The Washington Football Team should be doing everything it can to try to win, even if that means trading for Deshaun Watson and taking the lumps in the national media that come along with it, JP Finlay said in an impassioned rant.
"There are the people here that care about this organization that buy the tickets and go to games and watch," Finlay said on 106.7 The Fan's 'BMitch & Finlay.' "Those are the people you should be trying to cater to. Those are the people that just want competent quarterback play and a chance at winning.
"The national media's gonna hammer you no matter what. You know what the national media's gonna do when the congressman gets Tanya Snyder on the stand at Capitol Hill? They're gonna blast this team! The only way you change the national media is by winning!
"The national media, everybody made their jokes about Robert Kraft going to the massage parlor, right? Everybody made a couple jokes, but the Patriots are still the class of the NFL," Finlay said. "Jerry Jones has those pictures come out with him in all sorts of weird positions, he looks hammered. It lasts a couple days; it goes away.
"You know why nothing goes away here? Because they suck! Because nothing ever changes. The only time it went away was when Robert Griffin III was running around scoring touchdowns and making this team nationally relevant for football reasons. You want to change your national perception? Win! It's your only chance. Nobody's ever gonna believe in the organization."
"If it comes out that the charges are true, you cut him," he said. "That'll show that you're changing your culture."
Finlay prefaced his rant with the logic that, in a year in which Washington inadvertently sullied the legacy of one of its most beloved figures in Sean Taylor, and has national media questioning NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell about why the league's kept private the details of an investigation into the organization's workplace culture. that was allegedly rife with sexual harassment claims, publicly, the team's image can't get much worse. So it might as well throw a Hail Mary by trading for Watson. Because at least then the organization will have a shot at winning.
"As it relates to Deshaun Watson, I can understand franchises that don't want to trade for Deshaun Watson because of the significant baggage," Finlay said. "Even though there's been no criminal charges, nothing from the police has happened. There are a significant number of women — I believe it's over 20 — that have accused Deshaun Watson of sexual assault. And that's God-awful, it's terrible. But nothing criminal. It's all civil, which typically gets answered with cash, right? I mean that's generally what civil court is about, is financial damages. So you can draw your own conclusions with that. I'm drawing no conclusion, right?"
"But what I know is," Finlay continued, "the Washington Football Team in the last month has had a DEA raid on the facility, doesn't have a head athletic trainer due to the DEA raid, has seen all these emails leak out that just further illustrate and validate what the Washington Post report and the Beth Wilkinson investigation revealed of a terrible, toxic culture of workplace harassment inside the organization for two decades. Not two years, two decades. All of that's been validated."
"Now Congress is getting involved," he said. "The House Oversight Committee, I mean they've made it clear, they plan on subpoenaing — I don't know what the verb for 'to subpoena' is — but they're gonna try to get ownership down on Capitol Hill. I don't know if it'll happen, because lawyers will get involved. This thing is a mess!
"Oh, should we mention the Sean Taylor jersey retirement, how well that went locally? This thing is a mess! One, how much worse can it get? Two, this year is shot! They're 2-5! So if you do trade for him, to good teams that trade for Deshaun Watson, your concern is: Oh, we trade for him. They throw him on the [Commissioner's] Exempt List. We don't even get to play him this year. Who cares in Washington?! The year is shot! You're building for next year anyway!
"The head coach is openly saying we're scouting college QBs! We're looking high and low for the QB we need! Our discussion is: How hard are you hitting the panic meter? So why not go get the guy?! He's under contract. He's under contract through 2025. So even if this year is shot, that's the medicine you've gotta take for three years of a quarterback, four years of a quarterback! And then, you know what? Be a good organization — sign him to a long-term extension! At least you're trying something."
"And if facts come out later, and he's criminally charged, then you cut bait," Finlay said. "Then you tried to make a move to win something and it didn't work. You can knock people for trying and not getting something done, but at least they're trying. It's the man in the arena — it's a Teddy Roosevelt principle. All you're doing right now is standing on the sidelines complaining why you can't, telling me why you can't. Yes you can."
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