DeAngelo Hall wouldn’t have been in a position to berate an official and be ejected from Sunday’s game had a penalty flag been thrown on the play before, Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said Monday when expressing his opinion on the incident.
Hall, who was thrown out after yelling at head linesman Dana McKenzie, could now face further discipline from the NFL and will be meeting with commissioner Roger Goodell this week.
“Anytime that you’re kicked out of a game, you’re ejected, there’s always a chance for obviously missing a game or two, depending on what they decide,” Shanahan said on a conference call with reporters. “I think we’ve watched it happen where someone gets removed from a game and then they say if you’re going to come back the following game or if there’s going to be some scenario where somebody could lose some games. And I just don’t know what that is until they talk to us.”
Shanahan did not want to go into too much of what happened between Hall and McKenzie but explained that he saw Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders throw the Redskins cornerback to the ground with a “full nelson” and then a flip. He said he was proud of Hall for not retaliating against Sanders but made it clear there’s no excuse for what happened once Hall removed his helmet to yell at McKenzie.
“[One thing] you’re not supposed to do as a football player is ever chest-bump somebody or obviously speak into somebody’s helmet or somebody’s face. That’s a personal foul as well,” Shanahan said. “Those type [of] things you try to get your players not to do and not to respond. If someone errs one way, it’s a negative for your football team because it will cost you a penalty.”
Hall was given two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and ejected. Shanahan said he sat down with Hall to look at the clip and “had a good conversation,” but he deferred until later in the week to talk about the play’s aftermath.
“I can’t share all my thoughts with you right now because there’s going to be a pending issue with D-Hall over the next day or two,” the coach said. “I wish a penalty flag was thrown initially; it would’ve been stopped. But you still have to handle yourself the right way.”
As far as internal discipline, Shanahan was similarly noncommittal Monday.
“I’m not saying [whether] I’m doing anything,” he said. “I’m going to wait until after things are done with the commissioner.”
NFL offices are closed Monday and Tuesday because of Hurricane Sandy, so Shanahan was not able to give a specific time frame on what’s happening with Hall.
Sandy’s effect
Players reported to Redskins Park on time Monday and went about their work as usual, except with some things cut short because of Hurricane Sandy. Shanahan said he expects the team to practice normally Wednesday.
One concern is the status of the Redskins’ practice bubble that was put up during the offseason to allow for indoor workouts.
“I’m hoping that when I come to work tomorrow morning it’s still up,” Shanahan said. “Seventy mph winds I’m just hoping it’s still there when I wake up and it’s not somewhere on 267.”
The hurricane also forced the NFL moved back the trade deadline that was set for Tuesday was pushed back to 4 p.m. Thursday. But an extra couple of days won’t make it more likely that the Redskins complete a trade.
“You’re looking at different opportunities. Nothing usually happens along those lines, but there’s always a possibility,” Shanahan said “We always check out our options, seeing if anybody’s interested in our players or obviously we’re interested in somebody else’s players. Usually at this time of year at least my experience it doesn’t happen very often.”
• Stephen Whyno can be reached at swhyno@washingtontimes.com.
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