Early Stages Of A New Era In Washington

Posted on by

March 25, 2021

by David Earl

No Bruce The Culture Was NOT “Damn Good!”

As any Redskins Washington Football Team fan will tell you, the toxic culture of this organization’s past has been a tired topic, for sure. From the arrogance of Bruce Allen to the enabling leadership of Dan Snyder, we saw a decade of team operations that produced failure. The culture (or lack thereof) became so bad that agents were advising their clients against signing with Washington unless the payday was significantly overvalued. Sure, we nabbed players like DeSean Jackson and Josh Norman (Landon Collins was motivated by Sean Taylor) but money talks for some more so than anything else. I thought Steve Thomas put it best in his 2019 column, “The Collective Sins of Bruce Allen and Why He Should Be Fired”, when he wrote, “[t]his man is the personification of football evil incarnate.” That column highlights just how toxic Bruce Allen was to an organization his father loved!

What’s My Point You Ask???

In year 2 of the Ron Rivera era, after some significant signings, there was a comment I saw in which I took some interest – Josh Taylor reacted to William Jackson III’s comments about his desire to come here even though many other teams offered him a contract. When you look at his contract, which many saw as a great value, it becomes a little more obvious it just wasn’t about the money.

This certainly has to make you think about where we’ve come from unless you are still proceeding with extreme caution (you know why: because of the owner). Seriously though, are we witnessing the change of Dan Snyder and this organization? While skepticism will continue to exist as long as Dan Snyder is the owner, it still strikes some curiosity because many would believe (or are just praying) that eventually he has to see the light. Thus after reading the aforementioned comment on what could be seen as “Not the same old Redskins Washington Football Team,” I couldn’t help but wonder: how many fans feel the same?

Just shy of 500 votes is a small sample size but it’s still surprising that 91% of respondents saw this organization having a bright future. Maybe a little recency bias has swayed opinion after some big signings, but 91% is still a huge number. As we’ve seen Ron Rivera completely change the culture and dynamic of the locker room in year one, is it actually possibly he’s brought that beacon of hope us fans have been searching for? While we witnessed the arrogance of Bruce Allen seemingly thumbing his nose up to the fans, Ron and company have been just the opposite. Some of these comments to the poll show just that:

Of course with optimism comes caution, and some rightfully reference the possibility of Dan not meddling. As we know all too well once the owner has the itch to interfere, right or wrong, nothing seemingly ever goes right. Therefore, it’s hard to argue with what some perceive as a pessimistic attitude while things appear to be headed in the right direction.

Where I Stand

Yes I understand the many regime changes under Dan Snyder have all ended in a dysfunctional mess (except for Joe Gibbs). The majority of the time it’s the owner either being manipulated by undeserving football executives or just simply at times Dan making football decisions when he’s far from qualified. The latter is indisputable, but, for example, the hiring of Mike Shanahan caused many to think that Snyder had changed.  The fact that it went horribly wrong brings more truth to the realization about the quality of Snyder’s decision making. How can I say that, you ask?

Bruce Allen was hired a month before Shanahan was hired to take over football operations. Mike made the moves and decisions pertinent to the team but today I think most of us know Bruce the politician was gaining power behind the scenes. It was easy to see how manipulative he came across. In hindsight, Mike was never going to have that control for long. The rest is history, as we all know how that ended.

Fast forward to the present and Dan’s hiring of Ron Rivera. In the 15 months of Ron’s tenure Snyder successfully flushed out anyone associated with Bruce Allen and any team executive known to be a trusted advisor to Dan were all let go. With Mike there was a middle man in Bruce who was a snake in the grass, but now Ron is the only one in Dan’s ear. Any flow of important organizational information doesn’t skip Ron Rivera. While we’ve seen the hire of Jason Wright this past offseason for the business side, all football operations run through Ron. This offseason saw Ron hire trusted football executives in Marty Hurney and Martin Mayhew which further shows just how much control Ron had over Mike.

With all that said the possibility of Dan meddling still exists, but, unlike years past, in my opinion it becomes more difficult today. Dan has no middle man between him and Ron as was the case in past – the only real influences whispering in his ear is Ron Rivera himself. So while yes I hold a tempered optimism for this team, I am much more encouraged for the future under Ron Rivera than any other regime in the past.