The Redskins Blog

Shanahan Focused On Family During Bye

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Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan is a “football head”–a man who dreams of grass stains and gatorade, and draws blocking schemes in his mashed potatoes.  And for at least half the year, football is his obsession.

But when it comes time for the bye week each year, Shanahan turns his attention to his family at home.

“You have to make time, especially when you have kids and family,” he said.  ”You better make time. Those are an important part of your life. I think as you get a little bit older, like I am now, and the kids are grown, it’s not as important, but now there are grandkids. It’s budgeting time and making sure you get a little bit of time for everything and have some priorities – you better make that a priority.”

He mentioned that the team was about 72 days into the season, with the way the lockout compressed time, with about 84 days left to go.  Time is a fairly precious commodity in the NFL, and finding personal time is even harder.

“You don’t get much, but you get a lot in the offseason and you try to make time,” he said. When you do have time, you want to make sure that it’s quality time – Thursday evenings sometimes, and Friday evenings.”

Shanahan actually has the benefit of working with a fellow Shanahan, and loves having his son Kyle with him on the staff.

“It’s a big bonus to have a couple of grandkids here and my daughter is in New York,” he said with a smile.  ”She’s only a couple of hours away so that’s worked out very well.”

Good planning, coach.

Check out the rest of his final press conference before the bye, below: