It’s 5 o’clock somewhere…
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I read this passage in an article on Riggo’s Rag this week:
One of the insights that came out of Eric Bieniemy’s time with the organization is that some players have gotten used to lax practices and coddling from the coaching staff. When the offensive coordinator instituted his hard-nosed approach, it rubbed some the wrong way. They complained to then-head coach Ron Rivera and asked him to seize back control.
BMitch in response to this: https://t.co/CAq6FwkUCy pic.twitter.com/0g3cogpjay
— Jordan (@wshingtontoday) November 25, 2023
If that is not the epitome of complacency, I don’t know what is. One of those voices was Logan Thomas. The tight end is no longer part of the franchise, but he wasn’t the only one.
The new coaching staff needs to ensure that everyone is on the same page and has the singular goal of moving this franchise forward. Those content with losing and just cashing a check won’t be around much longer under the Commanders’ new regime.
I thought this was a bad take when it came up last year and, given what we’ve learned over the past several months, I think it’s an even worse take today. In my personal opinion, the issues raised above were never about players not wanting to put in hard work, being complacent or having a loser’s mentality; the issues were about Eric Bieniemy’s shortcomings and Ron Rivera’s failure to take remedial action.
The most critical voice among the players who are still here may have been that of Sam Cosmi:
Right guard Sam Cosmi said Washington was a “fighting team” his first two years, but this season, it has been crushed by a web of problems too messy for him to even untangle.
“Sickening,” he said of how he felt. “Like, truly, deep down sickening.”
Team leaders Terry McLaurin and Jonathan Allen also expressed frustration during and after the season. We all remember Jon Allen’s comment that he had “1,000%” thought about playing for a different team, but who could blame him for his frustration in the environment he found himself in after signing an extension and committing himself entirely to the team that had drafted him?
While Allen has a reputation for being frequently outspoken, Terry McLaurin, who also recently tied himself to the organization with a contract extension, has the reputation of being a grinder and a quiet leader. Who can forget his welcoming comments to Eric Bieniemy at EB’s introductory press conference when Terry embraced the concept of being “coached hard”? However, the experience of actually being coached by Bieniemy was apparently enough to change McLaurin’s view of his new offensive coordinator.
Terry McLaurin was expected to have another big season under new offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy in 2023. Jahan Dotson was a popular pick as one of the NFL’s breakout players. Yet, McLaurin doesn’t have one game with 100 receiving yards, and Dotson has just one.
In Sunday’s loss, McLaurin was held without a catch and had just three targets.
After the game, his frustration was apparent.
“I ran a lot of cardio,” McLaurin said. “It happens; it comes with it when it’s tough. Yeah, it’s frustrating, but I’m going to keep coming in and practicing and playing hard.”
On Monday, Rivera was asked if McLaurin had shared his thoughts on his lack of targets with him.
Rivera acknowledged that he had spoken with McLaurin.
“Yeah, I’ve talked with Terry before, and we’ve talked about those things, and I know he’s talked to Eric, and he’s gone in, and he and EB have good conversations from what I understand,” Rivera answered.
“That’s then to me that’s the way you handle it is you go in and you talk directly. I think that’s big of what he’s been doing. It’s been big of him to come in and fight the frustration and talk about it if that’s what needs to be.”
McLaurin has every reason to be frustrated. He didn’t suddenly forget how to get open. And the fact he and Dotson’s numbers are both down, says the problem is deeper than the pair just failing to get open consistently.
There it is — head coach Ron Rivera saying to reporters directly that team captain and all-around good-guy Terry McLaurin had come to Ron to express frustration about Rivera’s assistant head coach. Instead of listening to what his star receiver had to say and then using the information to help Rivera do his job by correcting Bieniemy and molding EB into a better coach, Rivera sent Terry to EB’s office to voice his complaints and listen to Bieniemy’s rationalizations of his shortcomings as a coach, coordinator and leader.
These players don’t strike me as being afraid of hard work; none of them strike me as having a loser’s mentality. Cosmi, McLaurin and Allen are winners who, in 2023, were suddenly trapped in a world of bad coaching and lack of fight (to paraphrase Cosmi) that hadn’t existed when they were drafted or signed extensions with the team. What changed was the hiring of Eric Bieniemy, and Ron Rivera’s ceding of control to the new offensive coordinator, who proved to be a bad fit for a team trying to rise from consistent mediocrity to something much better.
What’s clear is that Eric Bieniemy was not a good coach during his eleven months in Washington; he had a style that was abrasive and disrespectful of others. In an era where even the most casual fan recognizes the value of coaches adapting to their players, Bieniemy proudly proclaimed that he adapted to no one; EB shouted from the rooftops that he was who he was, and that he wasn’t changing. It was clearly ‘his way or the highway’.
The writer at Riggo’s Rag seems to truly believe, based on the article quoted at the top, that the path to success lies in Washington’s current coaching staff being more like Eric Bieniemy, and that any player was ‘soft’ who asked Rivera to take back control of the team after having gotten a taste of Bieniemy’s bitter coaching style. I’m astounded that anyone could suggest that Dan Quinn and his staff should follow the path of a failed OC who is now out of the NFL.
If the writer at Riggo’s Rag (or anyone) thinks that the path to success lies in the current coaching staff emulating Eric Bieniemy, then I would suggest that he or she hasn’t been paying attention. EB was a disaster! The players were right, and Rivera should have listened to them. Rivera relinquished control to one of the worst coaches in the NFL, and that decision was one of many that led to a disastrous season in 2023.
I won’t be casting aspersions on players who were unhappy with what they experienced last year and who had the personal and professional fortitude to discuss their concerns with the laissez faire head coach. That’s not an example of players being soft; that’s exactly how a man should take care of business. These players wanted the team to succeed, and they took their concerns to the boss. The failure in this case was with an inflexible assistant head coach — Bieniemy — and the guy at the top — Rivera — who abrogated his most basic responsibilities of being in charge, managing his assistant coaches, and setting the right tone for the team.
Bieniemy and Rivera failed their players completely last season. From a non-introspective “take me as you find me” coach in Eric Bieniemy and his “I’m not responsible” 2023 head coach Ron Rivera, Commanders players will now pivot to a coaching staff led by a head coach in Dan Quinn who took time after being fired from his head coaching gig in Atlanta to ask the tough questions that would allow him to do it better if he ever got another shot.
Dan Quinn appears to have a style that is a dramatic counter to that of Bieniemy; he is a leader who embraces his own need to change and adapt. He also appears ready to set the tone for the organization, a role that Ron Rivera surrendered to his poorly equipped assistant in 2023, and then refused to take back. Players like Sam Cosmi, Jonathan Allen, and Terry McLaurin will have the opportunity to once again prove what they’ve proven before in their lives — that they aren’t afraid of hard work and that they embrace a winning mentality. It will become even clearer that each one was in the right because he was man enough to speak up for his team and his teammates when he saw someone tearing down what everyone else was so diligently working to build up.
I get the feeling that Dan Quinn, Joe Whitt Jr., Kliff Kingsbury and the rest of the coaching staff are going to be the very antithesis of what players were forced to deal with last year. That doesn’t mean that the players will be coddled or that they won’t be asked to work hard. I believe it will mean that players will be taught how to optimize their skills; coaches will adapt themselves, their styles and their schemes to the needs and skills of the players, and mutual respect will be given freely because it will be deserved through action and expression. Players — in fact most people in any occupation — are happy to work hard when it’s in the right environment and the hard work is seen to be moving everyone toward achievement of common goals.
The narrative about soft players who didn’t want to work was a bad take last year; with the benefit if hindsight, it is a horrendous take now.