Still stung this morning and playing the role of Monday morning coach, I’m left feeling alone in what I would have done Sunday if I were Mike Shanahan.

All the pundits, including my favorite, Herm Edwards, say Shanahan did the right thing by letting Robert Griffin III continue playing against the Seahawks even though he was not the RG III I have come to respect and admire this season.

In my opinion the coach erred and should have brought in Kirk Cousins to begin the second half.

I’m not saying Cousins would have saved the game against a powerful Seattle team. I do think there would have been a fighting chance.

The question in all of this is one that has plagued me since the NFL has become the premier sports show in the country. The question is simply what is a coach’s role in an era of highly paid superstars?

Shanahan took Griffin’s word that he was able to continue to play when it was absolutely clear he was not the same quarterback that rallied the Redskins on their late season run and a NFC East Championship.

In lesser leagues, college, high school, middle school and below, the coaches have the final say and many times are looked upon, if not friends, but fathers.

Griffin is cut from a different mold than many players in the league. He is not a troublemaker, but a grounded and brilliant kid who has already proven his worthiness in a league of toughs.

Still, despite him being the face of the Redskins and undoubtedly the team’s leader on and off the field, the coach is ultimately in control, even in a world of multimillionaire athletes.

Griffin had many opportunities to head for open field yet couldn’t do it in such a pivotal game that it literally hurt me to watch him hobble on the field.

The Redskins wagered much to pick Griffin in the draft so they could begin building a program where they wouldn’t be the perennial laughingstock of the NFC East and the entire NFL.

The gamble worked and as a fan I want to see it continue to work. In the NFL as a whole, I want to see coaches take more control as they are gatekeepers of a team’s investment and despite all the talking heads this morning, even my beloved Coach Edwards, I believe Shanahan erred and risked seeing his star quarterback end up with something that could have been more serious.

I don’t see Bill Belichick doing that in New England and would like to see Shanahan do more of that in Washington. Like I say, I’m playing the role of Monday morning coach but I wish through my encouragement at the television Sunday, Shanahan could have heard me begging to put Cousins in — Lance Martin