Monday night is critical for Mike Shanahan

Much less is new about the Washington Redskins now compared with a year ago. This is Mike Shanahan's second season as their head coach, not his first. It's the second year of his zone-blocking offense, of Jim Haslett's 3-4 defense, of owner Dan Snyder staying in the background. And yet, even though so much less is new, so much feels different. Redskins players were saying this week that things this year around the team are "boring, in a good way."

"Most of the time, I've been around boring teams," Shanahan said when reporters relayed those comments to him. "That's what you like. You like guys taking care of business, and I guess compared to the first year,