffin's repaired knee. Then he was challenged to beat defenses from the pocket, a challenge he has rarely been able to meet.

As he has toiled, the coaches have again made allowances and revived more option concepts in the offense. That concession has come from Shanahan and is for Griffin's benefit.

It reveals a basic truth about their relationship, one each side may be too intractable to acknowledge. Shanahan and Griffin need each other equally, it is that simple.

The coach needs to make his quarterback a success in order to salvage his own reputation and keep his job. The quarterback needs to accept that he has a coach who will cater almost exclusively to his playing style, but one who can still refine the rough aspects of his game.

These factors are often lost in the talk of how close Griffin is with owner Dan Snyder and what that means for Shanahan as the coach enters the final year of his contract.

The two central figures for the Redskins need each other this season and beyond.