Shanahan Sees Life From Both Sides

Mike Shanahan’s Raiders defeated Mike Shanahan’s Denver Broncos, 16-13, in overtime Sunday.

He isn’t head coach of either side anymore. He coordinates Denver’s offense, that’s all. Yet, every man on the Coliseum field had played football for Mike Shanahan, in one capacity or the other. To no one on either sideline--with the possible exception of Wayne Gretzky, who stood beside the Raiders--was Shanahan a stranger.

Nevertheless, he clearly seemed an outsider, certainly must have felt like an outsider, definitely was treated like an outsider.

He ducked into an office that once was his.

“Congratulations,” he said to the current occupant, Art Shell, shaking his hand, then ducking out again.

Didn’t stay too long. Didn’t want to seem unseemly. This was somebody else’s place of business now, somebody else’s place to digest victories and dissect losses. Shanahan didn’t want to poke his nose where it no longer belonged. He just didn’t want to be impolite. Didn’t want to be graceless in defeat.

Back he went into Denver’s dressing room, to change into a coat and tie. He had just acted the part of a perfect gentleman; now he looked like one.

When he emerged, familiar faces were waiting. There was Jay Schroeder, the starting quarterback for all four of the Raider games Shanahan coached in 1989 before being fired. There was Alex Gibbs, his old offensive line coach, the one he imported from Denver to instruct the Raiders in the art of protecting the quarterback. There was Pete Rodriguez, his old special-teams coach.

Nobody else dropped by. That was it.

Shanahan understood. He knew that the Raiders were so busy celebrating success, so busy discussing it, that they were too distracted to think about dropping by. A few had said hello beforehand. More than a few had not. Maybe some felt awkward, or maybe some by now could hardly remember his name. Since Shanahan watched the game from the press box, there was no chance of contact while the game was in progress.

It had to be a weird experience, an emotional experience, watching one’s own team play one’s old team.

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t,” Shanahan said. “But, life goes on.”

The Raiders were 1-3 under Shanahan. They are 6-3 for Shell. There is a message there somewhere. Either they got off to a false start, or they didn’t care to play for Shanahan, or they have responded specifically to Shell, or they didn’t have certain people available when Shanahan was coaching, or Shanahan spent too much time using the wrong people.

Something.

The Raiders have a 3-1 record, for example, with Steve Beuerlein as starting quarterback. Shanahan preferred Schroeder.

Shanahan also phased out the use of the tight end in the Raider passing scheme. He phased out Todd Christensen, a semi-legend, in the process.

So, who beat Shanahan’s Broncos on Sunday? Tight end Mike Dyal did with a 67-yard touchdown catch that led to overtime. He did it with leaping catches of passes spanning 26 and 15 yards that set up Jeff Jaeger’s game-winning field goal. These plays weren’t total coincidences; this wasn’t Dyal-a-Prayer. Shell and Beuerlein make use of the tight end’s hands; he’s not just a blocker.

Shanahan swore he always liked Dyal’s hands.

“I knew Mike Dyal was a coming player. Everybody knew Mike Dyal was a coming player,” Shanahan said. “What he did didn’t surprise me a bit. Mike Dyal’s going to be in this league a long time. He’s a very unselfish young man who helps the running game as much as he does the passing game, and he’s only going to improve each week he plays.”

One had to wonder, then, if all this be true, why the Raiders never went to this unselfish young man before.

“Oh, I don’t think there was any question that Mike Dyal could make plays like this,” Shanahan said. “The only question was when he would.”

This is what is known as a diplomatic answer, a non-answer answer, a perfect gentleman’s answer.

Shanahan didn’t have the answers. If he’d had, he might still be coaching the Raiders on the field instead of helping Denver in the press box.

On the other hand, he and the Broncos have a 10-3 record and a shot at another Super Bowl, their third in four seasons. The Raiders are 7-6 and still trying to pull themselves out of the hole that he helped dig.

Where either team is headed, Shanahan hasn’t a clue.

“All I can say is, I wish everybody on that team well, everybody in Los Angeles well,” he said, gracious as ever. “Who knows when we’ll meet again?”

He is not the enemy. He’s just looked at life from both sides now.

Yet, Raiders are Raiders, and Broncos are Broncos. Leaving the stadium, Shanahan escorted his two small daughters, who wore Bronco T-shirts. A security guard stayed by his side.

Raider fans were lined on each side, with only fences and sawhorses separating them from the coach.

And they booed him. They booed him loudly, lustily. They booed Mike Shanahan, who never did a single thing to hurt the Los Angeles Raiders, except coach them.