If you listen to BMitch & Finlay regularly, and are all ears when Barstool Nate calls in for his weekly segment, you know Nate Dog is not shy about telling us how he feels about all things Commanders.
If you listen to BMitch & Finlay regularly, and are all ears when Barstool Nate calls in for his weekly segment, you know Nate Dog is not shy about telling us how he feels about all things Commanders.
Today was no different, because Mr. Eric Nathan reiterated something that probably a lot of Commanders fans would echo when he joined the guys Wednesday: he wants Ron Rivera fired, now.
“Ron Rivera, he….has…to go!” Nate said, the dots emphasizing his tone. “I know, calling for peoples’ jobs is a little weird, but I think Ron has stolen enough money from this organization that he would understand. Like, if he was called into Josh Harris's office and said, hey, you are relieved of your duties,’ he’d be like, ‘well, about time like what were you waiting for?”
All jokes aside, Nate has a strong opinion on why Ron is the wrong guy, in many ways.
“He does not coach, he does not know how to develop players, he does not know how to draft. He doesn't know how to do any key aspect of his job besides standing on the sideline with his arms crossed and maybe catch a little tan,” Nate said. “He was a good segue of a coach from, from the old regime to the new regime, but his time has to be done. He is not the guy to lead this team. It is clear he is a bottom three head coach if that in the league and II, I just, he has worn out his welcome with me. I cannot do it anymore.”
Even JP said it’s getting harder to disagree with that take, but he wasn’t using strong enough words to describe why for Nate’s liking, especially about the last three games.
“Say it’s embarrassing – the Bears came in and we were all hyped up, and they embarrassed us. It was disgusting and humiliating, and the thing that showed me we are not where we need to be,” Nate said. “We should have made the Bears go back to Chicago questioning their existence – but they did that to us, and nothing changed. Well, we got a scapegoat in Forbes, but we beat Atlanta despite giving up 300 passing yards to the worst QB in the league, and then went to the Meadowlands and played the ugliest, worst game of football since the invention of the forward pass...and once again, nothing changes.”
So, Nate had some advice for Josh Harris, which he wrote on Barstool in his latest blog.
“Josh Harris basically needs to say this doesn't fly with me, we don’t accept mediocrity, and he has to show the fan base,” Nate said. “I truly believe he has to show the fan base that what flew under Dan Snyder does not fly under him, that Dan Snyder was okay with losing but he’s not – and if that means making Ron or Jack or someone the scapegoat, you've got to do it. You have to come in and say, hey, what happened over the last 20 years is not what's happening under me, and he has not done that. I am waiting for him to take a stand and say we don't accept this in my regime as the owner of this team; he hasn't done it and I'm waiting for him to do it.”
Nate agrees with BMitch that part of it may be Harris trying to show he’s not going to make rash decisions, but even if that’s the plan, Nate still needs to see something.
“I don’t think you become a billionaire without having a brain, so I think he has a plan and he has people and they're developing a plan and they know what they're doing,” Nate said, “it just stinks as a fan and obviously it stinks as a player on the team. Everybody's tired of it, and that’s I think even though he probably has a plan, probably a good plan, he has to do or say something now to earn the trust of the players who are putting their body on the line and the fans who were so optimistic and waiting for this change. It’s unacceptable, and I need Josh Harris to say it’s unacceptable.
Maybe he doesn’t have to fire everybody, but I need to hear it from his mouth that what is happening right now is not acceptable.”
That said, JP wanted to ask Nate: what’s the value in firing someone now?
“I believe there is merit to getting rid of Rivera because he is not doing his job. He is not preparing the players to win, or coaching on the sidelines – he is just not suited for this job that he has,” Nate said. “It’s clear the game has passed him by, he doesn’t have the love of the game he once had, and it shows. This is a guy cashing checks and not putting in the full effort that a coach has to put in to be successful in today NFL, and it’s showing on the field and in the preparation of the players. So, I think holding him accountable and saying you’re not doing your job, you have to go, is not mean. Accountability is very important to me."
Take a listen to Nate’s entire call-in above, which includes thoughts on the players’ culpability in the situation with the Commanders (and a discussion with BMitch about that) and more!
