Ron Rivera's defense looked just as awful Sunday as Jack Del Rio's did all year, and it seems pretty clear that come "Black Monday" in January, Rivera's tenure in DC will come to a swift end.
Here's the thing, though, for those clamoring for Eric Bieniemy to get a shot as the head coach, whether that be now for the final quarter of the season or in 2024: if you ask Craig Hoffman, what happened against Miami actually exposed EB more than it did Rivera.
Craig always starts his next show after a game day with First and Ten, his 10 biggest observations from that game, and this week, 1-10 all could've been the same, because it was just a good football team beating a bad football team as usually happens…except, in this case, what Mike McDaniel and his offense were able to do made supposed savior Eric Bieniemy look terrible.
"Wait a minute – that headline may stun people, but Mike McDaniel exposed Eric Bieniemy more than he did Ron Rivera. Yes, the offensive coach exposed the other offensive coach more than the defensive coach that he dropped 45 points on? Yes, and I mean every word of it," Craig began, and here was the crux of his rant:
"What you saw yesterday at FedEx Field was a team in white running a big-boy, modern 2023 offense," he said. "Remember when I said the Commanders were going to do that? Well, they don't – they run a west coast version of what Scott Turner ran, an Air Coryell version of what Turner ran; it's simple pictures for the quarterback, and not using motions and formations to create matchups for your star players. It's not playing to your strength, it's just relying on the scheme to win – and that doesn't work."
So why is it that a former Redskins wide receivers coach is outcoaching the multiple-time Super Bowl winning OC?
"Over the last 40 years of the NFL, defenses have been trying to stop those offenses, and now in 2023, with their zone match concepts and all the different tools they have, they know what to do with basic schemes," Hoffman said. "So how do you then use that against them to create great matchups for your players? Well, Mike McDaniel takes that to the biggest extreme in the NFL, because they game plan EVERYTHING. Is Tyreek Hill the best receiver in football? Probably. Is he definitely playing the best because he actually plays for a coach who says, 'hey man, I know you're really good, and typically we try to just gimmick stuff up for players who aren't good, but what if we took the concepts that are used to make sure that not as good players get open and apply them to you?' Yes, and the result is this offense."
Yes, it's that simple to Craig: scheme around your best players and let them shine…which is something Bieniemy just isn't doing, the same way Scott Turner really didn't, and so on.
"If you watched and you think Washington's offense looks anything like Miami's you, I revoke your football watching Intelligence card," Craig said. "By the way, the numbers at this point aren't that different from what we saw last year, when Scott Turner was dealing with Carson Wentz for six-plus games. That's the results; we can talk about process, but the results are just damning at this point."
And that, he says, is proof that Eric Bieniemy just isn't the guy, as a savior OC alone but especially as a head coaching candidate.
"I think at this point, if they wanted him to be the guy, they would have made him the guy – and I am definitely ready to say right now that I am not interested in another year of this," Craig said. "I would like some more creativity and innovation, and a different philosophy. The biggest difference between old school and new school philosophy in the NFL right now isn't West Coast vs. Air Coryell, horizontal versus vertical or run versus pass – it's personnel versus scheme, and what the best coaches are doing is using scheme to elevate great personnel versus trusting that good personnel will win and produce with a good scheme. That is the difference."
Of course, Kansas City's offense is struggling more than it has in year, so that shows Bieniemy "isn't a big giant dumb-dumb who didn't contribute," but Craig's problem is that he's just not doing some of the things that made him successful in Kansas City.
Then again, they have the personnel to make things work that maybe (definitely) the Commanders don't, but there has to be SOME way to make it more dynamic.
"Miami's offense is balanced and dynamic – and that doesn't mean 50/50, it means the right weights on each side of the see-saw," Craig said.
"It is cohesive and specific; Miami, more than any other team, looks at what you do defensively and when, and game plan against that. That's the difference between a generic training camp offense and the little things that you have to adjust to when teams throw wrinkles at you. The Dolphins do that, the Commanders don't, and that's why Miami is maybe the best offense in the NFL and the Commanders are bottom 10."
Oh, and Craig had one more example:
"Mike McDaniel exposed Eric Bieniemy more than he did Ron Rivera...and maybe the biggest piece of evidence is Terry McLaurin's usage."
