We’ve heard a lot about the future of the Commanders, both in terms of on-field product and business administration – and both sides have seen some attrition, with two defensive coaches fired last month and two Vice Presidents on the business side choosing to leave the organization after this season.
The H.O.G. (that’s Harris Ownership Group) is going to have to make some wholesale changes and improvements in their first full offseason as owners, and that’s starting with an increase in season ticket prices – but as Doc Walker was in for JP Finlay on Thursday, he and BMitch were chatting about the on-field stuff, and it seems Brian’s biggest drum to bang is gonna be those other Hogs.
“I think once this off season hit, you're gonna start seeing things rolled out…and I've had an issue with multiple coaches that came to this team and they did not build their offensive line the right way,” BMitch said, harkening back to the late-2000s as a first example. “Like, when Vinny (Cerrato) was here, Chris Samuels had the neck injury, and they had no legitimate left tackle on the roster to back him up So when he got hurt, they were stuck – how the hell to do you do something like that?”
The Hogs were the then-Skins’ calling card in the dynasty era, but the pig pen has been more slop than sizzle of late, and Brian is getting tired of it.
“They’ve gotten one top notch one or they'll come later and get another one, but they never tried to build it together,” BMitch said. “You look at that, old school people can call what you want…Joe Gibbs had guys that weren't all first-rounders, but they played together, and if you go into the mindset when you start constructing things, the first thing you want to do is have a great foundation. If you have damn good lines, you’re legitimately going to have a good football team, because those make everyone better.”
This being what B called ‘the fantasy football era,’ he understands fans only care about the shiny objects (aka skill players), but there’s 53 men on a roster, not just 10 or 12.
“I know how basketball or other sports work, but I don’t give a damn if they’re first-round picks or not, you need beasts,” Brian said. “James Harrison was an undrafted free agent, and he played 14 or 15 years because he was a bad-ass.”
And how can you find, and cultivate, those kinds of players?
“The next coach has to be someone who holds people accountable,” Brian said. “When I hear coaches talking about players not doing their job, I always say, ‘okay, who the hell is in charge of them?’ And if they keep putting them on the field on a daily basis and they’re not doing their job, why do they keep playing?”
Somehow it all got likened to parenting and then peeing on the seat of a toilet, oddly, but that brought Doc around to a very salient point.
“You should never have to open your mouth for me to understand your character,” Doc said. “Everybody throws off who they really are. There are people who want you to think they’re something they’re really not, and that’s all about culture.”
Urban Meyer’s NFL failure in Jacksonville versus college was brought up as an example of that, and Brian agrees with Doc.
“I always speak about ownership, in that you have to take ownership of your job. I know a lot of guys say a lot of stuff, but my question is, do they really?” Brian said. “Because if I see stuff happening, if I truly took ownership, I am going to the coach and saying, ‘hey, we ain't gonna win with this. You got to put us in a better situation, we gotta figure some stuff out.’”
That’s because, he says, building the winning culture goes both ways.
“It’s not being disrespectful, but if I study and do my job, I can tell you what’s going to work and what’s not – and as a professional, a lot of times, you have more experience in your position than the person teaching or coaching you,” BMitch said. “So when you have that experience, you should be able to say something needs to be different. If I’ve been doing something all week when we got walk through and it doesn't work, what the hell makes you think I'm gonna do that in the game? You gotta adjust and make the play though, so you have to be able to say it – if you are truly working on your craft and others are too, you’re gonna have friction – and if you don’t, guesss what? You ain't gonna be that good because at that point, you were showing me that you’re just trying to get through this thing.”
“A lot of changes need to happen, but the first thing they need to do is make sure whoever they're gonna put at the helm of this thing is a person who doesn't mind being questioned,” Brian said. “No one is perfect, and sometimes you have to listen, because that can make you a better person.”
Doc agrees, and gave this as the final salvo:
“Sandpaper personalities, I call them porcupines – their win-loss record is far greater than all the nice guys.”