Sometimes when you’re in the proverbial bubble, and speak mostly to those also in it, thoughts on a sticky situation could become muddled by being too far in the weeds.
That’s why, on Thursday, the Junkies brought in CBS Sports NFL writer Ryan Wilson to get the outside DC perspective on the controversy with Ron Rivera and Eric Bieniemy – and, perhaps, everyone is wrong here?
“My initial reaction is that this had something to do why Eric Bieniemy struggled to find a head coaching job, but another part of me wonders id maybe players have to toughen up – so it’s probably somewhere in the middle,” Wilson said. “The fact Rivera had to come back and explain himself doesn’t bode well either, so I think if given a chance to do this over, all sides would choose a different tack. I give them credit for being honest, and the players don’t necessarily have to like it, as long as results get to where they need to be.”
And if not?
“If they’re not, and you have this tension, that’s a concern, but give it a few weeks and see how things go in the preseason and early on,” Wilson said. “The offense looks like its clicking, and if they have some success, you can overlook a coach acting like it’s 1984; otherwise, there are going to be some tough conversations to be had.”
Is the media, then, making too much of this too soon?
“I think they’ve found something to run with, even though I think the honesty is refreshing on many levels,” Wilson said. “It may not work, but I think it’s okay to get a glimpse behind the curtain and have the appreciation for what goes on. Could players toughen up? Are they too soft? Maybe. Could Bieniemy take a different tack? Probably, but again, there’s a lot of ways to make this thing better, and at the end of the day, I’m not sweating it as a huge deal. There have been tougher coaches, but we live in an age where players don’t have the attention span they had, and sometimes you have to approach things differently. Bieniemy will either learn that lesson, or he won’t.”
The rumored knock on Bieniemy is that Andy Reid and Matt Nagy did a lot of the heavy lifting in KC, so maybe his new autonomy isn’t manifesting in the best way, but as Wilson said – it’s up to him to adapt and survive or not.
Take a listen to Wilson’s entire call-in above, which also includes some thoughts on Joe Burrow’s injury, the buzz around the Lions, and the Kellen Moore effect in both Dallas and Los Angeles!
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